Goguen asks court to toss police chief's lawsuit

Whitefish businessman and philanthropist Michael Goguen has asked Flathead District Court to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him last month by Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial, alleging Goguen attempted to derail a 2017 criminal investigation and also tried to get Dial fired from his job.

Goguen, through the law firm Holland & Hart of Billings, filed a response Jan. 9 to Dial’s lawsuit, asserting Dial’s complaint is “nothing short of a malicious attempt to retaliate against Goguen for complaints made about Dial’s performance as a public servant and to eliminate Goguen’s rights under the First Amendment and Montana Law.”

The response continues, stating “Dial is not a king immune from criticism. Instead, he is a public official serving in a position of public trust as Whitefish’s Chief of Police. And as such, he is susceptible to criticism just as he is accountable to the citizens he serves.”

The request for dismissal claims Dial’s “efforts to silence Goguen and punish him for seeking redress from the Whitefish city government and state of Montana have no basis in law. Even at this stage where his allegations are taken as true, Dial’s claims are defeated by the First Amendment and Montana law regarding privileged communications.”

Dial’s lawsuit alleges Goguen attempted to thwart a 2017 criminal investigation that resulted in the “negotiated resignation” of a Whitefish Police Department lead detective. The complaint alleges that when Goguen learned the detective, identified as Shane Erickson in a complaint with the Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council, had resigned and he wasn’t able to secure favoritism with the Whitefish Police Department, Goguen engaged in a variety of retaliatory conduct, aimed at maliciously, intentionally and purposefully interfering with Dial’s economic interests and employment with the department.

Goguen and Kalispell attorney Richard Hegger recently spoke with the Daily Inter Lake about claims made in the lawsuit. Goguen maintains he’s done nothing wrong and was instead the victim of an extortion effort and an orchestrated attempt to discredit him, which Goguen says involved Dial and a former business associate.

“It’s disappointing to see this lawsuit by the chief of police from the town and county I love,” Goguen told the Inter Lake. “For the last three years I have been the victim of a cooperative effort to extort money from me.”

Dial alleges that Goguen befriended Detective Erickson, donated money to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force that would have created a job specifically for Erickson, and took him on an all-expense paid elk hunt in Colorado on his private jet — all at the time the criminal investigation was supposed to be occurring. Dial’s lawsuit asserts that Goguen’s conduct caused Erickson to fail to open any report and properly investigate the matter, and that Erickson turned a blind eye to potential crimes and failed to document several communications he had with Goguen that were related to the investigation.

Goguen said the elk hunting trip Erickson joined him on was not meant to influence the detective.

“Erickson’s wife taught my kid at Whitefish and I had become good friends with [him],” Goguen said. “I had already bought an elk hunt, which my brother was to accompany me, but he passed away, so I invited Erickson to go on the trip instead.”

Goguen refutes the police chief’s claims, and instead alleges it was Dial, as well as former friend Bryan Gregg Waterfield Nash who acted with malicious intent.

Nash, 54, of Woodside, California, was charged in U.S. District Court in Missoula in June 2019 with stalking and extortion in a case that involved a wealthy investor from Whitefish who is referred to as a “Businessman 1” in the court document. Nash pleaded not guilty to the charges in August.

The indictment alleges that from December 2013 through June 2019 in Whitefish and in California, Nash threatened to damage the victim’s reputations by releasing information about alleged criminal behavior to law enforcement and to the media if the individuals refused to pay him substantial sums of money up to $15 million at one point.

In a complaint against Dial filed with the Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council, Goguen alleged Dial had been communicating with Nash about investigating Goguen, despite knowing about Nash’s “vendetta” against Goguen.

“It is not certain whether Chief Dial actually knows that the Nash vendetta constitutes criminal extortion and stalking, but as a Chief of Police he should be cognizant of the possibility that he is aiding potentially criminal acts,” the complaint states. “At a minimum, his communication with Nash is grossly improper.”

Goguen also claims that Dial befriended a former business associate who Goguen alleges defrauded him of millions.

“He fooled me. He was running a company that I was funding and by midsummer 2018, I was suspicious of him. I found that he had defrauded me of $10 million,” Goguen told the Inter Lake.

Goguen claims the former associate developed a friendship with Dial and later became a volunteer with the police department.

Hegger provided a copy of an email dated Dec. 10, 2018, that came from Dial and was sent to the associate. It said, “Forgot to forward this to you.”

According to Goguen’s complaint with Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council, Dial allegedly compounded his “malicious intent” by forwarding the email to the business associate with the statement, “Having a little fun with Mr. Nash.”