Personal injury lawyer help in Gallatin County, Montana

Gallatin County, Montana includes 8 named communities, the largest being Bozeman, Belgrade, Big Sky. 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 Gallatin County District Court. This page is the county-wide guide, with links to a page for each community.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests from Gallatin County may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle car, truck, motorcycle and pedestrian accidents, slip and fall injuries, workplace injuries and workers' compensation, medical malpractice and wrongful death matters in Montana. There is no charge to submit a request and no obligation to hire anyone.

Federal crash records list 42 fatal crashes in Gallatin County from 2019 through 2023, in which 47 people died. The yearly count was 7 in 2019, 5 in 2020, 11 in 2021, 4 in 2022 and 15 in 2023; 36% of them happened after dark.

Of the 15 fatal crashes in Gallatin County in 2023, 1 involved a pedestrian and 3 happened at or near an intersection. Roads with more than one fatal crash in Gallatin County in 2023: I-90 had 4 and Gallatin Rd (US-191) had 3.

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 Gallatin 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.

Communities in the county with the most fatal crashes coded to them:

• Bozeman, MT6 fatal crashes · 7 deaths, 2019-2023
• Belgrade, MT1 fatal crashes · 1 deaths, 2019-2023
• West Yellowstone, MT1 fatal crashes · 1 deaths, 2019-2023

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

• Bozeman, MTpop. 43,405
• Belgrade, MTpop. 8,029
• Big Sky, MTpop. 2,308
• Three Forks, MTpop. 1,926
• Manhattan, MTpop. 1,631
• West Yellowstone, MTpop. 1,339

Smaller communities in Gallatin County include Gallatin Gateway, Willow Creek. Residents of these areas follow the same Montana rules, use the same Gallatin 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 Gallatin County District Court will dismiss the case regardless of how clear the fault was, so the practical rule in Gallatin 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 Gallatin County has a direct effect on what a claim is worth.

After a crash in Gallatin 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 Gallatin County cases.

Lawsuits arising from accidents in Gallatin County are typically filed in the Gallatin County District Court, the trial court of general jurisdiction for Gallatin 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 Gallatin County is what moves insurers to pay fair value.

Employees injured on the job in Gallatin 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.

• Park County, MT
• Madison County, MT
• Broadwater County, MT
• Jefferson County, MT

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