Recent Montana News
January 2024 Newsletter
Montana maintains liability limits, but risks remain A jackpot jury award in Montana was reduced in alignment with the state’s reasonable limits on non-economic damages, but not before a sixteen-month period of uncertainty that left the medical liability climate at...
Judge Rules to Cap Largest Medical Malpractice Verdict in Montana History
$6 million award reduced to $250,000 GREAT FALLS — Sixteen months after a jury awarded Joey Zahara $6 million in his medical malpractice suit against a Great Falls neurosurgeon, Cascade County Judge John Kutzman released a 25-page summation Monday citing his...
South Dakota Latest State to Enact Virus Liability Shield Law
SOURCE: Bloomberg South Dakota businesses, health-care providers, and others are largely shielded from lawsuits over Covid-19 exposure and deaths under legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. Kristi Noem. The measure, HB 1046, bars lawsuits from employees,...
Current Medical Liability Laws
| Damage Caps | $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages. |
| Joint Liability Reform | Any party whose negligence is 50% or less of the combined negligence of all persons is severally liable only. The remaining parties are jointly and severally liable for the total less the amount attributable to the claimant. A party may be jointly liable for all damages caused by the negligence of another if both acted in concert or if one party acted as an agent of the other. |
| Collateral Source Reform | No. A plaintiff’s recovery may not exceed amounts actually: (a) paid by or on behalf of the plaintiff to health care providers for reasonable and necessary medical services to the plaintiff; (b) necessary to satisfy charges that have been incurred and at the time of trial are still owing and payable to health care providers for reasonable and necessary medical services rendered to the plaintiff; and (c) necessary to provide for any future reasonable and necessary medical services for the plaintiff. |
| Attorney Fees Limited | No |
| Periodic Payments Permitted | Yes. Upon any party’s request, the court must enter an order for periodic payment of future damages exceeding $50,000. |