SANDPOINT — Counsel representing the Lake Pend Oreille School District in a lawsuit alleging a levy ballot defect is moving to exclude allegations that the district acted in bad faith and witnesses who did not vote in the contested levy vote.

Sarah Catherine Danielle Quade filed the motion in limine on March 13, 1st District Court records show. The motion is meant to settle evidentiary matters prior to trial, which is set for April.

The motion asks the district court to preclude counsel for taxpayer Don Skinner, Sandpoint attorney Stephen Smith, from requesting equitable relief and all testimony in support of court-ordered relief because the civil complaint in the case makes no mention of a request for such relief.

“As the plaintiff has not pled any claims for equitable relief, he should be barred from presenting any testimony or evidence at trial that would purport to support such claims not at issue before this court,” Quade said in the nine-page memo which accompanied the motion.

The motion further requests that Smith be prohibited from alleging at trial that the district acted in bad faith by not including language on the ballot advising voters of the levy’s financial impact on their pocketbooks. It also seeks to bar testimony from registered voters who declined to cast ballots in the levy election.

Quade argues that if any electors are called as witnesses, it should be limited to voters who participated in the election. She called testimony from non-voters too speculative and they may have sat out the election due to inconvenience, sickness or travel.

“Asking someone that did not vote to recall their thought process on Nov. 5, 2019, nearly five months ago at the time of trial, is irrational and based purely on speculation,” Quade wrote in the motion.

A hearing on the motion is set for March 20, although it was not clear on Monday if an Idaho Supreme Court order for lower courts to curtail its operations in civil cases until April 10 will would cause the hearing to be postponed.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.