A man who fought for more than a decade to maintain his rights to a mining claim in northwestern Montana died two days after a jury awarded him nearly $2.6 million.
A Lincoln County jury awarded the money to Arnold Bakie for a mining company’s use of Bakie’s claims to access an estimated $8 billion worth of silver and copper claims beneath the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness.
Bakie, 70, was killed in a logging accident on Oct. 19, the Flathead Beacon reported .
In 2007, Mines Management Inc. subsidiary Montanore Minerals Corp. sought to have Bakie’s claims declared invalid. A state judge ruled they were valid, so the companies sought rights of way to tunnel through the claims.
A federal judge allowed the easements, but he said Bakie and other investors, including former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, were entitled to fair compensation. Jurors awarded the others $750,000.
Officials with Hecla Mining, which owns the Montanore Mine, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
Stephen Brown, an attorney representing the investor group, said he expects Montanore will appeal the jury’s decision.
Topics Lawsuits
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Florida Jury Returns $779M Verdict for Family of Security Guard Killed at Gambling Cafe 
Truckers Who Fail English Tests Are Pulled Off Roads in Crackdown 
Acrisure CEO Greg Williams Makes $400M Commitment to Michigan State University 
In Alabama, Shot Employee Gets No Workers’ Comp and No Employer’s Liability 
