Idaho judge dismisses Boren’s Sawtooth airstrip defamation suit over ‘neglect’
An Idaho judge has ruled — again — to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a businessman-turned-government official who claimed he was defamed by people who spoke out against his decision to create an airstrip on his ranch in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
Michael Boren, who cofounded Clearwater Analytics with his brother David and is now under secretary of Agriculture for natural resources and environment in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, filed the lawsuit in 2022.
At the time he said he was the victim of “reckless” lies at the hands of the defendants: 20 unnamed “Does” and four named individuals: Sawtooth Search and Rescue Cmdr. Gary Gadwa, former Blaine County Commissioner Sarah Michael, Boise video producer Jon Conti and former Blaine County Commissioner Dick Fosbury, who died of cancer in 2023.
Boren faced public outcry in 2021 when he applied for a conditional use permit for an airstrip on his Hell Roaring Ranch property along Idaho 75 south of Stanley. Critics said Boren had already built and was using an airstrip, and they also pushed back against his justification for the airstrip, which included offering a site for emergency first responders to land aircraft.
Seventh District Judge Stevan H. Thompson dismissed the lawsuit in late 2022, but Boren appealed the dismissal to the Idaho Supreme Court, which reversed the lower court’s decision on procedural grounds and remanded the case back to Thompson in late 2024.
The June 26 dismissal came from Seventh District Judge Darren B. Simpson, who in April proposed dismissing the lawsuit due to inactivity. Court records show the case sat without any change after February 2025, except for reassignment to Simpson in September of that year.
Boren did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the dismissal.
Pennsylvania-based free speech defense nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, which defended Gadwa, said in a news release Monday that the ruling is “a victory not just for Gary, but for the freedom of everyone to speak up about important public issues without being dragged into court for years over it.”
Judge: Boren neglected defamation case
Boren responded to Simpson’s proposed dismissal with a motion to keep the case in court. His attorney argued that the case had sat idle due to “extenuating circumstances,” including his nomination to his federal position. President Donald Trump nominated Boren to the role, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service, in January 2025 shortly after his second term began.
Simpson wrote in his decision that Boren’s role “does not put him in some unique position from other individuals who are employed and have filed suits against other people and have failed to prosecute their case for over a year.”
Boren also noted that he was weighing the impact of the lawsuit on his job, which appeared to further sway Simpson’s ruling against him.
“The assertion that Boren was contemplating his lawsuit shows that he was aware of the need to either pursue his lawsuit or dismiss it,” Simpson wrote.
In his conclusion, the judge said Boren’s actions constituted “pure neglect of the case.” He dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, which means Boren could potentially refile the lawsuit in the future.
Defendants have claimed the case is a strategic lawsuit against public participation, also known as a SLAPP suit, which legal experts say are meant to dissuade the public from vocal criticisms.
Thompson, the original Seventh Circuit judge who initially dismissed the case, said it had “many of the key characteristics of a SLAPP suit” and asked the Idaho Supreme Court for guidance on the issue. The justices said in their ruling that the case was not SLAPP-related, as Idaho at the time did not have any anti-SLAPP legislation.
In 2025, the Idaho Legislature passed a law designed to limit retaliatory lawsuits. It went into effect on Jan. 1.
