Personal injury lawyer help in Flathead County, Montana

Flathead County, Montana includes 15 named communities, the largest being Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Bigfork. Whether an accident happened on a county road, in a small town or in one of the larger communities, the same Montana rules apply: a 3-year filing deadline for most injury claims, modified comparative negligence (51% bar), and lawsuits filed in the Flathead County District Court. This page is the county-wide guide, with links to a page for each community.

You describe what happened anywhere in Flathead County using the free claim review form, and your request may be shared with participating attorneys or legal services partners who handle that type of matter in Montana. Submitting a request does not hire an attorney, and everything below is general legal information, not legal advice about your specific situation.

Federal crash records list 93 fatal crashes in Flathead County from 2019 through 2023, in which 100 people died. The yearly count was 12 in 2019, 19 in 2020, 18 in 2021, 23 in 2022 and 21 in 2023; 44% of them happened after dark.

Of the 21 fatal crashes in Flathead County in 2023, 3 involved a pedestrian and 3 happened at or near an intersection. Roads with more than one fatal crash in Flathead County in 2023: US-2 had 11, State Route 83 had 3 and State Route 35 had 2.

Fatal crashes are the most serious outcome on these roads; many more crashes cause injuries without a death. Whatever the severity, the police crash report, photos of the scene and prompt medical records are the starting evidence for a claim.

Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), final data for 2019 to 2023. FARS counts every crash on a public road in which someone died within 30 days; a crash counts for Flathead County when the reporting agency coded it there. Counts for one place are small and swing from year to year, so read them as a picture of local risk, not a forecast.

Each community below has its own guide with the local court, insurance rules and every type of injury claim.

• Whitefish, MTpop. 7,073
• Columbia Falls, MTpop. 5,093
• Bigfork, MTpop. 4,270
• Lakeside, MTpop. 2,669
• Somers, MTpop. 1,109

Smaller communities in Flathead County include Coram, Essex, Hungry Horse, Kila, Lake Mc Donald, Marion, Martin City, Olney, Polebridge, West Glacier. Residents of these areas follow the same Montana rules, use the same Flathead County District Court, and can request a free claim review from anywhere in the county.

Montana generally gives an injured person three years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit (Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-204(1)); medical malpractice is different (two years). Wrongful death claims follow their own deadline, which can differ from the one above. Claims against a city, county, school district or state agency follow separate and often much shorter deadlines. Once the deadline passes, the Flathead County District Court will dismiss the case regardless of how clear the fault was, so the practical rule in Flathead County is to get legal advice early.

Montana follows modified comparative negligence (51% bar). In plain terms, you can recover as long as you were not more than 50% at fault, and your award is reduced by your share of fault. Insurance adjusters apply this rule from the first phone call, which is why the way an accident is described and documented in the days after it happens in Flathead County has a direct effect on what a claim is worth.

After a crash in Flathead County, the at-fault driver's liability insurance is the primary source of compensation. Montana requires drivers to carry only 25/50/20 in coverage (thousands of dollars for bodily injury per person, per accident, and property damage), which serious injuries quickly exhaust. Underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy and claims against additional responsible parties often make the difference in Flathead County cases.

Lawsuits arising from accidents in Flathead County are typically filed in the Flathead County District Court, the trial court of general jurisdiction for Flathead County, although cases can sometimes be filed where the defendant resides or does business, and claims against out-of-state trucking companies or manufacturers may end up in federal court. Most claims settle before trial, but the credible ability to try a case in Flathead County is what moves insurers to pay fair value.

Employees injured on the job in Flathead County are generally covered by Montana workers' compensation, administered through the Montana Department of Labor & Industry. Report the injury to your employer within 30 days of the accident (Mont. Code Ann. § 39-71-603) — that notice deadline is short and missing it can end the claim before it starts — then file the formal claim within one year. Workers' compensation does not pay for pain and suffering, so when a third party such as a subcontractor, driver or equipment manufacturer caused the injury, a separate personal injury claim is often worth pursuing alongside it.

• Lake County, MT
• Lincoln County, MT
• Sanders County, MT
• Mineral County, MT

See the Montana personal injury guide for every county in the state.