Foster v. Kovich
Montana Supreme Court
673 P.2d 1239, 207 Mont. 139 (1983)

- Written by Joe Cox, JD
Facts
David Foster (plaintiff), the mayor of East Helena, Montana, had filed a suit seeking a temporary injunction prohibiting a recall election. Foster’s basis for seeking relief was that the recall petition did not establish legally sufficient grounds for his recall under Montana state law. The Montana law allowed for recall based on a lack of fitness, incompetence, official misconduct, violating the oath of office, or felony conviction. The petition alleged three grounds for Foster’s recall—that Foster demoted a police chief without cause and in violation of city ordinance, failed to follow the order of business for four city council meetings, and failed to conduct an orderly meeting of the city council on February 4, 1982, using vulgar language. That established, all of these allegations were couched only in very vague terms and failed to specify exactly how Foster had conducted himself in such a way as to allow recall. At the trial court level, the court granted a summary judgment against Foster, dissolving a temporary injunction to prohibit the election and ordering the election to occur. Foster then appealed, which temporarily suspended the trial court’s order.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Shea, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.