Great Falls & MontanaPremises Liability
Great Falls & Montana Premises Liability Lawyers: Slip and Fall, Trip and Fall, Ice and Snow Falls and Negligent Security
Boland Aarab PLLP.
Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab
If you were hurt on someone else’s property in Great Falls or anywhere in Montana, the owner or the business in control of that property may be responsible. Montana requires property owners to use reasonable care, and a hazard that was “open and obvious,” including ice and snow, does not by itself excuse them. Most claims must be filed within three years.
Key Takeaways
On this page: Duty of care · What you must prove · Ice and snow · Open and obvious · Negligent security · Who is responsible · What to do · Damages and deadlines · Why Boland Aarab · FAQ
Hurt in a fall on someone else’s property? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
What duty does a Montana property owner owe to visitors?
A Montana property owner owes people lawfully on the property a duty of reasonable care, whether they are customers, tenants, guests or workers.
Montana’s general negligence statute makes each person responsible for injuries caused by a want of ordinary care “in the management of the person’s property” (§ 27-1-701, MCA). In practice, that means an owner or occupier must keep the premises reasonably safe and must warn of hidden or lurking dangers.
Many states still sort visitors into “invitees,” “licensees” and “trespassers,” with a different duty for each. Montana largely does not. The Montana Supreme Court rejected those status-based distinctions decades ago, and it reaffirmed that approach in Steichen v. Talcott Properties, a Great Falls case, holding that the owner’s duty of care does not depend on the injured person’s status (2013 MT 2).
Two statutes carve out narrower rules:
- Trespassers. Since 2021, a landowner owes a trespasser no duty of care about the condition of the property, and is liable only for willful or wanton misconduct (§ 27-1-708, MCA).
- Free recreational use. A landowner who lets people use land or water for recreation without charge owes them no duty about the property’s condition, except for willful or wanton misconduct (§ 70-16-302, MCA).
Neither statute applies to a shopper, a tenant, a hotel guest or a worker at a job site; for them, the ordinary duty of reasonable care governs.
What must you prove in a slip-and-fall case?
You must show that the owner or occupier failed to use reasonable care and that this failure caused your injury.
In most cases, that comes down to four questions:
- Was there a dangerous condition? A wet floor, a loose stair tread, a torn carpet, a missing handrail, poor lighting, an unmarked step, ice at an entrance, or a pothole in a parking lot.
- Did the owner know, or should the owner have known, about it? An owner who created the hazard, or who had time to discover it through reasonable inspection, is usually charged with knowledge of it.
- Did the owner fail to fix it or warn about it? Reasonable care depends on the setting. A busy store entrance during a Great Falls winter calls for more attention than a rarely used storage room.
- Did the condition cause your injury, and what harm did it cause? Medical records, imaging and the testimony of your treating providers connect the fall to the injury.
Evidence of these points disappears quickly. Surveillance video is often recorded over within days or weeks, floors are cleaned, ice melts, and stairs are repaired. That is why the first steps after a fall matter so much.
Does Montana’s natural-accumulation rule still protect owners from ice and snow claims?
No. The Montana Supreme Court abolished the distinction between natural and altered accumulations of ice and snow in 1997.
Before then, a Montana property owner generally was not liable for a fall on ice or snow that had accumulated naturally and was open and obvious. In Richardson v. Corvallis Public School District No. 1, the Court held that the distinction between natural and altered accumulations could not be justified, and it overruled the earlier cases that had turned on it, including Cereck v. Albertson’s (286 Mont. 309, 950 P.2d 748 (1997)).
Two points about Richardson are worth knowing:
- It changed the rule, but the plaintiff in that case still lost. The Court affirmed summary judgment for the school on the facts, because the snow-packed path was not shown to present a danger the school should have anticipated. The case shows that ice and snow claims turn on the specific facts.
- The question now is reasonable care. A business that leaves its entrance, sidewalk or parking lot icy for hours or days after a storm, or that lets meltwater from a roof or downspout refreeze on a walkway, can be held responsible.
In a Montana winter, these claims often arise in parking lots, on apartment steps and at business entrances.
