Title: HART v NEW PARK HOTEL INC

State: montana

Issuer: Montana Supreme Court

Document:

No. 81-407 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 1981 DALE P. HART, Plaintiff and Appellant, NEW PARK HOTEL, INC., Defendant and Respondent. Appeal from: District Court of the Fourth Judicial District, In and for the County of Missoula Honorable Douglas Harkin, Judge presiding. Counsel of Record: For Appellant: Terry A. Wallace, Missoula, Montana For Respondent : Morales, Volinkaty and Harr, Missoula, Montana Submitted on briefs: November 18, 1981 ' / 7 Decided: JAN 7- , , , [ g L Filed : ~i m, '1 ,\ Mr. J u s t i c e Gene B . Daly d e l i v e r e d t h e Opinion of t h e Court. T h i s is an appeal from an o r d e r e n t e r e d i n t h e D i s t r i c t Court of t h e Fourth J u d i c i a l D i s t r i c t of t h e S t a t e of Montana, i n and f o r t h e County of Missoula. Honorable Douglas Harkin i s s u e d an o r d e r on June 16, 1981, r e q u i r i n g t h e p l a i n t i f f and h i s a t t o r n e y t o pay a sum c e r t a i n a s a s a n c t i o n and t o pay a t t o r n e y f e e s i n c u r r e d by t h e d e f e n d a n t . The p l a i n t i f f a p p e a l s from t h a t o r d e r . T h i s a c t i o n i n i t i a l l y a r o s e when a complaint was f i l e d i n Missoula County on November 14, 1978. The a c t i o n sought t o compel s p e c i f i c performance o f a p u r p o r t e d agree- ment t o s e l l t h e Park Hotel which included h o t e l b u i l d i n g , l a n d and l i q u o r l i c e n s e . The c a s e continued t o be liti- g a t e d throughout 1979 u n t i l a n o t i c e of e n t r y of judgment was served on t h e p a r t i e s i n May 1980. The p l a i n t i f f , however, waited u n t i l J u l y 7, 1980, t o f i l e a motion f o r s u b s t i t u t i o n of judge f o r t h e Honorable Jack L. Green under s e c t i o n 3 - 1 - 8 0 1 ( 4 ) , MCA. The d e f e n d a n t , P a r k H o t e l , o b j e c t e d t o t h i s motion and sought r e l i e f i n t h e D i s t r i c t Court, t h e Honorable Robert H o l t e r p r e s i d i n g . Judge Holter found t h a t t h e p l a i n t i f f ' s o n l y purpose behind t h e p u r p o r t e d d i s q u a l i f i c a t i o n of Judge Green was t o " h i n d e r , d e l a y and cloud t h e i s s u e s . " The p l a i n t i f f was o r d e r e d t o pay a t t o r n e y f e e s of $2,462.50 t o t h e d e f e n d a n t and was f i n e d $ 1 , 0 0 0 f o r h i n d e r i n g and d e l a y i n g t h e proceedings. The m a t t e r came b e f o r e t h e a t t e n t i o n of t h i s Court when t h e p l a i n t i f f appealed t h e o r d e r of Judge H o l t e r . T h i s Court i s s u e d an o r d e r on A p r i l 21, 1981, which: a f f i r m e d t h e f i n d i n g s of f a c t and c o n c l u s i o n s of law of Judge H o l t e r ; determined that the attempted disqualification of Judge Green in District Court Cause No. 49061 was without merit, untimely and for the purpose of hindering and delaying Cause 1 1 0 . 49061.; ordered that a sanction be imposed against Dale P. Hart and his attorney jointly and severally, consisting of a $500 fine to be paid to Missoula County within thirty days; and ordered the District Court to proceed to final hearing of Cause No. 49061 without delay. On June 1, 1981, plaintiff and his attorney filed in this Court a motion for reconsideration of the April 21., 1981, order. This Court denied the motion for reconsidera- tion on August 21, 1981, and ordered that the stay in the proceedings of Cause No. 49061. be vacated, denied relator's request for a prehearing conference, and denied relator's request for bifurcation of the proceedings. The matter was then returned to the District Court in Missoula County where Judge Harkin had entered the order which provided in pertinent part: "It is hereby ordered that Plaintiff Dale P. Hart and his attorney, Terry A. Wallace, jointly and severally, are ordered to pay the sum of $500.00 ordered paid by the Supreme Court as a sanction, no later than 5:00 o'clock P.M. Friday, June 19, 1981. "It is further ordered that Plaintiff Dale P. Hart and his attorney Terry A. Wallace, jointly and severally, pay reasonable attorney's fees incurred by Defendant as Relator in the Supreme Court matter in the sum of $2,460.50 on or before July LO, 1981.." We find that the order of the District Court was proper and in conformance with our initial order issued on April 21, 1981. This case has been before this Court on two previous occasions; we will not reconsider the issues for a third time. The appeal is hereby dismissed. ,,,d / &/ J u s t i c e W e c o n c u r : J u s I C / I d i s s e n t . I disagreed with the o r i g i n a l d e c i s i o n ordering t h a t attorney Wallace and h i s c l i e n t pay $500 t o - - be paid a s a f i n e , and o so again today. J u s t i c e 0