Billings, MontanaBillings Boating Accident
Billings Boating Accident Lawyers: Boat, Jet Ski and River Accidents on the Yellowstone, Bighorn Lake and Cooney Reservoir
Boland Aarab PLLP.
If you were hurt in a boat, jet ski, raft or tube accident on the Yellowstone River, Bighorn Lake, Cooney Reservoir or other water near Billings, you can usually recover from the operator who caused it, and Montana makes a boat’s owner liable for negligent operation by anyone the owner allowed to use it. Most claims must be filed within 3 years, but federal and tribal waters can add earlier deadlines.
Hurt on the water, or lost someone in a boating accident? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Where do boating accidents happen near Billings?
The waters Billings residents use most are managed by different agencies, and that affects who investigates and who may be responsible.
- The Yellowstone River. The river runs through Billings and the county, and in summer it carries anglers in drift boats, floaters, tubers, kayakers and jet boats. Swift current, cold water, braided channels, logjams and bridge piers make collisions and capsizes dangerous even for experienced boaters.
- Lake Elmo State Park. The 64-acre reservoir in the Heights is within Billings city limits and is managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. It is limited to non-motorized boating, with swimming at a designated beach (FWP). Paddleboard, kayak and swimmer injuries there are usually about supervision, rentals or property conditions rather than motorboats.
- Cooney State Park. Cooney Reservoir, about 40 minutes south of Billings in Carbon County, is where many Billings families go to motorboat, water ski and tube. FWP operates three boat ramps with docks there (FWP). Crowded weekends, towing and wake jumping produce most of the serious injuries on lakes like this.
- Bighorn Lake and the Bighorn River. Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area is managed by the National Park Service. On the Montana end, boaters launch at Ok-A-Beh near Fort Smith, and NPS law enforcement rangers patrol the lake under federal regulations, Coast Guard rules and state law (NPS). Below the recreation area, the Bighorn River flows through Crow Reservation lands toward Hardin (NPS), and it draws heavy drift-boat fishing traffic.
What happens after a boating accident near Billings?
Report it. Montana requires an operator involved in an accident with death, disappearance, injury or more than $2,000 in damage to report it immediately to the county sheriff or a game warden, and to give aid and identification (§ 23-2-527, MCA). On the Yellowstone in Billings that usually means the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office or FWP; at Cooney, the Carbon County Sheriff or a game warden; on Bighorn Lake, NPS rangers are also involved.
Get care. Near-drownings, head injuries and propeller wounds are treated at Billings Clinic or St. Vincent Regional Hospital, the region’s two Level 1 / Comprehensive Trauma Centers (DPHHS). Remote lake and canyon accidents often require long transports.
Preserve the evidence. Get names, registration numbers and photographs, and do not let the boat or personal watercraft be repaired or sold before inspection. Save rental agreements and any release you signed.
Know the court. A case from the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone County is filed in the Thirteenth Judicial District Court in Billings. Accidents at Cooney (Carbon County) or on the Bighorn (Big Horn County) fall in the Twenty-Second Judicial District (§ 3-5-101, MCA). All three counties are in the Billings Division of the U.S. District Court (District of Montana), where claims against the United States are heard.
What changes on federal or tribal water?
Federal claims. If a National Park Service employee, facility or concessioner arrangement is involved on Bighorn Lake, the Federal Tort Claims Act may apply. A written claim must be presented to the agency within 2 years (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)).
Tribal jurisdiction. An accident on the Bighorn River below the recreation area, on Crow Reservation lands, can raise questions of tribal jurisdiction depending on the parties and the location. Our attorneys are not admitted in tribal courts, but we can seek admission quickly when a case requires it.
Admiralty. Federal maritime law usually does not apply on Montana’s dammed rivers and inland lakes, as the Ninth Circuit held for a Missouri River accident below Hauser Dam (Adams v. Montana Power Co., 528 F.2d 437 (9th Cir. 1975)), but each water is evaluated on its own facts.
Montana law that applies
- Reckless operation and wake jumping are prohibited, and so is boating under the influence (§ 23-2-523, MCA).
- Owner liability for negligent operation by someone using the boat with consent; consent is presumed for immediate family (§ 23-2-505, MCA).
- Personal watercraft: life jackets for everyone aboard, lanyard attached, and no-wake speed within 200 feet of docks, swimmers and nonmotorized boats (§ 23-2-531, MCA).
- Rentals: no motorboat or personal watercraft over 10 horsepower may be rented to anyone under 18 (§ 23-2-523(12)); releases must meet the requirements of § 27-1-753, MCA.
- Deadline: generally 3 years (§ 27-2-204, MCA).
Our Montana boating accident page covers these rules in more depth.
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Billings case?
Boating cases often turn on jurisdiction, ownership and insurance, sometimes across several counties and a federal agency. We are based in Great Falls, handle these cases statewide, and are comfortable in the federal court’s Billings Division. Our attorneys travel to Billings and the surrounding counties for depositions, hearings and trial, and our firm has tried jury trials in Yellowstone County. We do not have a Billings office.
The Boland Aarab Way
- We know federal court. More than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over nine years; Samir Aarab has argued twice before the Ninth Circuit.
- We try cases. More than a dozen jury trials, in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties, and more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
- We protect verdicts. The Montana Supreme Court reinstated a $168,500 jury verdict for our client (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137).
Related Billings pages: wrongful death · brain injury · all Billings personal injury cases
Frequently Asked Questions
Who investigates a boating accident on the Yellowstone River in Billings? The county sheriff or a game warden takes the required report (§ 23-2-527, MCA). In Yellowstone County, that is usually the Sheriff’s Office or FWP.
Can I bring a gas boat to Lake Elmo? Generally no. FWP limits Lake Elmo to non-motorized boating, so injuries there usually involve paddlecraft, swimmers, rentals or property conditions.
I was hurt at Cooney Reservoir. Where would the case be filed? Cooney is in Carbon County, so a state case is filed in the Twenty-Second Judicial District, or in the federal court’s Billings Division if a federal claim or out-of-state defendant is involved.
Does a different deadline apply on Bighorn Lake? It can. A claim involving a National Park Service employee or facility must be presented to the agency within 2 years under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Is the boat owner liable if a friend was driving? Generally yes, if the friend was using the boat with the owner’s consent and operated it negligently (§ 23-2-505, MCA).
Talk to a Billings Boating Accident Lawyer
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
