For five decades, Boland Aarab PLLP and the Great Falls practice it grew from have carried clients’ cases past the verdict and into the Montana Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit and the federal courts. Those cases set rules Montana judges apply every day: how long police may hold a driver, when an injured worker may sue an employer, what a jury may hear about insurance, when a borrower may sue a lender.
Caitlin Boland Aarab and Samir Aarab have appeared in more than 40 matters before the Montana Supreme Court and argued twice before the Ninth Circuit. National civil-rights and voting-rights organizations have trusted them as Montana counsel in the Court’s most significant constitutional cases. Thomas E. Boland’s decisions, beginning in 1977, are still cited today.
50+years practicing law in Great Falls
40+Montana Supreme Court matters since 2017
17Montana Supreme Court decisions by Thomas E. Boland
2oral arguments before the Ninth Circuit
5amicus briefs for national civil-rights and voting-rights groups
1seat on the Montana Supreme Court’s Commission on Rules of Evidence
The record is below. Choose any case to read what the court decided and why it matters.
Montana Supreme Court
Montana Supreme Court
Montana Democratic Party v. First Judicial District
2024 MT 207
A party's replacement "appointment" is not a "nomination" subject to Montana's election-contest statute.
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Montana Supreme Court
Voegel v. Salsbery
2023 MT 137
What counts as an improper reference to insurance at trial, and when a passing remark can justify a new trial under Rule 411.
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Montana Supreme Court
State v. Strike
2023 MT 37N
Restitution must rest on evidence, not a claim sheet. Medical charges dated months after the offense could not simply be added to the judgment.
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Montana Supreme Court
State v. Zeimer
2022 MT 96
A DUI stop can't become a fishing expedition: how long police may hold a driver, and how far a pat-down may reach.
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Montana Supreme Court
State v. Wilkes
2021 MT 27
New rule: a market-value drug fine must rest on the smallest quantity of drugs the jury's verdict necessarily found.
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Montana Supreme Court
Konesky v. Keller
2021 MT 214N
When summary judgment in a legal-malpractice case comes too early: before expert disclosures are due.
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Montana Supreme Court
City of Bozeman v. Howard
2021 MT 230
Not knowing you are being arrested never justifies force. It also sets limits on reviewing an officer's personnel file.
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Montana Supreme Court
State v. Fjelsted
2020 MT 278
Defines "absconding" under Montana's 2017 probation-revocation reforms.
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Montana Supreme Court
State v. M. Howard
2020 MT 279
Probation may be revoked for conduct amounting to a new offense even when no criminal charge is filed.
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Montana Supreme Court
State v. Fahnestock
Order (Oct. 29, 2019)
Restitution awards must rest on proper findings. The State conceded the error on appeal.
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Montana Supreme Court
State v. Daniels
2019 MT 214
Can the State prove evidence tampering when the gun is never found? A divided Court weighed circumstantial proof.
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Montana Supreme Court
Ally Financial v. Stevenson
2018 MT 278
Montana's liberal rule on amending pleadings, and why judgment can't be entered for a party that never asked for it.
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Montana Supreme Court
State v. Colburn
2018 MT 141
How Rules 404(b) and 403 apply to a defendant's internet searches offered to prove identity.
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Amicus Briefs
Amicus Briefs
Kendrick v. Knudsen
2026 MT 39
Ballot Issue 8 is a single amendment, and the Attorney General may not attach a fiscal statement.
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Amicus Briefs
Montana Democratic Party v. Jacobsen
2024 MT 66
Montana rejects the federal Anderson-Burdick test and protects the right to vote more strongly than the U.S. Constitution.
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Amicus Briefs
Planned Parenthood v. State
2024 MT 178
The Parental Consent for Abortion Act was struck down under Montana's constitutional right of privacy.
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Amicus Briefs
L.B. v. United States
2022 MT 166
The United States can be liable for an on-duty officer's sexual assault. Scope of employment is a question for the jury.
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Ninth Circuit & Federal
Watch the oral argument
Ninth Circuit & Federal
United States v. Kurns
129 F.4th 589 (9th Cir. 2025)
Published Ninth Circuit opinion on firearm sentencing enhancements. Argued by Samir Aarab in Portland.
