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(406) 315-3737Lawsuit concerning the September 28, 2025 lunch service at the Cascade County Detention Center
Cause No. CV-25-108-GF-JTJ · United States District Court for the District of Montana, Great Falls Division
This is a civil lawsuit pending in the United States District Court for the District of Montana. The plaintiffs are people who were in custody at the Cascade County Detention Center in Great Falls on September 28, 2025. The defendants are Summit Food Service, LLC, the company that provided food service at the jail, and two of its employees.
According to the Second Amended Complaint, an inmate working on the lunch line that day had a nosebleed during meal preparation and blood got into the food. The complaint alleges that another inmate tried to throw the food out, that a Summit supervisor stopped him and directed the food back onto the serving line, that the food was served to inmates, and that the person whose blood was in the food was positive for hepatitis C. The complaint further alleges that some plaintiffs have since tested positive for hepatitis C for the first time. The claims are negligence, violation of federal and Montana constitutional rights, battery, and punitive damages.
In their Answer, the defendants deny the claims, deny that anyone was harmed, and assert affirmative defenses. The Court has not decided any of these questions. What happened, and who is responsible, will be decided by a jury unless the case is resolved before trial.
Everything on this page comes from the public court file or from public statements by the parties and the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office. This page does not describe evidence, and Boland Aarab PLLP does not comment on the evidence outside the courtroom.
Public developments only. Each entry corresponds to a filing or court event you can verify on PACER.
We post the filings that matter most to plaintiffs. Routine filings are not posted here; all of them are on PACER. This page contains public filings only — never discovery, medical records, or client information.
| Date | Document | What it is | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 9, 2026 | Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave to File Third Amended Complaint (Doc. 23) | Asks the Court to allow five additional plaintiffs to join and to set a final joinder deadline. The proposed Third Amended Complaint is attached as Exhibit A. The defendants object. No ruling yet. | Download |
| July 17, 2026 | Defendants’ Answer to Second Amended Complaint (Doc. 22) | The defendants’ formal response denying the claims and asserting affirmative defenses. | Download |
| July 6, 2026 | Second Amended Complaint (Doc. 21) | The current complaint. Lists every plaintiff by name and states the claims against the defendants. | Download |
| June 3, 2026 | Scheduling Order (Doc. 19) | The Court’s calendar for the case, including the June 4, 2027 discovery deadline and the September 20, 2027 trial date. | Download |
Reporting by Montana news organizations. These are outside links; Boland Aarab PLLP is not responsible for their content and does not comment on the evidence outside the courtroom.
Boland Aarab PLLP (Great Falls), Bechtold Law Firm PLLC (Missoula), and Heenan & Cook (Billings) represent the plaintiffs together. The defendants are represented by Browning, Kaleczyc, Berry & Hoven, P.C.
This page provides public court records and general information only. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Nothing on this page is a statement about the evidence or the merits of any claim. Information about any individual plaintiff’s claim comes from that plaintiff’s attorney, not from this page.