A long-running lawsuit against Sturgeon County, regarding the way land was assembled for an upgrader project, is over.
According to court documents, the last three plaintiffs, in what was originally a $5.6 million lawsuit, have abandoned their claim.
Bonnie Schwing, as well as Dorothy and Kevin Reynolds, filed papers indicating they were discontinuing their action in late March.
Three other plaintiffs discontinued their action last September.
The suit was filed in 2005 and named Sturgeon County, as well as Synenco Energy and HMA land services.
It also named former mayor Helmut Hinteregger, former county commissioner Larry Kirkpatrick and a land agent working for HMA, Terry Jewell.
Hinteregger said the case was resolved without any settlement being paid and all sides have agreed to pay their own legal costs.
He said it was a major personal relief to have the case completed.
"When you have something like this hanging over your head for so long it does cause some aggravation and some concern."
Hinteregger also said it represented good news for the county.
"This matter is closed and the $5.6-million lawsuit is a thing of the past."
Sturgeon was insured for the costs, but risked an increase in premiums if it had lost the case.
Land sale
The principal issue in the lawsuit was a land sale Sturgeon County helped facilitate for Synenco Energy. The county was hoping to attract energy companies to build upgraders and Synenco was one of the first to come forward.
The suit claimed Sturgeon did not act in good faith when it negotiated with landowners to purchase land.
The landowners claimed they had not been given the opportunity to negotiate directly with Synenco, that they were told there was a maximum price of $4,000 per acre and that all landowners were being offered the same amount.
Synenco's proposed plant was submitted to the Energy Resources Conservation Board, but the company pulled it from consideration after costs began to skyrocket. Total Energy then purchased the company.
Concerns raised
According to the court documents, Sturgeon did have concerns about an option agreement with one landowner and suggested Synenco deal with the man directly.
In an e-mail contained within the court documents, between Kirkpatrick and a representative from Synenco, the then county commissioner made it clear the proposed option agreement was unacceptable.
"The county is not prepared to enter into this option agreement under these terms. The most obvious reason being the precedent it would set, not to mention the political fall-out."
Hinteregger said when he saw the proposed option agreement he knew it would not be seen positively in the public, which is why they suggested Synenco deal with that piece directly.
"That is exactly what we were concerned about, was the fact that, when the time came and it hit the papers and the public, there would be no going back from that."
Hinteregger said the one landowner also had an extensive cattle operation and there were sound reasons to pay more for his property, but the perception of the deal became something quite different.
"Nobody went out there and explained that the $10,000 per acre included all the outbuildings and the house and everything."
Current Mayor Don Rigney was in Ottawa and the Gazette was unable to contact him for comment.
Schwing was also contacted and declined to comment.
As of press time Sturgeon County staff did not have a full accounting of the legal costs incurred defending the suit.
