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City of Great Falls Served With Two Lawsuits Related to Releasing SME Documents to Public

By KFBB News Team

Story Created: Mar 31, 2010 at 5:06 PM MST

Story Updated: Mar 31, 2010 at 10:15 PM MST

The city of Great Falls has been served with two lawsuits for $23,000 in attorney feed related to the Southern Montana Electric documents that were recently released to the public.

The Montana Environmental Information Center, also known as MEIC, has petitioned to the court for $16,500 in attorney fees and the Montana Newspaper Association is asking for another $6,500 in fees.

You may recall, MEIC filed suit to open those records between SME and the city, to the public. Earlier this month, a district judge out of Phillips County ruled those documents should be public, even after an appeal from SME, arguing the documents contained trade secrets. The judge refuted that appeal. MEIC stated that the records should be open since the city is a public entity, and citizens should know about the city's interest in SME's plan to build a power plant east of Great Falls.

City Attorney Jim Santoro will be filing a motion tomorrow, asking for more time to oppose these attorney fees. He says he will also be sending a letter later this week to the SME Board, asking to help pay for a good share of these fees.

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whatisanSME said on Wednesday, Mar 31 at 5:48 PM

you think it might be a good idea to explain what an SME is? or would it be too much to ask for a local news source to write a coherent story?

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