Montana Personal Injury Laws: Deadlines to Sue, Fault Rules and Damage Caps

Three years for tort actions in general, including personal injury based on negligence (an action on a liability not founded on a written instrument). Two years for libel, slander, assault, battery, false imprisonment or seduction.

Two years for injury to real or personal property, or for taking, detaining or injuring goods.

Two years after the date of injury or two years after the patient discovers (or reasonably should have discovered) the injury, whichever is later, but never more than five years after the date of injury. The time is paused while the provider fails to disclose a known act, error or omission. For a child injured before age 4, the time starts at the child's 8th birthday (or death, if earlier).

Three years, except 10 years when the death resulted from a homicide.

The personal representative of the estate of the person who died may bring the action, against the person who caused the death and, where applicable, that person's employer.

Modified comparative negligence (51% bar). The injured person's negligence does not bar recovery if it was not greater than the negligence of the defendant or the combined negligence of all defendants, but damages are reduced in proportion to the injured person's percentage of negligence.

No general cap on compensatory damages in ordinary injury cases was found. Caps apply to noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases, to punitive damages (the lesser of $10 million or 3% of the defendant's net worth), and to claims against state and local governments ($750,000 per claim, $1.5 million per occurrence).

Yes. Noneconomic damages for all claims arising from injuries to a patient from a single incident of malpractice may not exceed the noneconomic damage limit. The limit was $300,000 and rises to $350,000 effective January 1, 2026, $400,000 in 2027, $450,000 in 2028 and $500,000 in 2029, then by 2% a year starting in 2030. The limit that applies is the one in effect when the claimant first files with the Montana Medical Legal Panel.

Allowed when the defendant is found guilty of actual fraud or actual malice (deliberately acting in conscious or intentional disregard of, or with indifference to, a high probability of injury). All elements must be proved by clear and convincing evidence. A punitive damages claim cannot be in the initial complaint; the plaintiff must later get court permission. Not available in contract actions (with some exceptions). Capped at the lesser of $10 million or 3% of the defendant's net worth, except in class actions.

Claims against the state must first be presented in writing to the Department of Administration, which has 120 days to grant or deny; no lawsuit may be filed until the claim is denied (no decision in 120 days counts as denial), and the statute of limitations is paused for 120 days after the department receives the claim. Claims against a county, city or other political subdivision must be presented to and filed with its clerk or secretary. Government liability is capped at $750,000 per claim and $1.5 million per occurrence.

Strict liability inside incorporated cities and towns. The owner of a dog that bites a person without provocation, while the person is in a public place or lawfully in a private place within an incorporated city or town, is liable for the damages regardless of the dog's past viciousness or the owner's knowledge. The statute does not cover bites outside incorporated cities and towns.

Owners must continuously carry liability insurance of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $20,000 for property damage.

A driver who knows or reasonably should know they were in a crash that caused injury or death, struck the body of a deceased person, or caused apparent property damage of $1,000 or more must immediately, by the quickest means available, notify the local police (inside a city or town) or otherwise the county sheriff or the nearest Highway Patrol office.

If a person is killed or injured, or property damage is more than $1,000, the driver must report the crash in writing to the Department of Justice within 10 days — unless a law enforcement officer investigated and reported it. The department can ask for supplemental reports. The driver's written report cannot be used as evidence at trial.

A driver in a crash involving another person must stop at or as close as possible to the scene and stay until they have given their name, address and vehicle registration number (and shown a license if asked), given reasonable help to anyone injured (including arranging transport for medical care), and — if anyone is injured, killed or incapacitated, or police notice is required — stayed until an on-duty officer gives permission to leave (unless leaving to get emergency care or to notify police). If only roadside property is damaged, the driver must try to find and notify the owner. Basic violations are misdemeanors (first offense: $200–$300 fine or up to 20 days in jail). Leaving a crash that injures someone: 30 days to 1 year in jail and/or a $100–$5,000 fine. Leaving a crash causing serious bodily injury or death: 1 to 10 years in state prison and/or a fine up to $50,000, plus license revocation.

Montana's general negligence statute makes each person responsible for an injury caused to another by a lack of ordinary care in managing their property, unless the injured person brought the injury on themselves willfully or by their own lack of ordinary care. This is the statutory basis for slip-and-fall (premises liability) claims; the more detailed duties owed to visitors come from court decisions, which were not reviewed for this entry. Any recovery is also subject to Montana's comparative-fault rule.

