Rideshare Accident Lawyer in Montana

Montana Code Annotated § 69-14-1004 requires first-dollar primary TNC coverage starting in Period 1 — when the driver activates the app but has not yet accepted a ride. Most states allow a coverage gap during Period 1, leaving injured victims to fight through the driver's personal insurer (which often denies coverage based on commercial-use exclusions) before reaching TNC coverage. Montana eliminates this gap entirely: the moment a Montana driver turns on the Uber or Lyft app, the TNC's liability policy applies. During Periods 2 and 3, Montana requires the industry-standard $1,000,000 primary liability coverage. Source: Montana Legislature, https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0690/chapter_0140/part_0100/sections_index.html

MCA § 27-2-204 provides a three-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims. Unlike most states, Montana does not impose a separate short-fuse pre-suit notice requirement for government entity claims under MCA § 2-9-301 — the three-year window generally applies. However, the electronic evidence window is much shorter: GPS trip data, driver period logs, and in-app communications should be preserved via a formal litigation hold demand within days of the crash. Waiting even a few months risks permanent loss of the data needed to establish which coverage tier applied and how the crash occurred. Source: Montana Legislature, https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0020/part_0020/section_0040/0270-0020-0020-0040.html

MCA § 27-1-702 applies the "not as great as" modified comparative fault standard. You recover only if your negligence is strictly less than the defendant's combined fault — at exactly 50%, you are barred from all recovery. This is harsher than Hawaii's 51% bar, where 50% still allows recovery. Montana rideshare defense teams use this threshold aggressively, arguing that a passenger failed to account for traffic conditions or that a pedestrian stepped outside a marked crossing. An independent accident reconstruction retained early, before Uber or Lyft's adjusters have documented the scene, is the most reliable tool for keeping the fault calculation below the bar. Source: Montana Legislature, https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0010/part_0070/section_0020/0270-0010-0070-0020.html

Direct liability claims against the TNC platform face the 47 U.S.C. § 230 defense in some contexts, but Montana courts apply traditional negligence principles to platform conduct separate from content moderation. Montana TNC law under MCA §§ 69-14-1001 through 69-14-1011 imposes direct regulatory obligations on TNCs — including driver background check requirements, vehicle inspection standards, and insurance mandates. Failure to comply with these regulatory duties creates independent TNC liability separate from driver negligence. Montana's first-dollar Period 1 coverage requirement also means that the TNC's insurer is always the primary point of contact regardless of which period the driver was in.

Montana's first-dollar Period 1 coverage under MCA § 69-14-1004 eliminates the coverage gap most states allow during this period. If the driver had the app active — even without an accepted ride — the TNC's liability policy applies from dollar one. Coverage floors during Period 1 are lower than during Periods 2-3 (where $1,000,000 applies), but Montana requires specific minimum Period 1 coverage rather than leaving the injured victim to fight through the driver's personal insurance. If the driver's app was completely closed, the TNC carries no coverage obligation and only the driver's personal insurance applies. The app-active status at the exact moment of impact is determined from Uber or Lyft's timestamped records, which must be preserved immediately.