Montana Legal News
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Are dinosaur fossils 'minerals'? The Montana Supreme Court will decide high stakes case
Science: "Pristine dinosaur fossils discovered in Montana have sparked a property rights dispute that has hit paleontologists like an asteroid. The lawsuit, now at the Montana Supreme Court, concerns who owns some of the greatest fossil finds in the last century." -
Mont.: New family treatment court a resource for reunification
Daily Inter Lake: "Last week, a long-awaited family treatment court officially opened its doors to Flathead County families impacted by dependency and neglect cases, offering support for program-eligible parents pursuing reunification with their children who have been placed into Child Family Services." -
Court: Montana ethics complaints are public information
Helena Independent Record: "A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down a Montana law requiring that any ethics complaint made against a state official be kept confidential, ruling that the law violated free-speech rights." -
Legal battle over fossil rights kicked back to Montana Supreme Court
KTVQ News: "The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is doing some digging to figure out who exactly owns fossils found buried in Montana. The long-standing dispute is between landowners and mineral estates in Garfield County, who are making competing claims for the rights to the valuable finds." -
Montana Supreme Court overturns parental rights termination
KX News: "The state failed to make a reasonable effort to reunite a woman with the son who was taken away from her after he was born with methamphetamine in his system, the Montana Supreme Court ruled." -
Montana Supreme Court upholds 1882 right
Billings Gazette: "The Montana Supreme Court has upheld the oldest water right on Flatwillow Creek, dating back to 1882, according to an opinion filed on Tuesday." -
Mont.: Court delay leads to dismissal of aggravated assault charge
U.S. News: "The Montana Supreme Court has ordered a District Court in northwestern Montana to dismiss an aggravated assault charge against a state prison inmate who pleaded no contest to hitting a bicyclist with his car in May 2016." -
New Montana law ends statute of limitations on child sex abuse
Great Falls Tribune: "A bill to change Montana's child sexual abuse laws, including lifting the statute of limitations for prosecuting such crimes, was signed Tuesday by Gov. Steve Bullock." -
Mont.: 'Riot' of miner's wives led to protection for officials, which Butte lawsuit may overturn
KPVI News: "If a former Butte woman wins her case against the Montana Board of Medical Examiners, she may reverse a judicial rule that was established when miners’ wives rioted against the Anaconda Company 73 years ago." -
Mont.: New law clears up who owns fossils in state
Choteau Acantha: "Two Medicine Dinosaur Center researchers in Bynum are applauding Gov. Steve Bullock and the Legislature for clarifying Montana law that dinosaur fossils found on private property belong to the surface rights owners, not the mineral rights owners when there is a split estate."