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Watch the oral argument
Ninth Circuit & Federal
Nichols v. FDIC
No. 17-35556 (9th Cir. 2019)
A homeowner's challenge to a Washington Mutual mortgage. Argued by Samir Aarab before the Ninth Circuit in Seattle.
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Ninth Circuit & Federal
Rustad-Link v. Providence Health
306 F. Supp. 3d 1224 (D. Mont. 2018)
Under ERISA's fiduciary exception, a disability insurer can't shield pre-dispute legal advice behind privilege.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Matter of Adoption of Hall
173 Mont. 142 (1977)
A void adoption can't be saved by delay or estoppel, but custody still turns on the child's best interests.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Phennicie v. Phennicie
185 Mont. 120 (1979)
Home-occupancy terms in a divorce settlement are child support, so they can be modified when circumstances change.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Lawrence v. Harvey
186 Mont. 314 (1980)
Partition between co-owners: child-support payments are not equity contributions to the family home.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Roy v. Neibauer I
188 Mont. 81 (1980)
Source of the "Roy factors" Montana courts still use to decide whether to certify a partial judgment under Rule 54(b).
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Roy v. Neibauer II
191 Mont. 224 (1981)
A landlord with no control over a tenant's dog owed no duty to the child who was bitten.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Gentry v. Schweiker
513 F. Supp. 1020 (D. Mont. 1981)
Federal-court review of a Social Security disability denial.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Benham v. Woltermann
201 Mont. 149 (1982)
Montana policyholders protected from a void out-of-state default judgment for lack of minimum contacts.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Hilliard v. Schweiker
563 F. Supp. 99 (D. Mont. 1983)
An ALJ may not apply the age grid mechanically to a claimant on the borderline between age categories.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
In re Marriage of Watson
227 Mont. 383 (1987)
Dividing a marital estate built around an inherited, multigenerational Chouteau County ranch.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Bache v. Gilden
252 Mont. 178 (1992)
Overruled two earlier cases, so you no longer have to request a continuance to object to a surprise witness.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Hyde v. Evergreen Rural Fire Dept.
252 Mont. 299 (1992)
Rural fire departments are immune from suits over firefighting, and buying insurance does not waive that immunity.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Ritland v. Rowe
260 Mont. 453 (1993)
When it is unclear which statute of limitations applies, the longer period governs.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Porter v. Galarneau
275 Mont. 174 (1996)
Montana's leading case on retroactivity: new statutes don't reach back, but court decisions do. About 59 citations.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
State v. Strizich
286 Mont. 1 (1997)
What counts as "suppressing evidence" for a State appeal, and how an improper appeal affects the six-month speedy-trial rule.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
AKA Distributing v. Whirlpool
137 F.3d 1083 (8th Cir. 1998)
UCC limitations and the economic-loss doctrine in a distributor's suit against a manufacturer.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Sherner v. Conoco
2000 MT 50
Injured workers may sue an employer for intentional harm. The 2001 Legislature rewrote the statute in response, naming the case.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Wolf Point v. Investment Centers
3 Am. Tribal Law 290 (2001)
The Fort Peck tribal court has jurisdiction over non-Indian defendants for reservation-based claims.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Osterman v. Sears
2003 MT 327
Still the leading Montana case on the two-year deadline for Unfair Trade Practices Act claims.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Wombold v. Associates Financial
2004 MT 397
Borrowers may sue under the Consumer Loan Act, and loan "points" are unauthorized fees, not interest.
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Legacy: Thomas E. Boland
Martz v. Beneficial Montana
2006 MT 94
Under federal arbitration law, a challenge to an entire loan contract goes to the arbitrator.
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The Same Lawyers, On Your Case
Boland Aarab is a Great Falls trial firm. The attorneys who brief and argue these cases in the Montana Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit are the attorneys who handle our clients’ trucking accident, catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases, from the first call through trial and, when it matters, appeal.
The attorneys whose names are on these opinions are the attorneys who handle your case. Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Cases listed under “Legacy” were handled by Thomas E. Boland in the predecessor practice to Boland Aarab PLLP.
