DILLON – A judge ruled Thursday that the estranged wife of the Yellowstone Club’s founder will not be allowed to intervene in a lawsuit against her husband filed by former cycling champ Greg Lemond.
District Judge Loren Tucker’s ruling stalls Edra Blixseth’s attempts to have her husband, Tim Blixseth, removed from the helm of the millionaires-only club.
Edra Blixseth says the club faces a liquidity crisis and is on the verge of bankruptcy — a claim Tim Blixseth and his lawyer dispute. She also says her husband has diverted club assets for his personal use, and she should therefore be installed as the club’s manager.
Edra Blixseth wanted to intervene in a lawsuit filed by Lemond, who along with friends and family members owns about 5 percent of the club.
They accused Tim Blixseth of trying to buy out their interests for a fraction of the real value. That suit was settled for $38 million, but only $18 million has been paid. Lemond and Tim Blixseth are disputing the terms of the final payment.
But Tucker said allowing Edra Blixseth to intervene would risk making the Lemond case too complicated and could further delay its resolution.
“This case is absolutely on the verge of becoming unmanageable,” he said. “It’s been described by others as mind-boggling and I don’t mind using the term complicated.”
But Tucker said Edra Blixseth would be allowed to make her case in a separate lawsuit.
The Blixseths put the 14,300-acre club together in the late 1990s after a set of land swaps with the U.S. Forest Service let them add to a block of land purchased in 1992 from the Plum Creek Timber Co.
Land at the club sells for at least $1 million an acre for smaller parcels and some homes are advertised for $10 million.