William E. Hunt

While in the military, Hunt obtained his GED. Hunt decided to enroll in college using the benefits due to him under the G.I. Bill, and had settled on the University of Washington. His mother suggested that, while traveling to Seattle, Hunt stop at the University of Montana to check out an alternative. Hunt met with a dean at the school, who convinced him to stay in Missoula.[4] To support himself in college, Hunt worked as a "crew caller" for the Northern Pacific Railway,[2] contacting off-duty train crews to tell them to report to work, bumping them from assignments, and sometimes laying them off.[10] Hunt received his combined BA/JD degree in 1955.[11]

Hunt, by now married, moved to Walla Walla, Washington, to practice law, but a short time later moved his practice to Havre, Montana. Hunt then won a position in 1960 as the county attorney for nearby Liberty County, Montana. He and his family moved to Chester, the county seat.[4] Hunt won election as mayor of the town of Chester, and served from May 1, 1967, to April 30, 1969.[12] While serving as mayor of Chester, Hunt became concerned as the Montana Power Company raised rates more than six-fold in two years. Hunt subsequently formed the Montana Consumer Council in 1968 as a means of raising funds to investigate the rate increase as well as providing a voice for consumers in the state. Hunt was the organization's first executive director.[13][lower-alpha 2] The deficiencies in protecting consumer interests which were exposed by the Montana Consumer Council led to the creation of a state consumers' counsel office in the 1972 Constitution of Montana.[15]

In 1970, Hunt was named a trustee of Central Montana Legal Services, a nonprofit organization which provides legal services to the indigent and poor.[2] He and his family moved to Helena that year.[16] Later that year, Montana Governor Forrest H. Anderson appointed Hunt the Director of the Montana Aeronautics Commission. Montana voters adopted a new state constitution in 1972. The Aeronautics Commission became the Aeronautics Division of the Montana Department of Transportation, and Hunt oversaw the transition from independent agency to division within a larger department.[17]

Hunt was named the first Montana Workers' Compensation Court judge in 1975. Initially, after adoption of the 1972 state constitution, the Montana Legislature established an Industrial Accident Board within the new Montana Department of Labor and Industry to both run the state workers' compensation insurance fund and to adjudicate the claims of injured workers. This conflict of interest led to denial and approval of injury awards which were not based on facts, lump-sum payments to workers, improper and inappropriate internal procedures, poor recordkeeping, and the increasing personal involvement of the board's administrator in disputes. Courts began overturning board decisions with increasing frequency, and began fining and punishing the agency. After a state audit of the board revealed the extent of these problems, the state legislature passed a bill in 1975 which established a quasi-judicial Workers' Compensation Court to separate the adjudication function of the agency from its administrative and fiduciary duties.[18]

Governor Thomas L. Judge nominated Hunt to be the first Workers' Compensation Court judge.[2] Hunt was confirmed by the Montana Senate and served in that capacity from July 1975 to August 1981.[19] Hunt became known statewide as "The Flying Judge" for his extensive travels around the state of Montana holding workers' compensation court hearings.[2] After retiring as Workers' Compensation Court judge in 1981, Hunt returned to the private practice of law in Helena.[17]

In 1984, Hunt ran for the position of Associate Justice of the Montana Supreme Court after Justice Daniel J. Shea declined to seek reelection. Article VII, Section 8 of the state constitution provides for the nonpartisan election, rather than appointment, of Montana Supreme Court justices. In 1935, the state legislature enacted legislation barring political parties from endorsing, making contributions to, or making expenditures on behalf of or against judicial candidates.[20] Hunt ran in a crowded primary field, which included Doris Swords Poppler, a former Yellowstone County Attorney and one of the most prominent women lawyers in the state;[21] Joe R. Roberts, Montana Assistant Attorney General; Donald D. McIntyre, Chief Legal Counsel for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation; and Patricia M. Springer, an attorney. Poppler won the nonpartisan primary with 34.3 percent of the vote (46,659 votes). Hunt came in second place with 19.0 percent of the vote (25,906 votes), beating Joe R. Roberts by a razor-thin margin (18.8 percent of the votes; 25,555 votes).[22] Per state law, the top two vote-getters advanced to the general election.[23] In the general election campaign, Hunt asked voters to consider his experiences as an elected official and judge. "I think I have acquired some knowledge, a great deal of compassion and perhaps a little wisdom," he said.[5] In the general election, Hunt won 54.6 percent of the vote (184,935) to Poppler's 45.4 percent (153,602 votes).[24]

Hunt ran unopposed for a second term in 1992.[25] Under Montana state law, judges in uncontested nonpartisan primary elections automatically advance to the general election. The general election then becomes a choice of "retain/do not retain".[26] Hunt was retained by Montana voters with 68.2 percent of the vote (232,640 votes).[27]

Hunt was widely perceived as a liberal on a court with a strong conservative majority in his first term, when he was often in minority.[4] Although he did not often write decisions, Justice Hunt was often assigned the task of writing decisions when he voted with the majority.[2] In the 1990s, the court gained a liberal majority.[28] Former law clerks said that Hunt used the gray areas of the law to protect individuals, the powerless, the poor, and minorities.[29][5] Hunt described his judicial philosophy differently: "I'm a liberal and you guys call me a liberal. I think a liberal is a person who has had a lot of experience and is not bound by what happened in the past, but understands the past."[5] While Hunt said judges had to interpret the law as written, he also emphasized that laws are enforced in the real world. Total objectivity by judges was not possible, and the best judges were those with extensive experiences.[5] Montana Supreme Court Associate Justice Terry N. Trieweiler noted that Hunt wrote several important decisions regarding employer accountability in worker injury cases, consumers' rights, environmental law, and civil liberties. Associate Justice Jim Regnier observed that Hunt was widely praised in the legal community for acting as a mentor to young attorneys while an associate justice.[2]

The 77-year-old Hunt declined to seek reelection in 2000, and retired from the Montana Supreme Court. He was succeeded by Patricia O'Brien Cotter.[30]

William E. Hunt, Sr. was a lifelong Catholic.[4][7][16]

Hunt married Mary V. Fassler of Melrose, Montana, on August 25, 1952.[16] She was a registered nurse who had recently graduated from the St. Patrick School of Nursing at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula.[7] She died of natural causes on December 29, 2009.[16]

The Hunts had five children: Joseph, James, Katherine, Patricia, and William E. Jr.[7] Joe Hunt died of cancer in 1998.[31]

William E. Hunt suffered from frail health in the last several years of his life, and lived at the Rocky Mountain Care Center nursing home in Helena after 2012. He died there of natural causes on February 16, 2016.[4] His funeral was held at the Cathedral of Saint Helena in Helena, Montana, and he was interred at Resurrection Cemetery outside the city.[2]