What does “open and obvious” mean in Montana today?
An open and obvious hazard is no longer an automatic defense in Montana; it is one factor in deciding whether the owner acted reasonably.
Under Richardson and Steichen, an owner may avoid liability for an open and obvious danger only if the owner should not have anticipated that it would cause harm. In Steichen, a cleaning contractor slipped on water that pooled on a restroom floor in a Great Falls office building because of a chronic plumbing leak. The district court granted summary judgment to the building owner. The Montana Supreme Court reversed, holding that the owner owed a duty of care and that whether it breached that duty was a question for the jury (2013 MT 2).
The logic is practical. An owner may know that customers must cross a sheet of ice to reach the only entrance, or that workers must use a slick floor to do their jobs. Knowing that a hazard is visible does not mean people can avoid it. When an owner should expect people to encounter the danger anyway, the owner must take reasonable steps: salting, sanding, clearing, fixing, or providing a safe alternative.
The obviousness of the hazard can still matter to your share of fault. Montana’s comparative-fault law reduces a recovery by the injured person’s percentage of fault, and bars it only if that share is greater than the combined fault of the defendants (§ 27-1-702, MCA).
When is a property owner responsible for a crime on the property?
A property owner can be responsible for an assault or other crime on the property when that harm was reasonably foreseeable and the owner failed to take reasonable security measures.
These are called negligent security claims. They arise in apartment complexes, hotels and motels, bars, parking garages, retail stores and event venues. Examples include broken locks or gate controls that are never repaired, dark parking areas, missing or nonworking cameras, a history of similar crimes that is ignored, or security staff who are too few or poorly trained.
In Montana, whether a duty exists turns largely on foreseeability, along with public-policy considerations (Fisher v. Swift Transportation Co., 2008 MT 105). Evidence of prior incidents, police calls, complaints from tenants or guests, and the owner’s own security policies often decides whether a crime was foreseeable.
The person who committed the crime remains responsible too, but the owner’s liability insurance is often the only realistic source of compensation.
Who can be held responsible for a fall?
More than one party is often responsible, and identifying all of them is part of our work.
- The property owner, including a landlord who controls common areas.
- A tenant or business operator that controls the space where you fell.
- A property management company hired to maintain the building.
- A snow-removal, janitorial or maintenance contractor that did the work carelessly or not at all.
- A contractor or builder responsible for a defective stair, ramp or railing.
- A city, county or the State, for a public building or sidewalk. Claims against the State, a county or a city require written presentation of the claim first (§ 2-9-301, MCA).
When several companies share responsibility, each may point at the other. In one Montana slip-and-fall case, two companies each blamed the other; we held both accountable, and their insurers paid a combined $150,000 (results).
What should you do after a fall on someone else’s property?
- Get medical care. Head injuries, hip fractures and back injuries are common in falls, and symptoms may develop over days.
- Report the fall to the manager, landlord or owner, and ask for a copy of any incident report.
- Photograph the hazard before it changes: the ice, the spill, the broken step, the lighting and the surrounding area.
- Keep your shoes and clothing as they were. The defense may claim your footwear caused the fall.
- Get names of witnesses and employees who saw the fall or the condition.
- Ask that video be preserved. Stores and apartment buildings often record over their cameras quickly. A lawyer can send a written preservation demand.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the owner’s insurer before talking with a lawyer.
What can you recover, and how long do you have?
Montana law allows recovery for the full harm a fall causes, including past and future medical care, lost earnings and earning capacity, pain and suffering, and loss of the established course of life. When a fall causes a death, the family may bring wrongful death and survival claims (§§ 27-1-513, 27-1-501, MCA).
Falls often cause traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, hip and wrist fractures, and shoulder and knee injuries that need surgery. Older adults face a particular risk of lasting harm from even a single fall.
Deadlines:
- 3 years to file most injury and wrongful-death claims (§ 27-2-204, MCA).
- Claims against a government entity require written presentation of the claim first (§ 2-9-301, MCA).
- Children: for a person who was a minor when the claim arose, the time of minority generally is not counted (§ 27-2-401, MCA). Do not rely on that without advice; other rules may apply.
