Goetz, Geddes & Gardner, P.C.

01/10/2023

Goetz, Geddes & Gardner P.C. is pleased to announce that Hannah S. Willstein, originally of Missoula, has joined the firm as an associate attorney. Hannah is a 2016 graduate of Colorado College and a 2021 graduate of the Alexander Blewett III School of Law at the University of Montana where she served on the Montana Law Review. Hannah recently completed a federal clerkship with the Honorable Kathleen DeSoto before moving to Bozeman to join the Goetz team

09/19/2022

Goetz firm founder Jim Goetz and partner Jeff Tierney, together with Raph Graybill of the Graybill Law Firm, recently prevailed in a constitutional dispute with the State of Montana concerning a number of controversial bills passed by the 2021 Montana Legislature. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of a coalition of Montana college students, faculty, administrators, public employees, and former Montana University System leaders. They challenged House Bill 102 (the “campus carry” bill, authorizing concealed and open carry of fi****ms on campus and in classrooms), House Bill 112 (banning transgender women from participating in collegiate athletics), and portions of Senate Bill 319 (prohibiting student organizations from engaging in certain political organization activities and undercutting funding for such groups), arguing that each bill amounted to improper political interference with the institutional autonomy of Montana’s institutions of higher learning. House Bill 102 was recently held unconstitutional by the Montana Supreme Court in a companion case, in which the Goetz team participated as amici curiae on behalf of the MUS students and faculty. Last week, Judge McElyea of the Montana Eighteenth Judicial District Court, Gallatin County, declared that each of the remaining challenged bills unconstitutionally violates Article X, Section 9 of the Montana Constitution, which reserves for the Montana Board of Regents the power and responsibility to supervise and manage the Montana University System. The court permanently enjoined any application or enforcement of the unconstitutional bills on all Montana University System campuses.

A district court has ruled two laws and a portion of a third passed by the Montana Legislature in 2021 related to the higher education system are unconstitutional.

09/16/2022

Founding partner Jim Goetz will be discussing Montana's stream access legacy on September 22nd at 7:00 p.m.

Goetz will deliver “The Waters Belong to Everyone: The Montana Stream Access Cases” at 7 p.m. in Cruzado Auditorium.

07/12/2021

Great story in Outside Bozeman about PLWA's efforts to protect access to public water and land in Montana.

A David & Goliath story: How the diminutive Public Land & Water Access Association fights massive monied interests to keep roads, trails, and other access points open for Montana recreationists. Seyler Lane. Boadle Road. Hughes Creek.

01/15/2021

Today, we learned the Ravalli County Commissioners finally removed the illegal gate blocking the Hughes Creek Road. Congrats to PLWA on another success protecting public access in Montana!

We are thrilled to announce that thanks to the steadfast efforts of our colleagues at the Ravalli County Fish & Wildlife Association, Goetz Law Firm, PLWA supporters, and pressure from a community that ardently cares about public access, Commissioners in Ravalli County have removed the illegal gate across Hughes Creek Road! This is a big win for public access and for the people of Montana. After ten years of work by local outdoors advocates, an important access route to the Bitterroot National Forest has been restored, returning public lands to public hands.

Upon hearing of the win, PLWA President Bernard Lea commented, “Like almost all of our access issues, public access triumphs in the end. But it takes patience, persistence, and having the facts on your side.”

A big thanks to everyone who helped us see this through to the end. Read more about it at the link in our bio.

01/08/2021

Today, January 7, 2021, partner Devlan Geddes sent a letter to Governor Greg Gianforte and Austin Knudsen, Montana Attorney General on behalf of Public Lands/Water Access Association (PLWA) and the Ravalli County Fish & Wildlife Association asking them to intervene on behalf of Montanans to remove an illegal gate blocking Hughes Creek Road located in Ravalli County. The Montana Supreme Court has held Hughes Creek Road is a county road that should be open to public use. The road begins at its junction with West Fork Road near the confluence of Hughes Creek and the West Fork of the Bitterroot River and accesses thousands of acres of public land and water in Southwest Montana.

Unfortunately, our clients have been forced to ask the State of Montana to step in because, despite its previous commitment otherwise, Ravalli County now refuses to follow Montana law requiring it to remove the illegal gate. Ravalli County is refusing to act because the neighboring landowners have threatened violence toward anyone who attempts to remove the unlawful gate or access the road. Furthermore, the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office has indicated it will require a court order before it will lend peace-keeping assistance to those who perform work to remove the gate.

Despite Ravalli County's repeated acknowledgement that it has a clear legal duty to remove the gate that is blocking public access to public land and waters, it is refusing to act. Instead, the County is surrendering to the vigilantism of a few menacing landowners along Hughes Creek Road who flout Montana law and threaten harm to anyone trying to remove the gate or use the road.

Mr. Geddes's letter may be found in its entirety at the link below. We encourage all Montanans to contact the Governor and Attorney General asking them stand up for public access and law and order in Montana.

05/22/2020

We are proud to support Hawks Night Live in its final year. Our community is full of hard working, talented young people. Congrats to all of the performers. Please support Bozeman Friends of Music if you have the capability.

Hawks Night LiveThursday, May 21, 7:30 p.m. View fullsize Donate to BHS music programs!Bozeman Friends of Music is the booster club for Bozeman High School’s music programs; thank you for supporting music programs despite social-distancing restrictions. —for BHS music programs—

02/26/2020

Congratulations to partner Devlan Geddes on his selection to the Montana State University Athletic Hall of Fame. He will be inducted into the 2020-2021 class. Devlan is not in the photo.

Montana State announced its 2020-21 Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame induction class at the 2019 Hall of Fame banquet on Friday, February 21...