Newest district judge takes office
KALISPELL, Mont. - Friends and colleagues believe a vivacious Kalispell attorney with a passion for justice and community service will be the perfect fit for the Flathead District Court bench.
Amy Eddy was sworn in to fill the seat vacated by Judge Ted O. Lympus.
"I look forward to meeting the legal needs of the community and fairly considering the perspectives of all the parties to work for the benefit of everyone," Eddy said of her appointment. "It's really nothing but an enormous privilege and responsibility to serve as a District Court judge."
Eddy is an Idaho native who worked at her family's lodge in Stanley, Idaho, before she graduated from the University of Montana School of Law in 2001. She began working in Flathead Valley law firms shortly thereafter. In her time as an attorney, she specialized in complex civil litigation and appeared before the Montana Supreme Court in more than a dozen instances.
When asked by the Judicial Nomination Commission about a moment that profoundly impacted her vision of the judiciary, Eddy recalled listening to Montana Supreme Court Justice James C. Nelson speak during a hotly contested re-election campaign.
"A member of the audience asked him why he didn't exercise his First Amendment rights to defend himself during the course of the campaign," Eddy wrote in her application for judgeship. "Justice Nelson responded that his own First Amendment rights would never outweigh a litigant's fundamental right to due process, including a fair and impartial judiciary. His commitment deeply influenced my view of our system of justice. While attorneys must be zealous advocates for their clients, they must also respect and defend the integrity of the judicial system so that all litigants may have a meaningful day in court."
An unrelenting passion for her clients, but balanced view of the law is exactly what attorney Michael Viscomi has observed while working with Eddy over the years. Viscomi is the mediator for cases in Flathead Valley. He has worked more than a dozen mediations where Eddy represented a client.
"She has the fine balance between being zealous for a client and being reasonable," Viscomi said, adding some attorneys are either too enthusiastic to reach a compromise or not passionate enough to get a good deal for their clients. "She knows how to balance those two extremes. Some lawyers are just a lot easier for mediations. She is a little bit more zealous about representing her client, but not in a bad way."
Viscomi said he believes Eddy's work ethic will lead her to get rulings out within a reasonable amount of time, something that is not always a given in the court setting.
"I feel very confident that (litigants) will be treated fairly and that she will listen to both sides and come to a reasonable ruling within the constraints of the law," Viscomi said. "A judge's job is to determine the facts, and apply those facts to the law and come up with a sound decision."
Application of the law is something that Kalispell attorney Santana Caballero stressed as important in her endorsement of Eddy in a letter to the Judicial Nomination Committee.
"A number of times, I have heard Ms. Eddy explain to her clients the law at issue and the reasons some of their issues would not succeed under the law," Caballero wrote. "She had the ability to do so in a straight unbiased manner. It takes a special kind of individual to explain complex law to a layperson in such a manner that the layperson understands the law after the discussion."
Eddy's relationship with her clients is something that Whitefish Fire Capt. Sarah Peterson said she appreciated as Eddy worked pro bono on a case for her. Peterson said that when she first encountered Eddy that she felt scared and alone, but after spending time with Eddy, her attitude changed, although Eddy was straightforward, didn't sugarcoat the case and admitted that Peterson might not have much luck in prevailing.
