Montana Casualty Study Guide

Two systems carry the Montana weight here: motor vehicle insurance in Chapter 23 and Title 61, and workers’ compensation in Title 39. In both, Montana’s answer is narrower than the national one — an offer that is not a mandate, a permission with conditions, a cancellation list of exactly two.

Auto — 25/50/20, tort, and an offer that is not a mandate

Montana’s compulsory limits are 25/50/20 — $25,000 bodily injury per person, $50,000 per accident, $20,000 property damage — under MCA 61-6-103(1)(b)(i)–(iii), one subparagraph per figure. Beyond liability it compels almost nothing: Montana is a pure tort state with no personal injury protection and no mandatory medical payments coverage, and 61-6-103 reaches liability only.

Uninsured motorist coverage must be offered at the 61-6-103 limits under MCA 33-23-201 and may be rejected. The wrinkle is what the rejection does afterward: “unless the named insured requests the coverage in writing, the coverage need not be provided in … a renewal policy when the named insured had rejected the coverage.” The rejection persists into every renewal until the insured undoes it in writing.

Underinsured motorist coverage is not statutorily mandated at all, for a definitional reason: the uninsured motor vehicle in 33-23-201 turns on the vehicle being “not insured or bonded,” not on inadequate limits.

Stacking — a permission with two conditions on the insurer

Summaries reduce MCA 33-23-203 to “Montana permits anti-stacking clauses” — true and useless. Subsection (1)(c) bars adding limits together only if the premiums “actuarially reflect the limiting of coverage separately to the vehicles covered by the policy” and “the premium rates have been filed with the commissioner” — conjunctive, and both on the insurer. Subsection (3) adds a duty to notify the insured in writing of the limits relative to the premium.

Cancellation, nonrenewal, and what an insurer may look at

After the first 60 days, MCA 33-23-211(1) permits cancellation of a motor vehicle liability policy — the statute never narrows itself to private passenger risks — on exactly two grounds: nonpayment; or a licence or registration under suspension or revocation — of the named insured or another household or customary operator — during the policy period, or, on a renewal, during that period or the 180 days before its effective date. Not accidents, not claims, not a moving violation. Under (3), adding a physical-damage deductible of $100 or less is not a cancellation.

MCA 33-23-212(1), (2) set the notice: 45 days, except nonpayment at not less than 10 days with the reason stated, and an omitted reason must be requestable in writing at least 21 days before the effective date. Nonrenewal is MCA 33-23-214(1): 45 days’ notice, reasons on request within 1 month of termination, answered in 15 days.

Underwriting has age limits. Under MCA 33-18-210(11)(a) a private passenger decision may not rest solely on claims history and driving record 3 years old or older; (11)(b) gives commercial automobile 5 years; (12) bars points or a surcharge where the insured was not at fault.

A policy is not the only route: MCA 61-6-143(1) offers a self-insurance certificate, but only to a person in whose name more than 25 motor vehicles are registered, and MCA 61-6-138(1) a deposit of exactly $55,000 with the state treasurer — flat, not “at least.”

Workers’ compensation — hours or days, and two clocks

The waiting period is not in the benefit section. MCA 39-71-736(1)(a) supplies it: nothing is paid for “the first 32 hours or 4 days of loss of wages, whichever is less,” eligibility beginning on day five. Medical services have no waiting period at (1)(b). And (1)(c) is the trigger to memorise — where total disability lasts 21 days or longer, compensation is paid retroactively to the first day of total wage loss unless waived.

Temporary total and permanent partial disability share a rate and differ in their maximums. TTD under MCA 39-71-701(2), (3) is 66 2/3% of wages at injury, capped at the state’s average weekly wage, on a preponderance of objective medical findings. PPD under MCA 39-71-703(3), (6) is that same 66 2/3% — capped at one-half that wage, the award multiplied by 400 weeks.

The two claim clocks live in two sections and are routinely swapped. Notice of an injury other than death: 30 days, MCA 39-71-603(1). Claim: 12 months, MCA 39-71-601(1), which the insurer may waive for up to 24 more months on a showing of latent injury, lack of knowledge or equitable estoppel. Occupational disease runs 1 year from knowledge, at 39-71-601(3).

Montana numbers its compliance routes. The three plans are three separate parts of chapter 71 — Part 21 is Plan No. One (self-insurance), Part 22 No. Two (a private insurer), Part 23 No. Three (the Montana State Fund). MCA 39-71-2313(1) creates the State Fund alone, and (2) gives it the duty that makes it the guaranteed market: it “is required to insure any employer … who requests coverage, and it may not refuse.”