A hearing Tuesday in Ramsey County Court leaves a temporary restraining order in place that allows loggers to continue to harvest on state forests during a shutdown of the Minnesota government.

But Steve Shermoen, attorney for the three Birchdale loggers who sought the TRO, said Ramsey County Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin, who is hearing the case, seemed to disagree with the reasoning used by Koochiching County District Court Judge Chad LeDuc when he issued the TRO earlier this month.

The TRO was sought by loggers Kit Hasbargen, Keith Hasbargen, and Dale Erickson. The loggers argue that keeping them from conducting timber harvests on state lands would be a violation of the contracts they already have with the state. In addition, they say they’ve already paid the fees to harvest the timber and that allowing the harvest does not involve the expenditure of any state funds and therefore should be allowed to continue during the shutdown.

A hearing on a permanent injunction against the state has been set for 9 a.m. Monday in Ramsey County. The judge’s ruling will determine whether the loggers may continue to operate or the case proceeds.

“She indicated that the problem is between the governor and the Legislature and that my clients ought to be lobbying legislative and governor to settle matter and it wasn’t her role to interfere,” Shermoen told The Journal by telephone from Ramsey County.

“She did say that Judge LeDuc’s order would stand and the loggers could continue working until she got her order out and that might take a day or two,” he said.

Shermoen said by the judge’s comments, “it doesn’t look good. We have an up hill road ahead of us on Monday at the injunction hearing.”

On Monday, Shermoen said he was hopeful that Gearin would come to the same conclusion in the case as LeDuc.

“We think the Attorney General has not proceeded properly. We’re arguing that the hearing we should be doing is an injunction hearing, which is really a trial with live witness rather than all on affidavits.”

Shermoen said the logging case is unlike most of the other cases Gearin is handling involving the shutdown.

“(The other cases) have sought money, funding, and we are not. We are just asking to continue the contracts that are already in place. It’s the state that’s trying to basically breach contracts and tell loggers they can’t get in and finish their harvests. It’s unfair and as Judge LeDuc said, it’s illegal.”

Shermoen said the summer logging season lasts only six or eight weeks and work done now is critical for loggers and area mills which rely upon the summer wood to operate.

“If they can’t get in and finish contracts they have started and open new ones, it will be a financial disaster for the loggers and the mills, which are concerned about not having enough product to keep producing.”

Shermoen said he hopes that Judge Gearin understands the logging industry and said he tried to describe the issues in a memorandum.

“Judge LeDuc clearly understood how much it meant to loggers to have money tied up because they have already paid for timber and can’t take timber and sell to mills.”

Meanwhile, moving the case 300 miles from where it originated has been difficult, Shermoen said.

“We felt that it was better to be up here, but it was moved to Ramsey County for convenience, but it’s only convenient for the Attorney General. My plaintiffs and witnesses are up here. It’s inconvenient for all our parties.”