Justice: system failed local couple

SANDPOINT — Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Jones is calling for reforms after it emerged that a Bonner County couple could be on the hook for a quarter million dollars in fees and costs in a $1,600 timber trespass dispute.

“It appears to me that the legal system catastrophically failed Kenneth and Sally Eyer,” Jones said in a nine-page decision published on Monday.

The octogenarian couple was sued by their neighbors after Idaho Forest Group inadvertently strayed onto their property while harvesting timber on the Eyers’ land.

Approximately $1,600 worth of logs were harvested from the property of Russell and Laura Stevens, although they were entitled to triple damages under Idaho law.

The Eyers and the Stevens ultimately settled the suit for $50,000, according to court documents.

The Eyers went on to sue Idaho Forest Group on grounds that the Coeur d’Alene-based company assumed a duty to locate the boundary between the couples’ respective parcels.

A jury, however, disagreed and found that IFG had assumed no such duty. As a result, IFG was awarded $97,800 in attorney fees.

The Eyers appealed, arguing the basis for their claims did not involve a commercial transaction. The couple further argued that they didn’t sell the timber for commercial purposes because the proceeds were used to pay medical bills.

Supreme Court justices unanimously disagreed, holding that earning income is the quintessential act of engaging in commerce. The high court also awarded $97,800 in attorney fees on appeal to IFG.

However, Jones specially concurred.

Jones noted that the cost to the Eyers had swollen to $185,700, a sum which didn’t factor in all of their own attorney fees or the fees on appeal IFG was entitled to. Jones estimated that the total financial impact to the Eyers’ could easily approach $250,000.

“It is not clear from the record how the Eyers ended up in this position but it is a tragedy and does not speak well for the legal system,” Jones wrote. “It is imperative that court procedures be reformed to expedite the process and reduce the cost of litigation to avoid a repeat of this unfortunate story.”