A lawsuit brought by a Boise developer that hoped to overturn a state decision not to swap 26 square miles around McCall into the developer’s control has ground to a halt. And now the state wants it thrown out.
In September of 2021, BoiseDev told you about Trident’s petition for judicial review against the Idaho Department of Lands – challenging the agency’s decision to deny an intricate land swap proposal that would move much of the state endowment land in and around McCall from state ownership – to Trident’s private control.
The case had a few initial hearings in front of Fourth District Judge Samuel Hoagland in late 2021, with the two sides arguing over which documents should be considered by the court in the case.
Then, in February 2022, the case went silent.
Now, a year later, the state is asking Hoagland to throw out the lawsuit due to inactivity.
Angela Schaer Kaufmann, Deputy Attorney General in Attorney General Rául Labrador’s office, wrote in a court filing that the move “is predicated upon the fact that no pleadings or other documents have been filed with the court, nor any action taken by petitioners, for 364 days as of the date this motion is filed.”
The state said the court wrote to David Arkoosh, the attorney for Trident, last April looking to set a hearing date, but that Arkoosh did not reply – and no other activity has been taken in the case.
The state wants Hoagland to throw out the suit with prejudice, which would mean Trident could not bring the claim again.
Trident has not replied to the motion from the state, which was made on February 17th of this year. BoiseDev asked Trident Holdings principals Alec Williams and Arkoosh for comment Friday, but neither replied.
The judge in the case issued a notice of intent to dismiss the case late Friday.
Trident has largely gone silent since last February. The firm worked to convince the Idaho Legislature to pass a law rewiring the land swap process during the 2022 legislature, but the concept did not get traction.
