Three years ago, the Vinyard fire burned more than 15,000 acres just north of the city limits.
Since then, five civil lawsuits have been filed related to the fire, including three filed earlier this month.
Open burning prohibited in Cascade County due to weather conditions
In July 2018, Robert and Chris Stephens filed suit against Garrity Ranch and Joe Garrity for starting the fire while baling hay on property near the Stephens property.
In December 2018, Harold and Shirlie Klinker filed suit against Joe and Pat Garrity and Garrity Ranch as well as Deere and Company. The suit alleged that the Klinkers contracted the Garrity operation to harvest a hay crop on land leased by Klinker adjacent to the Klinker property when the fire started. The suit alleges that Deere and Company manufactured or designed a defective baler that failed.
Earlier this month, three similar suits were filed against Deere and Company, Moodie Implement Company and Frontline Ag Solutions in relation to the Vinyard fire.
The first suit was filed by Robert Doran, Gary Gunderson, Mark Person, Chris Stephens, Robert Stephens, Robert Vernon, Shelley Vernon and NorthWestern Corporation.
In 2016, Northwestern Energy told the Tribune that 28 transmission and distribution poles were damaged by the fire.
The second suit was filed by Joe Garrity doing business as Garrity Ranches and Mountain West Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company.
The third was filed by the Vaughn Volunteer Fire Department.
According to the lawsuits, Joe Garrity purchased a John Deere Model 567 round baler from Moodie Implement Company at its John Deere dealership in Great Falls in 2014.
On the morning of July 26, 2016, Joe Garrity and his son were baling hay when the driver’s side lower roller bearing failed causing the fire, according to the lawsuits.
The bale odometer read 16,500 bales at the time of the fire, according to the lawsuit, which was within the intended design lifetime.
The suits allege that the baler and roller bearing were in a defective condition because of a defective design that caused the driver’s side lower roller bearing to fail, resulting in the extreme hearing of the bearing conditions and the Vinyard fire, damaging crops, pastures, fencing, power lines, power poles and other property, as well as causing the volunteer fire department to incur costs for labor, vehicle use and equipment use while suppressing the fire.
No action has been taken on any of the cases yet in civil court. Civil cases tend to move slowly and fall below criminal cases in order of priority at district court.
