How this estimate is built
Your medical expenses and lost wages are your economic damages, never capped in Montana. We apply the multiplier method, the industry-standard approach, to estimate noneconomic damages — then check the result against the medical malpractice cap, if it applies.
The 51% bar, standard structure
Under MCA § 27-1-702, a claimant whose fault is not greater than the combined fault of the defendants can recover, reduced proportionally. Exactly 50% still recovers half; the claim is barred only once the claimant's fault actually exceeds the defendants' combined share.
A medical malpractice cap that just rose — and keeps rising
MCA § 25-9-411 had held noneconomic damages in a medical malpractice claim at a flat $250,000 for decades. A 2025 law, House Bill 195, changed that: the cap jumped to $300,000 immediately, then to $350,000 on January 1, 2026 — the figure currently in effect. It's scheduled to keep climbing: $400,000 in 2027, $450,000 in 2028, and $500,000 in 2029, with 2% annual increases every year after that. Economic damages remain fully uncapped, and the jury is never told the cap exists.
The applicable cap depends on when the claim was filed
Because the cap keeps rising, Montana law locks in which figure applies based on the date the claim was first filed — with the Montana medical legal panel if the claim goes through that process, or in court otherwise — not the date of the injury or the eventual settlement.