Opinion ID: 884429
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appropriateness of Writ of Supervisory Control

Text: Article VII, Section 2 of the Montana Constitution gives this Court original jurisdiction, to issue, hear, and determine writs.... Supervisory control is appropriate where the district court is proceeding under a mistake of law, and in so doing is causing a gross injustice. State ex rel. Forsyth v. District Court (1985), 216 Mont. 480, 484, 701 P.2d 1346, 1348 (overruled on other grounds); State ex rel. Fitzgerald v. District Court (1985), 217 Mont. 106, 114, 703 P.2d 148, 153-54. Recently, in State ex rel. Mazurek v. District Court (Mont.1996), 922 P.2d 474, 476-77, 53 St.Rep. 678, 679, we stated: Supervisory control is an extraordinary remedy, to be exercised only in extraordinary circumstances. We have said ... that to justify such a writ an exigency or emergency must be shown to exist, or that a gross injustice would result from a denial of the writ, and the absence of other adequate relief.... [Supervisory control] has its own appropriate functions, and, without undertaking to define particularly what these functions are, we think one of them is to enable this court to control the course of litigation in the [district] courts where those courts are proceeding within their jurisdiction, but by mistake of law, or willful disregard of it, are doing a gross injustice, and there is no appeal or the remedy by appeal is inadequate.... State ex rel. Forsyth v. District Court (1985), 216 Mont. 480, 484, 701 P.2d 1346, 1348 (quoting State ex rel. O'Sullivan v. District Court (1946), 119 Mont. 429, 431-32, 175 P.2d 763, 764); accord State ex rel. Mapes v. District Court (1991), 250 Mont. 524, 528-29, 822 P.2d 91, 94. It is significant to note that we have issued writs of supervisory control in other cases involving media challenges to court-imposed restrictions on access to information about the criminal trial process. Great Falls Tribune v. District Court (1980), 186 Mont. 433, 608 P.2d 116 and State ex rel. Smith v. District Court (1982), 201 Mont. 376, 654 P.2d 982. We determine that the Missoulian's petition presents legal issues which are appropriate for us to resolve through a writ of supervisory control.