If you were hurt in Montana by someone else''s conduct, you generally have three years from the date of the injury to file a personal-injury lawsuit. The deadline comes from MCA 27-2-204, and the clock starts on the date the harm occurred. Miss the window and the courthouse door closes, even if the underlying case is strong.
The three-year number is the rule most Montana injury searches return. The biggest traps are the one-year notice of claim required by the Montana Governmental Tort Claims Act for any case involving a state or local government defendant, and a 50% modified-comparative-fault bar that ends cases that would survive in neighboring pure-comparative states. This post walks through what the three-year SOL really means in 2026, where the exceptions are, and the fact patterns we see trip people up most.
The default Montana PI window: three years under MCA 27-2-204
MCA 27-2-204(1) sets a three-year statute of limitations for actions upon a liability not founded upon an instrument in writing, including most negligence-based personal-injury claims. It is the catch-all for the vast majority of Montana PI matters: motor-vehicle crashes on I-90 and the Big Sky highways, ranch and ATV collisions, hunting injuries, slip-and-falls in Billings and Missoula, dog bites, and most premises and product-liability claims.
The clock starts on the date the injury occurred, unless a discovery rule delays accrual for latent harms. Montana is an at-fault auto-insurance state. The injured party''s recovery generally runs through the at-fault driver''s liability carrier or the claimant''s own underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage.
Exception one: the Montana Governmental Tort Claims Act one-year notice
Claims against the State of Montana, counties, cities, school districts, and other political subdivisions run through the Montana Governmental Tort Claims Act, MCA 2-9-101 through 2-9-318. The MGTCA imposes a mandatory one-year notice under MCA 2-9-301.
Key points:
- The notice must be filed with the Department of Administration (for State claims) or with the governing body of the political subdivision (for local government claims) within one year of the date the claim accrues.
- The notice must state the time, place, and circumstances of the claim, the names of the persons involved, and the amount of damages sought.
- Filing the notice does not start litigation. The State or political subdivision has a defined period to accept, deny, or otherwise respond before suit may be filed.
- The three-year general SOL still runs in the background. The MGTCA notice is in addition to, not instead of, the SOL.
The single most common Montana government-claim trap: a claimant injured by a county sheriff''s vehicle, on a State highway-maintenance project, or by a city employee assumes the three-year SOL applies, contacts an attorney 14 to 18 months after the incident, and learns the one-year MGTCA notice has already run. The three-year general SOL never matters; the MGTCA notice was the live deadline.
Exception two: minors
MCA 27-2-401 tolls the SOL during minority for general PI claims. A child injured at age 10 generally has until age 21 (three years after reaching majority at 18) to file. The toll does not automatically extend the MGTCA one-year notice, which runs from accrual regardless of the claimant''s age. Parents and guardians acting on a minor''s behalf should treat the MGTCA notice as the operative limit when any government entity is potentially involved.
Exception three: medical malpractice
Medical-malpractice claims in Montana run under MCA 27-2-205: a two-year SOL from the date the act or omission was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered, with a five-year overall repose. MCA 27-6-301 also requires submission of the claim to the Montana Medical Legal Panel before filing suit in most cases.
What Montana''s modified 50% comparative-fault rule means
Montana follows a modified comparative-fault rule with a 50% bar under MCA 27-1-702. A plaintiff whose negligence is not greater than the combined negligence of the defendants recovers, reduced by the plaintiff''s percentage of fault. A plaintiff more than 50% at fault recovers nothing.
The practical effect: a plaintiff found exactly 50% at fault still recovers (half of damages); a plaintiff found 51% at fault recovers nothing. That 50/51 threshold is where Montana defense lawyers focus.
A common Montana fact pattern that ends cases early
A claimant is rear-ended by a county snowplow on a rural state highway in January. Treatment, several months of physical therapy, then a settlement demand to the county 14 months later. The county denies the claim on the ground that the claimant failed to file an MGTCA notice within one year. The three-year MCA 27-2-204 SOL still has nearly two years to run, but the government claim is dead.
The takeaway: if any Montana government entity is potentially involved (State, county, city, school district, special district), treat the MGTCA one-year notice as the operative deadline and act within it, not the three-year general SOL.
Other Montana-specific PI rules worth knowing
Wrongful death. Three-year SOL under MCA 27-2-204(2), measured from the date of death. The survival action runs in parallel under MCA 27-1-501.
Dog bites. Montana has a strict-liability dog-bite statute under MCA 27-1-715 for bites occurring in public places or while the victim was lawfully on private property. Three-year SOL.
Premises liability and slip-and-fall. Three-year SOL. The 50% modified-comparative bar applies. Reasonable-care duty owed to invitees, with reduced duties to licensees and trespassers.
Product liability. Three-year SOL under MCA 27-2-204, with a discovery rule for latent defects under Montana case law. MCA 27-1-719 codifies the doctrine of strict products liability.
How the LawSensai Personal Injury Recovery Center helps with Montana matters
We built the Recovery Center to handle the day-one organizational work in a Montana PI case so that nothing falls through the cracks during the three-year window. We document the incident through a calm, save-and-resume intake, build a medical-and-evidence timeline, and surface every applicable deadline, including the MGTCA one-year notice for State and local government claims, the Montana Medical Legal Panel pre-suit submission requirement, the two-year medmal SOL and five-year repose, the wrongful-death window, and the underlying MCA 27-2-204 three-year window. When the matter is well-documented and ready, we route it to a verified personal-injury attorney licensed in Montana. Start your Montana intake here.
We are not a law firm and we do not give legal advice. We are the file-organization and deadline-surfacing layer that sits in front of a real attorney.
Personal injury statute of limitations in other states
Each state has its own SOL window, government-notice deadline, comparative-fault regime, and case-type quirks. The full LawSensai PI Recovery Center routes 50-state coverage at /personal-injury.
Informational only
LawSensai is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. The information in this post is general and does not account for your specific facts. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this post or by using the Personal Injury Recovery Center. Deadlines, exceptions, and procedural rules vary by case type and by the parties involved; verify your specific situation with a licensed attorney in Montana before relying on any window described here.
Last verified: 2026-06-03.