If the Court were to allow the usual legal process to play out, this matter would not be resolved until sometime next year. Therefore, except as mentioned below, the Court rejects the motion to dismiss filed by the City of Helena. The Court also notes that since the initial restraining orders were filed by this Court and were continued by Judge Honzel, the parties have engaged in settlement negotiations whereby the City has made available to the Plaintiffs most of the documents in question. Thus, there are only a couple of items with which this Court needs to deal. The Court applauds the parties for their good faith efforts to resolve this issue.
Plaintiffs seek two classifications of documents.
First is a settlement brochure that was forwarded to the mediator in the Timberline lawsuit. This document was prepared by Allen B. Chronister, an attorney in Helena, hired by the City to defend it in the Timberline litigation. Next, the parties dispute numerous documents that were removed from Chronister's file that he feels are either his work product or are items protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Court also needs to note that in the Timberline case, Judge Thomas A. Olson of Bozeman issued a protective order protecting certain of the documents produced during that proceeding. Plaintiffs have represented to the Court that if any of the withheld documents are subject to Judge Olson's protective order or protected by the attorney-client privilege, Plaintiffs will not seek access to those documents.