Billings, MontanaBillings Catastrophic Injury
Billings Catastrophic Injury Lawyers: Life-Changing, Permanent and Severe Injury Claims in Yellowstone County
Boland Aarab PLLP.
A catastrophic injury, such as a brain injury, spinal cord injury, severe burn or amputation, permanently changes how a person lives and works. If someone else caused yours in Billings, Montana law lets you recover the full lifetime cost: future care, lost earning capacity and the loss of the life you expected. Most claims must be filed within 3 years.
Facing a life-changing injury, or caring for someone who is? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
How does Billings’ role as a trauma hub shape these cases?
When someone is catastrophically injured anywhere in eastern Montana or northern Wyoming, there is a good chance they end up in Billings. The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services designates only two hospitals in the state as ACS Level 1 / Comprehensive Trauma Centers, and both are in Billings: Billings Clinic and St. Vincent’s Healthcare, now Intermountain Health St. Vincent Regional Hospital (DPHHS). Every other hospital on the state’s list, including the Level 2 centers in Great Falls and Missoula, sits a step below.
That has practical consequences for an injured person and a legal case:
- The first records come from far away. A rancher hurt near Roundup, a worker injured in Richland County or a driver in a rollover on I-94 may be treated first at a small hospital or by a volunteer ambulance crew, then flown to Billings by MedFlight or H.E.L.P. Flight. The early records, which often document the mechanism of injury and the first neurological findings, are scattered across several providers.
- Families relocate, at least for a while. A spouse from Glasgow or Sheridan may spend weeks in a Billings hotel during ICU care. Travel, lodging and lost work for family caregivers are real costs of the injury.
- Care continues after discharge. Rehabilitation, follow-up surgery and specialty visits may keep bringing the injured person back to Billings for years. A life-care plan has to price that travel, not just the treatment.
- The treating physicians are the key witnesses. Trauma surgeons, neurosurgeons, physiatrists and therapists in Billings are the ones whose recommendations drive the life-care plan. Their records, and sometimes their testimony, are the backbone of the damages case.
Catastrophic injuries in this region come from I-90 and I-94 crashes, rollovers on two-lane highways, refinery and construction accidents, oilfield work, falls, fires and defective products. The cause determines who is responsible. The size of the harm determines what the case is worth.
What happens after a catastrophic injury in Billings?
The first weeks are about survival and care, and they are also when the evidence is most at risk. A vehicle gets salvaged, a machine gets repaired, a scene gets cleaned up, and the other side’s investigators arrive first. A family member or a lawyer should make sure written preservation demands go out, even while the injured person is still in the hospital.
Crash reports come from the Billings Police Department, the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office or the Montana Highway Patrol, depending on location. Work injuries may involve an OSHA inspection by the Billings Area Office.
When a lawsuit is filed in state court for an injury in Yellowstone County, it goes to the Thirteenth Judicial District Court at the Yellowstone County Courthouse, 217 North 27th Street (§ 3-5-101, MCA). Injuries elsewhere are filed in that county’s district court. Cases against out-of-state trucking companies, manufacturers and contractors are often heard in the Billings Division of the U.S. District Court, at the James F. Battin Federal Courthouse, 2601 2nd Avenue North, which covers Yellowstone County and twenty-one surrounding counties (District of Montana).
How do we prove a lifetime of losses?
With a life-care plan, prepared by a qualified planner from the treating providers’ recommendations, pricing every future surgery, therapy, medication, piece of equipment, home change and hour of attendant care; an earning-capacity analysis from vocational and economic experts; and the testimony of the people who knew the injured person before. A Yellowstone County jury cannot award what no one has proven, and a vague statement that someone “will need care for life” is not proof of an amount.
Montana law that applies
- Full compensation: all the detriment a wrongful act causes, including harm “certain to result in the future” (§§ 27-1-202, 27-1-203, 27-1-317, MCA).
- Medical damages are measured by the reasonable cost of care (§ 27-1-308, MCA).
- Comparative fault reduces, but does not bar, recovery unless your share is greater than the defendants’ combined (§ 27-1-702, MCA).
- Deadlines: 3 years for most injury claims (§ 27-2-204, MCA); malpractice has a shorter period (§ 27-2-205, MCA); government claims need written presentation (§ 2-9-301, MCA).
Our Montana catastrophic injury page explains life-care planning and each category of damages in more detail.
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Billings case?
A catastrophic injury case is too important to settle before the medical picture is clear, and it needs lawyers who will try it if the insurer will not pay what it is worth. We are based in Great Falls and handle these cases statewide. Our attorneys travel to Billings to meet families, often at the hospital or at home, and for depositions, hearings and trial. Our firm has tried jury trials in Yellowstone County. We do not have a Billings office, and we will not ask an injured client to travel to us.
The Boland Aarab Way
- 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). Our appellate record reaches back to 1977.
- 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.
- You work with the lawyers. Caitlin Boland Aarab and Samir Aarab handle your case themselves.
Related Billings pages: spinal cord injury · brain injury · all Billings personal injury cases
Frequently Asked Questions
My husband was flown to Billings after a crash in another county. Where is the case filed? Usually in the county where the crash happened, or in federal court if the defendant is from out of state. Being treated in Billings does not by itself move the case to Yellowstone County.
Can the costs of staying in Billings during ICU care be recovered? Often, as part of the harm the injury caused. Keep receipts for lodging, travel and meals, and records of time missed from work.
Should we wait until treatment in Billings is finished to call a lawyer? No. Evidence is lost in the first weeks. A lawyer can preserve it while you focus on care, and settlement can wait until the medical picture is clear.
Who pays for care after we leave the Billings hospital? Health insurance, Medicaid or Medicare may pay first, and they may have repayment rights. The case against the responsible party is what pays for the lifetime of care.
Will a Yellowstone County jury understand a lifetime of losses? It will if the losses are proven. That is the job of the life-care plan, the economist and the people who knew the injured person before.
Talk to a Billings Catastrophic Injury 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.
