City spent over $20,000 defending against Congressman Rehberg’s suit about a wildfire

The Billings Gazette is reporting that the city of Billings, Montana spent $20,761 in defending against the lawsuit filed by Representative Denny Rehberg, R-Montana. The congressman sought a monetary award from the city to compensate him and his wife for a 2008 wildfire that burned undeveloped property owned by the couple. He alleged that the fire department was negligent in allowing the fire to flare up 2 days after it was contained.

The city hired a lawyer and after much back and forth between attorneys on both sides, the city refused offers to settle. Congressman Rehberg, who is running for the Senate seat occupied by Senator John Tester, dropped the suit in November, 2011.

The newspaper reports that the city was billed for 151.8 hours of the attorney’s time, for a total of $20,638.50, plus $123.10 in costs.

An attorney for Representative Rehberg contacted at least two retired wildland firefighters  inquiring if they would be interested in working as expert witnesses for the lawsuit, but they refused.

We have written previously about Representative Rehberg’s lawsuit.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

5 thoughts on “City spent over $20,000 defending against Congressman Rehberg’s suit about a wildfire”

  1. I am guessing the nearly 20 volunteer departments that repsonded to that fire didnt get a thank you note in the mail, much less a donation. Some of those departments have little or no tax base and reply on hand me down bunker gear and bake sales.

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    1. Not just out of touch but very rich and married to a lawyer – a real Montana embarassment! Still some left-over “Wildland Firefighters for Tester” bumper stickers from the 2008 campaign available at “kona at bigsky.net”

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  2. Rehberg was one of the original members of the House “Tea Party Caucus” that wants to get government out of our lives – except when it’s to his economic benefit to have the taxpayer-funded government services IN his life or he wants to be involved in women’s health care issues. Let’s hope that the voters of Montana let him spend all of his time at the Billings subdivision for the rest of his days. Fighting wildland fires is tough enough without having to look over your shoulder for Congressmen and lawyers.

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  3. Its 243 days to the election. While it is still early, Reberg is having trouble raising money. Jon Tester is the only farmer in Congress and has one of the lowest net worths of anyone in Congress. Tester is perceived as being “everyman”.

    To Review:
    The fire resulted in zero monetary losses. All it involved was sage brush and cheat grass. While the Billings Fire Department was IC, more than a dozen departments responded, some from as far as 60 miles away.

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