States With Caps on Wrongful Death Damages

By the FigureMyTax Editorial Team · How we calculate

Montana limits wrongful death damages only when the death resulted from health care malpractice.

Outside malpractice: no cap

Montana's damage caps apply only to medical malpractice, punitive damages and government defendants. A family bringing a claim over a crash or other non-medical death faces no statutory ceiling on economic or noneconomic damages.

Malpractice deaths

The amended MCA 25-9-411 defines a malpractice claim to include a claim for wrongful death and a claimant to include a person bringing a wrongful death action. The limit is $350,000 for claims first filed in 2026, rising to $500,000 in 2029. When awards are reduced to the limit, each claimant's share is proportional to their share of the combined awards.

Punitive damages

Punitive damages are limited to the lesser of $10 million or 3% of the defendant's net worth and require actual fraud or malice.

Government defendants

The state and its political subdivisions are liable for no more than $750,000 for each claim and $1.5 million for each occurrence.

How other states compare

Missouri also caps only malpractice deaths (about $842,614 in 2026), Mississippi caps noneconomic wrongful death damages at $1,000,000 shared by all beneficiaries, and Minnesota has no cap against private defendants.

This is general information, not legal advice, and the state comparisons above are illustrative, not an exhaustive survey. Confirm how Montana's rules apply to your specific case with a licensed Montana attorney.