Developer sued by engineering contractor

A company that helped provide engineering services for Roger Sortino is suing him for $1,500.

Matelich Crane Pier and Pilings Inc. dba Montana Helical Piers, is suing Washington Development and Sortino in Flathead County District Court. Court records show that in 2010 Sortino and the crane company entered into an agreement to split the costs for engineering a boardwalk in Bigfork. The plaintiff employed Eclipse Engineering for $3,000 and paid the firm its half of the $3,000 bill, but Sortino never paid his, according to the district court suit.

Sortino and his daughter, Jolene Dugan, own Dockstader Island in Bigfork. Sortino and Dugan have been trying to build a bridge between their property on the north shore of Flathead Lake and the island.