As a pair of legal cases pitting Mines Management against a group of Idaho claimholders continues down a path of appeals, some interesting scenarios are potentially at play.

A U.S. District Judge in Missoula ruled May 5 that Mines Management may access the 14,000-foot adit, or underground tunnel, into the potential Montanore Mine site. The condemnation ruling, barring appeal, gives Mines Management right of way to pass through claims held by Arnold Bakie and others. Similar to when the government uses eminent domain, the parties can enter arbitration to determine the dollar value of just compensation that Mines Management will pay the claimholders for crossing their claims.

While the federal case does not question the validity of the Idaho individuals’ unpatented claims, a Montana state case between the two sides does. In March 2013, District Court Judge James Wheelis ruled the Idaho groups’ claims south of Libby were valid and granted summary judgment preventing Mines Management from crossing the unpatented claims, which the claimholders allege are in line with the adit. The ruling was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court.

On January 8, the Supreme Court remanded Wheelis’ ruling of injunctive relief for Walter Lindsey, one of the cases’ defendants.

The Montana Supreme Courts’ remanding document reads: “Without factual findings combined with a logical and reasoned analysis under the governing statutes and interpretive case law, it was impossible for us to evaluate the parties’ arguments on appeal.”

As the case was sent back to Wheelis, attorneys for Mines Management requested a change of judge. Wheelis denied this motion, and Mines Management appealed that denial February 21. The appeal is currently under review.

Amy Guth, a Libby attorney representing claimholder Arnold Bakie, said Mines Management conceded in federal court the legitimacy of her client’s claims of ownership that are being contested simultaneously in the state lawsuit.

Glenn Dobbs, CEO of Mines Management, said that was not true.

“The federal judge was not going to go there,” Dobbs said of examining the validity of Bakie’s claims. “For condemnation it makes no difference if the claims are legitimate or not. It happens all the time that two sides disagree on an issue, but are able to come to an agreement. Conceding validity is not a requisite for an agreement.”

Looking ahead, Dobbs said it is possible that a three-member arbitration panel could determine just compensation that Mines Management could pay the claimholders for the potential damage posed to the crossed claims. The panel would be formed of one person of each side’s choosing and a third member selected by the two representing members of the arbitration panel.

Dobbs said just compensation could be anywhere from nothing to a few thousand dollars.

Attempts to further discuss the case with Guth were unsuccessful, although it is likely that the claimholders would suggest higher numbers than Dobbs. The mine is estimated to hold 230 million ounces of silver.

Much remains uncertain about the mine site that could potentially employ hundreds in Lincoln County. Neither lawsuit has exhausted the full appeals process, which means both previous rulings could still be overturned upon challenge.