Trial Begins Over Museum of the Rockies Endowment

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — A trial is under way in Bozeman in a lawsuit filed by the Museum of the Rockies alleging a developer failed to establish a promised $2 million endowment in exchange for using paleontologist Jack Horner in a marketing campaign.

The museum's 2009 lawsuit also alleged Ameya Preserve developer Wade Dokken paid only $120,000 of a promised $1.725 million research gift.

Dokken says the economic downturn doomed his proposed luxury development south of Livingston. He is seeking the return of $25,000 he gave the museum for a dinosaur dig that never happened.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports the trial is expected to last up to 12 days.