Indeed, game farm owners have no "absolute or unfettered right to operate an alternative livestock ranch as they see fit," Haddon said. I-143 "advances legitimate non-illusory state interests in protecting Montana wildlife."
Haddon's nine-page ruling in U.S. District Court in Great Falls is the latest - but most consequential - in a continuing series of legal decisions upholding the ballot initiative passed by Montana voters Nov. 7, 2000.
Not so, said Haddon's ruling, which upheld the initiative and dismissed a lawsuit filed in federal court by game farmers Robert Spoklie and Kim Kafka.
Both men have other, similar lawsuits pending in state courts.
"Game farmers and their lawyers have been bullying us with frivolous lawsuits for the past two years," said David Stalling, one of I-143's staunchest advocates and president of the Montana Wildlife Federation. "This ruling is a nice vindication for what we've said all along: I-143 is regulatory, not a takings."
"This ruling was the biggie," he said Tuesday.
Sarah McMillan, an attorney representing the Wildlife Federation - which intervened in the lawsuit on the state's behalf - said game farmers "simply have no valid claims."
"The decision is fairly short and sweet," she said. "There is no fundamental right to run your business as you see fit. A game-farm license is a privilege, not a vested right. It can be taken away or modified."
The lawsuit contained seven separate claims for relief, six of which attacked I-143 on constitutional grounds (equal protection, commerce clause, due process, fundamental rights, vested rights and taking of property). In addition, it complained that Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Jeff Hagener's enforcement of I-143 violated limitations on police power.
Haddon ruled in the state's favor on all seven counts.
"Montana has long recognized the capacity of the state in its police power to regulate commercial activities," the judge wrote. "I-143 is but an example of that recognized power."
"The record supports a rational basis for passage of I-143 in furtherance of legitimate state interests," he said.
Assistant attorney general Chris Tweeten, who represented the state in the lawsuit, said Haddon is "the third judge who has ruled on these constitutional claims - and ruled there is no constitutional defect in I-143."
"Sooner or later, the litigation on that question needs to come to an end," he said. At least three more lawsuits challenging the initiative's constitutionality are pending in state courts.
Tweeten said he will now argue that the constitutional claims have been resolved against Spoklie and Kafka, so they are not allowed to re-litigate them in state court.
The "takings" claim - which insists the state of Montana owes game farmers money for the diminished value of their property - will still be heard on the state level, as Haddon said the federal court cannot really render its decision until a state court has ruled on the claims.
Haddon did, however, point out that "developed law" contends that property owners be compensated only if they are deprived of "all beneficial or productive use options" by the government's actions. In this case, game-farm owners still have hundreds of other possible uses for their property.
They simply cannot bring clients onto the property, charge them a fee and allow them to hunt the captive animals.
While limited on the takings issue, Haddon's decision is significant because the Montana Legislature nearly threw out I-143 during the last session because of the claims, Stalling said. "Lots of legislators were bullied and scared by lawyers from the game-farm industry. They were told the state would have to pay millions of dollars in takings penalties."
"This ruling ought to ease legislators' fears," he said. "This is a pretty good sign that game farmers don't have much chance of getting this overturned."
Suzanne Taylor, one of the attorneys representing game-farm owners, said no decision has been reached on whether to appeal Haddon's ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Discussions were just beginning Tuesday afternoon, she said.
Spoklie did not return a telephone message from the Missoulian asking him to comment on the decision.
Reporter Sherry Devlin can be reached at 523-5268 or at sdevlin@missoulian.com
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