Montana law lets a city or town council regulate and provide for the building and repair of sidewalks, curbs and gutters. If a lot owner does not do the sidewalk work an ordinance requires within the set time, the city may contract for it, and the cost becomes a lien on the lot that can be recovered from the owner. This statute deals with who must build and repair sidewalks; it does not itself say who is liable to a person injured by a defective sidewalk.

Claims against a county, city or other political subdivision must be presented to and filed with that entity's clerk or secretary; the same statute sends claims against the state to the Department of Administration (120-day review before suit). The statute does not set a separate notice deadline for local-government claims, so the regular lawsuit deadline applies. Damages against the state or any local government are capped at $750,000 per claim and $1.5 million per occurrence.

A person who uses land (including public land) for recreation without paying the landowner does so without any promise that it is safe, and the landowner owes that person no duty of care about the condition of the property. The landowner is still liable for willful or wanton misconduct. The protection does not apply when the user gives the landowner valuable consideration (payment) for the recreational use; the state land recreational use license fee does not count as payment. Recreation is defined broadly, including hunting, fishing, swimming, boating, camping, biking, hiking and winter sports.

Only riders under 18 must wear a helmet: operators and passengers under 18 on a motorcycle, moped, motorized scooter or quadricycle on Montana streets or highways must wear protective headgear meeting state standards (fully enclosed autocycles are exempt). An operator may not carry passengers under 18 who are not wearing one. The statute does not address whether not wearing a helmet affects damages in an injury lawsuit.

Lane filtering is legal in Montana under conditions. The rider of a two-wheeled motorcycle may pass a vehicle that is stopped or going no more than 10 mph in the same lane and direction, only on a road with lanes wide enough to pass safely, at no more than 20 mph, and when conditions allow reasonable and prudent operation. The statute covers filtering past stopped or slow traffic, not riding between lanes of faster-moving traffic.

Where there is no working traffic signal, drivers must yield (slowing or stopping if needed) to a pedestrian crossing in a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, but a pedestrian may not suddenly step into the path of a vehicle too close to stop. Drivers may not pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk for a pedestrian, and must yield at a flashing pedestrian-activated crossing when a pedestrian is present. A pedestrian crossing anywhere other than a crosswalk must yield to vehicles, and between two adjacent signalized intersections pedestrians may cross only in a marked crosswalk. Cities may ban crossing outside crosswalks by ordinance.

A person riding a bicycle has all the rights and duties of a driver of any other vehicle, except for special bicycle rules. Drivers may not intentionally interfere with a lawful bicyclist, may pass a bicyclist only when it can be done safely without endangering the rider, and must yield to bicyclists in a designated bike lane (the statute sets no fixed passing distance in feet). Cyclists riding slower than traffic generally keep to the right lane or a paved shoulder, with listed exceptions. Riding on sidewalks is allowed unless signs prohibit it, but the cyclist must yield to pedestrians and give an audible signal before passing them.

While a rideshare (transportation network carrier) driver is logged on and available but has not accepted a ride, primary liability coverage of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death and bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage is required, plus uninsured motorist coverage when required by § 33-23-201. While the driver is engaged in a prearranged ride, primary coverage of at least $1,000,000 for death, bodily injury and property damage is required, plus uninsured motorist coverage when required. Coverage may come from the driver, the company or both, and the company's policy must cover from the first dollar if the driver's lapses.

Montana's Department of Transportation must adopt safety standards for for-hire and private motor carriers that substantially comply with the federal motor carrier safety regulations; for intrastate trucking this covers vehicles of 26,001 pounds or more (other than farm vehicles operating only in Montana), plus certain passenger and hazmat vehicles. The department adopted the current federal rules (49 CFR parts 373-399) by rule, effective May 9, 2026. Federal rules separately require for-hire interstate carriers of ordinary (nonhazardous) property in vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more to carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage (49 CFR 387.9).

Under Montana's workers' compensation law, an injured construction worker's remedy against an insured employer is workers' compensation, which is exclusive. The worker may also sue a third party other than the employer or co-workers (for example another contractor or an equipment maker) whose act or omission caused the injury, in addition to receiving workers' compensation benefits. No Montana scaffold-law statute was identified for this entry.