Butte, MontanaButte Pedestrian Accident
Butte Pedestrian Accident Lawyers: Uptown Crosswalks, Harrison Avenue and Hit-and-Run Cases in Butte-Silver Bow
Boland Aarab PLLP.
If a driver hit you while you were walking in Butte, you can bring a claim against that driver and, often, your own uninsured motorist coverage. State-court cases are heard in the Second Judicial District Court in Uptown Butte. Most pedestrian injury claims must be filed within three years, and hit-and-run cases should be reported immediately.
Hit by a car while walking in Butte, or lost a loved one in a pedestrian crash? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Where are pedestrians at risk in Butte?
Butte is a walking city in its oldest neighborhoods and a driving city everywhere else. The two meet in a few places.
- Uptown. Uptown Butte’s historic district is dense, steep and full of people on foot for work, the courthouse, restaurants and events. Parked cars block sight lines at corners, and on a downhill grade a driver needs more room to stop than many expect, especially on packed snow.
- Harrison Avenue. Harrison is a wide commercial corridor with many driveways, turning lanes and parking lots. People crossing to a bus stop, a store or a restaurant face multiple lanes of traffic and drivers focused on turning.
- Parking lots along the Flat. Many pedestrian injuries in Butte happen in store lots, where drivers back out between rows of vehicles and cut across aisles.
- Near Montana Tech and schools. Students walk to campus on residential streets, and school-zone traffic in the morning and afternoon mixes children and hurried drivers.
- Near the interstate interchanges. Around the Montana Street and Harrison Avenue exits, drivers coming off or heading onto I-90/I-15 are often looking for gaps in traffic, not for people on foot.
Winter darkness and snow make everything harder. By December, much of the evening commute is in the dark. Snowbanks narrow streets and push pedestrians closer to traffic, and drivers who do not clear their windshields or slow down on ice cannot see or stop in time. None of that shifts the driver’s duty to use due care.
What happens after a pedestrian accident in Butte?
Call 911 and report the crash. On Butte streets, the Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department responds; on the interstates and frontage areas, it may be the Montana Highway Patrol. Get the case number. If the driver fled, report it at once and tell officers anything you remember about the vehicle. Nearby businesses on Harrison Avenue or in Uptown may have cameras, but that footage is often recorded over within days, so it needs to be requested quickly.
Medical care. St. James Healthcare in Butte is an ACS Level III / State Area Trauma Hospital (DPHHS, Nov. 2025). Pedestrians are often hurt worse than they first realize, particularly with head, knee and hip injuries, so follow up.
The court. A lawsuit filed in state court goes to the Second Judicial District Court, the court for Silver Bow County (§ 3-5-101(2), MCA), which sits at the Silver Bow County Courthouse, 155 West Granite Street. An out-of-state driver may remove the case to the U.S. District Court, Butte Division, a few blocks away at the Mike Mansfield Federal Courthouse, 400 North Main Street (mtd.uscourts.gov).
If a sidewalk, crosswalk or signal was the problem, a claim against Butte-Silver Bow or the State has written-notice rules (§ 2-9-301, MCA).
Montana law that applies
In brief. See our Montana pedestrian accident lawyer page for more.
- Where there is no working signal, drivers must yield to a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection (§ 61-8-502, MCA). Many Uptown corners are unmarked crosswalks.
- Even outside a crosswalk, drivers must use due care to avoid hitting a pedestrian (§ 61-8-504, MCA).
- A driver who hits someone must stop, give information and help (§§ 61-7-103, 61-7-105, MCA).
- Most claims must be filed within 3 years (§ 27-2-204, MCA); a pedestrian’s own share of fault reduces the recovery, and bars it only if it is greater than the combined fault of those sued (§ 27-1-702, MCA).
Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Butte case?
Pedestrian cases often come down to seconds and feet: where you were, what the driver could see and how fast the car was going. We build that proof with investigators and experts, and we do it statewide from our office in Great Falls. Our attorneys travel to Butte to walk the scene, meet you and witnesses, and handle depositions, hearings and trial.
We do not have a Butte office, and we have not tried a case in Silver Bow County. Our jury trials have been in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties.
The Boland Aarab Way
- Built for trial: more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom and more than a dozen jury trials.
- We keep verdicts: the Montana Supreme Court reinstated a $168,500 jury verdict we won for a woman rear-ended while stopped for a child crossing the street (Voegel v. Salsbery, 2023 MT 137).
- Federal experience when an out-of-state driver removes the case: more than 40 cases in the District of Montana over nine years.
- The lawyers you meet are the lawyers who handle your case.
We also handle car accident cases in Butte and bicycle accident cases in Butte. Visit our Butte personal injury page for more.
Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do drivers have to stop for me at an unmarked Uptown corner? Yes, where there is no working signal. Montana law treats the crossing at an intersection as a crosswalk even without painted lines.
I was hit in a Harrison Avenue parking lot. Is that different? The driver still owes a duty of care in a parking lot. The property owner may also share responsibility if lighting, layout or snow removal contributed.
The driver who hit me in Butte drove away. What now? Report it to the Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department right away and ask nearby businesses to save their video. Your own uninsured motorist coverage may pay even if the driver is never found.
I slipped into the street because of a snowbank and was hit. Can I still recover? Possibly. Montana compares everyone’s fault, including the driver’s speed and attention and any responsibility for snow removal, and you can recover if your share is not greater than the others’ combined.
Will my case be heard in Butte? Almost always. The Second Judicial District Court and the federal Butte Division are both in Uptown Butte.
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.
