Attorneys for the city of Kalispell are asking a district court judge to invalidate a construction lien placed on the municipal airport by a local contractor who claims to be owed roughly $271,699 for work performed at the airfield.

R Porch Construction, Inc. filed an initial construction lien, listing Diablo Investments and the city as contracting owners, in Flathead County District Court on June 20. The firm filed an amended lien, adding the Kalispell Airport Association as a contracting owner, two days later.

The documents allege that R Porch Construction erected a steel building, poured foundation and slab, installed water lines, insulation and garage doors, and performed site work for Diablo Investments at the U.S. 93 South municipal airport. The work was reportedly carried out between August 2022 and June 2023.

In a petition for declaratory judgment filed July 20, city attorneys argue that the lien improperly targets the municipality, which never entered an agreement with R Porch Construction.

The petition argues that the city signed a master lease with the Kalispell Airport Association in 2017, charging it with providing “all management services for the operations of the airport” for the life of the agreement. The association, in turn, entered into a 20-year, fixed base operator lease with Red Eagle Aviation Inc., and in early 2023 leased a portion of the airport to Diablo Investments.

Diablo, according to the petition, had plans to construct hangers on its leased property.

Work on the project halted in the spring after, according to the petition, city officials became aware of construction issues. Those problems included an improperly installed water pipe and an 430-foot long open trench, court documents said.

On June 2, an R Porch Construction employee emailed city officials telling them that Diablo Investments had ordered the work to stop, according to the petition.

By June 23, city officials had received a copy of the lien via certified mail and responded to R Porch Construction on June 26, arguing that the lien was invalid and asking for its release as well as documentation that the contractor improperly filed it.

“The city never entered into any contract with [R Porch Construction],” reads the petition.

The petition argues that the liens are unlawful, violating public policy, and since public property cannot be forcibly sold it is impossible to enforce. It also asks that the court award the city attorneys fees and costs associated with the case.

City Attorney Johnna Preble declined to comment on the litigation.

“Because we’re working through the court system, I don’t have a comment,” she said.

R PORCH Construction initially sought the case’s dismissal, at least until ongoing arbitration between it and Diablo Investments concluded. Lawyers for the firm argued that until it attempts to foreclose on the property no justiciable controversy for the court to weigh in on existed.

“…[T]his matter is not ripe for resolution via a declaratory judgment as [the city of Kalispell] has suffered no injury and [R Porch Construction] has not foreclosed on its construction lien and may never do so,” lawyers for the contractor argued in an Aug. 10 filing.

Failing dismissal, attorneys for the firm argued that the court should stay the matter while arbitration is under way.

Judge Danni Coffman, who is presiding over the case, rejected R Porch Construction’s motion in late August. In her order, Coffman noted that the court would not stay proceedings owing to negotiations between other parties, namely the arbitration between Diablo Investments and R Porch Construction.

She also rejected the contractor’s argument that the city had not suffered any harm from the construction lien. In her order, Coffman wrote, “A construction lien constitutes a cloud on the city’s title.”

“Whether or not the various defendants’ dispute over payment and construction defects will be resolved by the resolution of the city’s request for declaratory relief is immaterial,” Coffman wrote. “In other words, the city’s rights do not hinge on whether Diablo and [R Porch Construction] resolve their own dispute.”

In response, lawyers for R Porch Construction answered the city’s petition last week, denying that the construction lien is unlawful and offering affirmative defenses. Among them, the firm’s lawyers argue that the city failed to present a redressable claim, municipal officials fell short of mitigating their own damages and any damages suffered by the city were caused by its conduct.

A hearing on the petition is not yet scheduled.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.