Langston seeks injunction on JP cuts

Stormy Langston, the Eureka-area justice of the peace whose office has been slated for closure on Dec. 31 by Lincoln County commissioners, has hired a Kalispell attorney seeking an injunction to halt the elimination of her office.

Langston and Delora Ann Haidle, who is the domestic violence witness advocate in the Eureka Justice of the Peace Court, has hired Timothy Baldwin to represent them in the case that seeks a preliminary injunction and complaint for a permanent injunction and declaratory judgment. The case names as defendants the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners and John Does. Also affected are two court clerks.

Baldwin filed the paperwork last Friday in 19th Judicial District Court. Langston has been a justice of the peace since 2007. Haidle has been a victims advocate since 2005.

In the filing, Baldwin alleges that consolidation of the office must include a public hearing within 20 days (MCA 7-4-2306) of the Dec. 6 vote, which it did not. Instead, the vote was 24 days afterward on Dec. 30.

“Basically, they didn’t follow proper procedure,” Langston said. “There were supposed to have the hearing in 20 days and they did in 24 days. It’s a huge burden on everyone on the north end of the county. If this goes through, people will have to travel 140 miles round trip.”

However, County Attorney Bernie Cassidy wrote in a Jan. 16 letter to Langston  the resolutions to reduce the justices of the peace and county superintendent were signed on Dec. 11, well within the 20-day limit on Dec. 30.