OT Mining’s lawsuit against Jefferson County, the Basin Art Mine and other county residents disputing the sale of a collection of its local holdings at sheriff’s auction in 2023 was dealt a significant blow last week, when the attorneys representing the mining firm withdrew from the litigation.
“I’m just so glad that this seems to be over,” said Bryher Herak, the Basin resident who purchased and renovated a series of former OT Mining properties and converted them into what is now the Basin Art Mine, an exhibition and performance space just off Basin Street. While the lawsuit against Herak and other purchasers is technically still active, OT Mining is now significantly limited in its ability to challenge the land parcel transfers.
Jesse Kodadek and William T. Casey, the representing attorneys for OT Mining from the law firm Parsons Behle and Latimer’s Missoula office, withdrew Sept. 23 from the lawsuit in the wake of a Sept. 10 prohibition order issued in Canada against OT Mining CEO Rosemary Christensen preventing her from acting, in any capacity, on OT Mining’s behalf until 2029.
“When I first saw that there’d been a withdrawal, I nearly fell out of my chair,” said Jefferson County Attorney Steve Haddon. “Why can’t everything be this easy? The lawsuit is technically still active, but without some sort of corporate action from a director or board member they’re seemingly stuck.”
The prohibition order, issued Sept. 12 by the Financial Markets Administrative Tribunal in the Province of Quebec, extended from one issued by the same court against Christensen in 2019 in the wake of a lawsuit brought against OT Mining by a consortium of its investors that had accused the firm of obfuscating financial data to fraudulently solicit new investment.
The 2019 order prohibited Christensen “from acting as a director or officer of an issuer, dealer, adviser, or investment fund manager for a period of five years.” In its new ruling, the Tribunal noted that Christensen had failed to comply with the original order. And it once more barred her from investment activities for five years.
The decision prevents Christensen from designating another individual from representing OT Mining’s interests in Jefferson County. Legacy Mining CEO and Helena resident Owen Voigt, who had solicited Parsons Behle and Latimer to represent OT Mining at Christensen’s request, is now unable to move forward with the lawsuit.
While Casey did not respond to The Monitor’s request for comment in time for the publication of this article, Voigt has claimed that another, unnamed director at OT Mining had previously given him authority to submit tax payments to Jefferson County on the firm’s behalf. Should this unnamed director choose to continue to challenge the property transfers, and formally designate Voigt as OT Mining’s proxy, Voigt could be able to hire new counsel and continue the lawsuit.
“Depending on what OT decides to do, this may take months,” said Voigt. “Right now it seems as if these people have succeeded in stealing the land, but we’re looking into all options.”
“I’m really not sure where they may go with this,” said Haddon. “It would be ideal for Jefferson County and the residents named in the case for it to be dismissed, but it really depends on what the court orders.”
Haddon explained that the most likely next step, barring a specific request or proposed course of action brought by the defendants, would be for the Fifth Judicial District Court to order OT Mining to produce counsel by a specific date. Failure to do so would likely result in the case being dismissed.
No hearing date has been set at this time, nor has a decision been brought by the court regarding OT Mining’s requested injunction against property owners from making further changes or improvements to the properties.
