Bridge battle

By Nick Gevock, of The Montana Standard - 03/21/2007

VIRGINIA CITY — A landowner in the Ruby Valley who has been at the center of a legal battle over stream access from county bridges has counter sued Madison County and a sportsmen’s group, claiming there is no right to get to streams from county bridges.

James Kennedy said in court records that Madison County is looking the other way while sportsmen and women illegally use the Seyler and Lewis lane bridges to get to the Ruby River.

Kennedy, a millionaire media mogul from Atlanta, also names the Public Lands Access Association, Inc., as a defendant and said the group’s members block his driveway, park unsafely on county bridges and litter when getting to the river.

“All of the foregoing unlawful conduct constitutes a public nuisance within the Lewis and Seyler Bridge servitudes and as a result, Kennedy has suffered and will continue to suffer damages,” Lance Lovell, a Billings attorney representing Kennedy, said in court records filed this week in Madison County district court.

The countersuit is part of a response to a lawsuit against Kennedy and Madison County that the public lands group filed that would have gutted his client’s property rights, Lovell said.

“The last thing Jim Kennedy wanted to do was file suit against Madison County,” he said. “Unfortunately the allegations of the second amended complaint put Jim in a situation where he would have to waive many of his important or legitimate rights.” But Devlan Geddes, a Bozeman attorney representing PLAAI, said Kennedy is trying to take away the public’s right to its own streams by using county roads and bridges to get to them.

“He’s asking the court to determine that the public may not use public rights of way,” Geddes said.

The battle over public access from bridges along the Ruby River has been entangled in a bitter court fight since 2004.

The public lands group sued Madison County that year, alleging it was illegally allowing Kennedy to cut off access to the river by hooking barbed and electric fences to county bridges.

Kennedy argued that not every bridge is suitable for public access because some are unsafe and could put a landowner at risk of liability if someone gets hurt while trying to get to a river.

The county had passed a policy allowing fences to be attached to bridges if they included a reasonable access at each bridge. That was later rescinded after PLAAI sued because sportsmen were reasonable to pay for the gates.

Kennedy at one point joined the suit to help defend the county against the public access group’s lawsuit.

He alleges in the latest countersuit that the county’s lack of enforcement gives the public unfettered access to his ranch without any compensation. That violates Kennedy’s rights as a property owner under the U.S. and Montana constitutions.

Kennedy asks for a court judgment and injunction to stop the public from using the bridges to get to the river.

Tony Schoonen of Butte, a PLAAI member, said Kennedy’s claims that the public has been littering and blocking driveways are bogus. He said the countersuit shows that Kennedy is determined to turn stretches of the Ruby River into a private fishery for the wealthy and ultimately try to overturn Montana’s stream access law.

“I don’t think any of those guys can stand to see a local guy go in there and throw a worm in,” Schoonen said. “It’s just another way for a very wealthy person to scare off local fisherman and local water users.” Meanwhile, the Legislature is considering a Senate Bill 78, a measure that would allow fences within rights of way and set up access points over them.

— Reporter Nick Gevock may be reached via email at nick.gevock@mtstandard.com