Exclusive: Supreme Court Hopeful Amy Eddy Accused of Bias, Faces Disqualification in High-Profile Land Case

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Eddy mischaracterized fellow judge and Supreme Court opponent Dan Wilson’s ruling, misstated what the Montana Supreme Court held in 2019 and 2021, and contradicted her own 2023 ruling in her recent denial of land owner’s dismissal request.

The election in November for the vacant Montana Supreme Court seat is between two judges who share a lot in common. Both judges are from Flathead County, both judges have been serving for nearly a decade, and both judges have made rulings concerning the Thorco vs. Whitefish Credit Union (WCU) case. However, only one of the two is now the subject of a formal disqualification motion, filed under Montana’s judicial bias statute

In Eddy’s campaign rhetoric, she claims that when she gets to the Supreme Court she will “protect our freedoms, guard our constitution, hold criminals accountable, and apply the law fairly,” as seen in the campaign statement below.

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To summarize Eddy’s own stated intentions: she has pledged to rule in an unbiased, fair manner, applying the law equally regardless of political affiliation. Those are noble intentions, and certainly what one would expect from a Supreme Court justice. But what if those words are just that — words — while real-world examples of Eddy’s rulings fall far short of those noble goals?”

As stated previously, the Thorco vs WCU land dispute has been active for 10+ years and has touched multiple court venues on both the state and federal level. In fact, there are currently cases in District Court, the Bankruptcy Court, Federal District Court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Of the 2 cases currently in Flathead District Court, one is in front of Dan Wilson and one is in front of Amy Eddy.

The case in front of Eddy stems from a lis pendens filed by Dennis Thornton against the disputed property, a move that prompted developer and current “owner” of the Somers property, Neal Bouma to file a lawsuit against Thornton in dispute of Thornton’s claims outlined in the lis pendens. It’s that case that is in front of Eddy, a case that you can get background on by clicking here.

Recently, Thornton filed a motion to dismiss the case against him filed by Bouma in Eddy’s court. Eddy denied Thornton’s motion, which is not highly unusual on its face, but it’s the language and false information in Eddy’s order, which Thornton would later cite among his grounds for seeking her disqualification, that raise the more serious concerns.

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Read Eddy’s denial of Thornton’s Motion to Dismiss by clicking the image below

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In response to Eddy’s denial, Thornton filed a motion last week to have her disqualified from the case due to bias against him. You can read the full text of the motion by clicking the image below.

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To save yourself some reading, a chart summarizing the allegations against Eddy has been provided below

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Click Image to Enlarge

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What happens now is that Thornton’s motion effectively halts all substantive rulings by Eddy, while the matter gets referred to the Montana Supreme Court. If the affidavit is compliant with the statute’s requirements, the Chief Justice assigns a different district judge to hear and decide the disqualification question — not the Montana Supreme Court itself, and not Eddy.

Be sure to stay tuned-in to NorthWest Liberty News on video at https://flatheadtruth.com and on our website at https://northwestlibertynews.com as we follow this case to it’s conclusion

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