Category: Firm News

One question sometimes posed by our new clients regards the applicability of punitive damage awards in Montana. Punitive damages are awarded by juries after the trial of a case. The Montana Supreme Court has often upheld these awards. Punitive damages are intended to punish a party for particularly bad behavior. Montana law specifically provides that “reasonable punitive damages may be awarded when the defendant has been found guilty of actual fraud or actual malice”. They may not be awarded in contract cases. If the parties go to a jury trial, the jury must decide whether punitive damages should be assessed against the wrongdoer. The parties may not put on any

A personal injury lawsuit looks like a debate between two people. Each person has a point of view that he or his legal representative makes before a decision is reached, commonly in one of the following ways: a verdict decided by a jury; an order entered by a judge; a settlement or an arbitration. Once a lawsuit is filed, each party’s lawyer(s) will use the methods prescribed by the applicable court’s rules of procedure. These rules state the proper ways for the parties to acquire information from each other so they may learn the strengths and weaknesses of their cases. The rules also dictate how lawyers must interact with their clients,

A personal injury case is a lawsuit filed by an individual against another person, company, or entity for damages. There are essentially three types of personal injury lawsuits in Montana: negligence; strict liability; and intentional wrongs. In any of these cases, the person filing the suit is known as the plaintiff and the person or entity being sued is called the defendant. The first type of case is one resulting from the other person’s negligence. Automobile accidents are the basis for many negligence lawsuits, but any act of negligence that causes harm to a person can be the foundation for a suit. For example, if a person was cutting a tree

The Montana Legislature has passed a law opening the door for Uber, the smartphone app-based ride- sharing service, to begin doing business in the state. The new law did away with provisions of existing law that gave taxi and limousine companies the ability to block competition. In addition, it established a specific type of vehicle operator’s license that covers rideshare providers. Uber brings together a patchwork of everyday drivers, via smartphone, who can be called upon at a moment’s notice to provide a ride to a customer. As with most human endeavors, the advent of ride-sharing services will be accompanied by legal issues that will impact Montanans. Legal concerns can be

The Supreme Court of the State of Montana has dealt another blow to the ability of governmental entities to avoid liability for personal injuries. Governments will often invoke the “public duty doctrine” as an argument against being held liable for personal injuries occurring in public and even private locations. This doctrine provides immunity from suit on the basis that a governmental entity cannot be held liable for actions taken to provide a service to the general public. In a case decided May 19, 2015, the Supreme Court of the State of Montana again found that a governmental body can be liable, in spite of the public duty doctrine, if liability

If you work for tips, you have a lot of protection under both the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Montana state law. Even though tips may constitute the larger part of your earnings, you are entitled to the legal minimum wage even if your tips in any given workweek don’t bring you up to that level. A big difference between federal and state law on this issue is that federal law allows the use of tips to meet the minimum wage, while state law requires payment of the minimum before tips. After reading this blog, you’ll see that state law is far more generous than federal law. The FLSA requires that

Many employers require their employees to wear uniforms. Are employers or employees responsible for the cost? The short answer is, it depends. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act and subsequent regulations govern the payment of wages, the most notable aspect of which is the minimum wage. The question of whether or not an employer can require employees to pay for uniforms, either directly or by payroll deduction, depends on whether the practice would interfere with the payment of the minimum wage. The FLSA considers the cost of uniforms as a business expense, not a part of the employee’s wages. The first inquiry into whether or not an employer has correctly or incorrectly withheld

Both federal and Montana state law provide rights for mothers of newborn children to express breast milk while at work. The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, enacted by Congress in 2010, requires a covered employer to provide unpaid break times to an employee to express milk for her infant child under one year of age whenever the need occurs. Further, the employer must provide a location, other than a bathroom, for the employee’s use. Such location must not be in view of, or subject to intrusion from others. The federal law applies to all employers, but it does provide that an employer of less than 50 employees may avoid

The Family and Medical Leave Act was enacted by Congress over 25 years ago to require employers to provide leave to employees without threat of job loss or loss of health benefits. Yet, even after all those years, some employers still don’t apply the law correctly. The Act requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a 12-month period for the following reasons: the birth of a child or to care for the newborn child in his or her first year of life; placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and care for the child in the first year of placement; the

In the wake of a fatal accident, many families are faced with economic challenges on top of the devastating emotional loss that comes with the death of a loved one. Medical bills, lost wages and funeral expenses can put a serious strain on any family, but these are nothing compared to the loss of companionship experienced by the decedent’s loved ones. If you have lost a loved one due to the negligence of another party, you have a right to pursue a wrongful death personal injury lawsuit. Wrongful death lawsuits are designed to compensate the victim’s family for the losses they have suffered. These losses can include both economic and