Friedel v. Lindeen

Friedel, LLC served a request on the Office of the Montana State Auditor, Commissioner of Securities and Insurance (Auditor) made pursuant to the “Right to Know” provision of the Montana Constitution. The Auditor provided Friedel a privilege log for nine documents that were not released. Friedel failed to object to the privilege log for over three months. Friedel subsequently filed another right-to-know request again asking for the information covered by the privilege log. Before the district court ruled on the request, the Auditor waived privilege and sent Friedel the requested information. Thereafter, Friedel requested attorney fees pursuant to Mont. Code Ann. 2-3-221. The district court denied the request, concluding that Friedel took an unreasonable approach to resolving the discovery dispute. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Friedel’s request for attorney fees. View "Friedel v. Lindeen" on Justia Law