The Boland Aarab Way
We are trial lawyers, and we prepare every case as if it will be tried and then appealed. Property owners and their insurers often assume a fall case will settle cheaply. They reconsider when they know the injured person’s lawyers will take it to a jury.
- We hold property owners accountable. We recovered $225,000 for a client injured in a fall on someone else’s property, and a combined $150,000 from two insurers in a slip-and-fall case on a business’s premises. See our results.
- We try cases against public entities. A jury returned a $115,000 net verdict for our client in a municipal negligence case (Jack v. City of White Sulphur Springs).
- We protect verdicts. The Montana Supreme Court reinstated a $168,500 jury verdict for our client in Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137 (case summary).
- We try cases. Our firm has tried more than a dozen jury trials, in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties, and our attorneys have spent more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
- We know federal and appellate court. Our attorneys have handled more than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over nine years, and Samir Aarab has argued twice before the Ninth Circuit. The Boland Aarab appellate record reaches back to 1977.
- You work with the lawyers. Caitlin Boland Aarab and Samir Aarab handle your case themselves. Both are members of the American Association for Justice and the Montana Trial Lawyers Association; Caitlin serves as an AAJ Governor and on the MTLA Board.
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Where do we handle premises liability cases?
Our office is at 18 6th Street North, Suite 200, Great Falls, MT 59401. We handle slip-and-fall and premises liability cases across Montana, including Great Falls, Billings, Missoula, Helena, Bozeman, Butte and Kalispell. We also handle dog bite, construction accident and workplace injury cases.
Where do we handle premises liability cases?
We are based at 18 6th Street North, Suite 200, in Great Falls, and handle premises liability cases across Montana. Our attorneys travel for depositions, hearings and trial. For local information, see our pages for Billings premises liability lawyers, Missoula premises liability lawyers, Helena premises liability lawyers, Bozeman premises liability lawyers, Butte premises liability lawyers, Kalispell premises liability lawyers and Havre premises liability lawyers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue if I slipped on ice in a parking lot in Montana? Yes. Montana no longer protects owners just because ice or snow accumulated naturally or was visible; the question is whether the owner used reasonable care to deal with it (Richardson v. Corvallis Public School District No. 1).
What if the hazard was open and obvious? That does not automatically defeat your claim. An owner who should have expected people to encounter the hazard anyway must still take reasonable steps (Steichen v. Talcott Properties, 2013 MT 2), although the obviousness may affect your share of fault.
Do I have a case if I tripped in a store or restaurant? You may, if the business created the hazard, knew about it, or should have found it through reasonable inspection and failed to fix it or warn you. Photos, video and witness names make a significant difference.
Is a landlord responsible if I fell at my apartment? A landlord is generally responsible for areas it controls, such as stairs, walkways, parking lots and other common areas. A property manager or snow-removal contractor may share responsibility.
Can a property owner be liable for an assault in its parking lot or building? Yes, if the crime was reasonably foreseeable and the owner failed to take reasonable security measures. Prior incidents and the owner’s own security practices are often the key evidence.
What if I was partly at fault for my fall? You can still recover as long as your share of fault is not greater than the combined fault of those you are suing. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault (§ 27-1-702, MCA).
What if I fell on city or county property? You may have a claim, but claims against the State, a county or a city must first be presented in writing (§ 2-9-301, MCA). Talk with a lawyer promptly.
How long do I have to file a slip-and-fall lawsuit in Montana? Generally 3 years (§ 27-2-204, MCA). Evidence such as video and the hazard itself can disappear within days, so do not wait.
Talk to a Great Falls Premises Liability Lawyer
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Sources: § 27-1-701, MCA · § 27-1-708, MCA · § 70-16-302, MCA · § 27-1-702, MCA · § 27-2-204, MCA · § 27-2-401, MCA · § 2-9-301, MCA · § 27-1-513, MCA · Richardson v. Corvallis Public School District No. 1 (1997) · Steichen v. Talcott Properties, LLC, 2013 MT 2 · Fisher v. Swift Transportation Co., 2008 MT 105
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
