Butte, MontanaButte Insurance Bad Faith
Butte Insurance Bad Faith Lawyers: Denied, Delayed and Lowball Injury Claims for Butte-Silver Bow Policyholders and Crash Victims
Boland Aarab PLLP.
If an insurer is denying, delaying or lowballing a clear injury claim in Butte, Montana law may give you a separate claim against the insurer. Policyholders generally have two years from the violation to sue, and injured third parties one year from resolving the underlying claim. Bad faith cases from Butte are often heard in the federal Butte Division.
Is an insurance company stalling your Butte injury claim? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
How do insurance disputes arise for Butte residents?
Butte’s location puts residents in front of a wide range of insurance companies.
- Out-of-state drivers and carriers. The shared I-90/I-15 corridor through Butte carries travelers and freight from all over the country. When one of them causes a crash, the claim is often handled by an adjuster in another state who has never driven Homestake Pass in January.
- Your own coverage. Montana’s minimum liability limits are only $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident (§ 61-6-103, MCA). After a serious crash, a Butte family’s own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is often the main source of recovery, and that is where disputes with one’s own insurer begin.
- Winter “act of God” arguments. Insurers often argue that ice or snow, not their driver, caused a Butte-area crash, or that their own insured was partly at fault. Those arguments can be legitimate, or they can be a way to delay a claim whose liability is reasonably clear.
- Medical bills that pile up. Emergency care at St. James Healthcare, a transfer to Missoula or Billings, and months of therapy can produce large bills quickly. When liability is reasonably clear, Montana law may require the at-fault driver’s insurer to pay medical bills before a final settlement (the Ridley rule, below).
What does bad faith look like in a Butte injury claim?
Montana’s Unfair Trade Practices Act lists prohibited claim practices (§ 33-18-201, MCA). Common examples include:
- refusing to pay without a reasonable investigation;
- not affirming or denying coverage within a reasonable time;
- not attempting in good faith to settle when liability is reasonably clear;
- forcing you to sue by offering much less than the claim is worth; and
- refusing to pay one part of a claim, such as medical bills, to pressure you on another.
Not every low offer is bad faith. An insurer is not liable under the statute if it had a reasonable basis in law or in fact for contesting the claim (§ 33-18-242(6), MCA). The insurer’s claim file usually decides that question, which is why getting it matters.
What happens with a bad faith claim in Butte?
Document everything. Keep every letter, email, offer and denial, and a log of phone calls with dates and adjusters’ names. Save your medical bills and records.
Consider a regulatory complaint. You can file a complaint with the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, the state regulator in Helena. A complaint is not a lawsuit and does not stop any deadline.
The underlying claim comes first, in most cases. For an injured third party, the bad faith claim against the other driver’s insurer generally follows the resolution of the injury claim. In a Butte case, the injury claim itself is usually in the Second Judicial District Court, Silver Bow County (§ 3-5-101(2), MCA), at the courthouse on West Granite Street.
The bad faith case is often in federal court. Most insurers are organized and headquartered outside Montana, so they frequently remove bad faith cases to federal court. For Butte, that is the U.S. District Court, Butte Division, at the Mike Mansfield Federal Courthouse, 400 North Main Street (mtd.uscourts.gov).
Montana law that applies
Briefly. Our Montana insurance bad faith lawyer page covers the statute, the case law and damages in depth.
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Butte case?
Bad faith cases are document-heavy, often in federal court, and fought by national insurers. We are based in Great Falls and handle these cases statewide, and much of the work, including claim-file discovery and depositions of adjusters, happens wherever the insurer’s people are. Our attorneys travel to Butte to meet with you and for hearings and trial.
There is no Boland Aarab office in Butte, and our jury trials have been in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties rather than Silver Bow.
The Boland Aarab Way
- Federal court experience: more than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over nine years.
- Appellate strength: two Ninth Circuit arguments by Samir Aarab, and an appellate record that reaches back to 1977 (appellate results).
- We have beaten insurer-backed defenses at trial, including a $115,000 net jury verdict against a city backed by its municipal insurer (Jack v. City of White Sulphur Springs).
- Trial-bar members: AAJ, MTLA and Public Justice.
We also handle car accident cases in Butte and truck accident cases in Butte. See our Butte personal injury page.
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Frequently Asked Questions
The other driver’s insurer will not pay my St. James bills. Do they have to? If liability is reasonably clear, Montana law may require the insurer to pay medical bills before a final settlement. We can demand that payment in writing.
My own insurer is fighting my underinsured motorist claim after a Butte crash. Is that bad faith? It can be, if the insurer lacks a reasonable basis for its position or fails to investigate fairly. The claim file usually shows which.
Will my bad faith case be in Butte? Usually yes. Either the Second Judicial District Court in Uptown Butte or, often, the federal Butte Division, which also sits in Butte.
How long do I have to bring a bad faith claim? Two years from the violation for a policyholder, and one year from the settlement or judgment on the underlying claim for an injured third party.
Should I complain to the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance? You can, and it may help, but a complaint is not a lawsuit and does not pause any deadline.
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.
