Montana Law Week

The Weekly Digest of Montana Law

Insurance, attorney fees, $200,000 UIM verdict

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INSURANCE: Insufficient record to determine if Plaintiff’s request for fees under insurance exception was properly denied following $200,000 UIM verdict… both parties’ actions during entire process must be considered, not merely that insurer did not deny UIM coverage and Plaintiff sued before evidence sufficiently developed… disputed review standard clarified… Menahan reversed. [Read more…]

Medical damages, billed v. paid by insurer

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MEDICAL DAMAGES: Actual amounts billed to deceased tort victim admissible, not limited to amounts actually paid by Medicare/BCBS… reasonableness of bills as measure of damages to be determined by the jury… Defendants may contest reasonableness, Plaintiff may counter with what Medicare pays to other providers… order admitting only evidence of amounts insurers paid violates collateral source rule… supervisory control of Oldenburg granted. [Read more…]

Dog bite, injury by animal v. premises liability

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DOG BITE: Injury by animal and premises liability are separate common law theories, absence of liability under one does not necessarily preclude recovery under the other… negligence claim properly rejected on summary judgment on basis that landlady did not have “reason to know” that tenants’ dogs of pit bull ancestry had vicious propensities… strict liability properly rejected for lack of evidence that dogs were purebred pit bulls or that purebreds are inherently dangerous… Boucher affirmed. [Read more…]