Montana Injuries Definition

Legal and insurance terms explained plainly

People often confuse an animal control report with a police report, but they are not the same thing. A police report usually focuses on possible crimes, public disturbance, or...

DEFINITION 2026-04-02

careless driving

People often mix up careless driving and reckless driving, but they are not the same. Careless driving usually means operating a vehicle without enough attention, caution, or...

DEFINITION 2026-03-25

coefficient of friction

If nobody understands this number after a serious crash, a bad guess can get treated like a fact. That can shift blame, shrink a payout, or make it harder to prove what really...

DEFINITION 2026-03-22

consumer expectation test

Was this product more dangerous than an ordinary person would expect it to be? That is the basic question behind the consumer expectation test. It is a way courts and juries...

DEFINITION 2026-03-23

crush analysis

Two inches of vehicle crush can matter a lot: crush analysis is an accident-reconstruction method that uses the amount and pattern of metal deformation to estimate impact...

DEFINITION 2026-03-21

distracted driving citation

A ticket for distracted driving can cost money right away, but the bigger hit may come later through fines, points, insurance increases, and damage to an injury claim after a...

DEFINITION 2026-04-01

driving without headlights

What trips people up most is that headlights are not just for seeing the road - they are also there so other drivers can see you. Driving without headlights means operating a...

DEFINITION 2026-03-27

exhibition of speed

You might see this phrase on a traffic citation, in an officer's notes, or hear it said as "showing off," "peeling out," or accelerating to draw attention. It usually means a...

DEFINITION 2026-04-02

failure to signal

You'll usually see this phrased in a ticket, crash report, insurance letter, or a comment like, "The other driver was cited for failure to signal." It means a driver did not...

DEFINITION 2026-03-25

failure to stop for emergency vehicle

Not pulling over and stopping when an emergency vehicle is coming with lights or siren activated. "Failure" means a driver did not do what the law required in time. "Stop"...

DEFINITION 2026-03-29

failure to yield right of way

A driver fails to yield the right of way by not letting another vehicle, pedestrian, bicycle, or lawful road user go first when traffic rules require it. That usually happens...

DEFINITION 2026-03-25

fleeing and eluding

Did a driver ignore police lights or a siren and keep going? That is generally what fleeing and eluding means: willfully failing to stop, or trying to escape, after a law...

DEFINITION 2026-03-25

following too closely

A tailgating ticket can cost more than a fine. It can raise insurance rates, weaken a defense after a crash, and make it easier for the other side to argue you caused the...

DEFINITION 2026-03-28

improper lane change

A driver can be ticketed, blamed for a crash, or left fighting an injury claim within hours if this rule is misunderstood. An improper lane change happens when someone moves...

DEFINITION 2026-03-26

leaving the scene of an accident

Failing to stop, stay, and give required help or information after a crash. "Stop" means pulling over as close as safely possible. "Stay" means remaining there until the basic...

DEFINITION 2026-04-02

multidistrict litigation

Not the same as a class action, even though both gather many similar cases in one place. In a class action, one case usually stands in for a whole group. Multidistrict...

DEFINITION 2026-03-23

passing a stopped school bus

A ticket for this can get expensive fast, and if someone is hurt, it can make an injury case much harder to defend. Insurers, judges, and juries tend to view it as more than an...

DEFINITION 2026-03-29

Proximate cause

Montana bars recovery if you are more than 50% at fault. That rule under Montana's modified comparative negligence law gets mixed up with proximate cause, but they are not the...

DEFINITION 2026-03-21

reckless driving

Driving with willful or wanton disregard for safety. "Willful" means it is not a mistake. "Wanton" means the driver knows the risk and barrels ahead anyway. And "disregard for...

DEFINITION 2026-03-28

risk-utility test

A lot can turn on this because it may decide whether an injured person recovers damages or walks away with nothing. When a case involves a product that worked as designed but...

DEFINITION 2026-03-23

running a red light

You might see this listed on a traffic ticket, crash report, insurance letter, or hear an officer say a driver "failed to stop for a steady red signal." That means a driver...

DEFINITION 2026-03-31

running a stop sign

What trips people up most is that a driver does not have to blow through an intersection at full speed to get cited. Rolling past the white line, failing to stop before a...

DEFINITION 2026-03-29

school zone violation

Was the driver ticketed because it happened near a school? Usually, yes: a school zone violation means breaking a traffic rule in a marked area around a school where extra...

DEFINITION 2026-03-31

speeding ticket

What trips people up most is that a speeding ticket is not just a bill you pay and forget. It is a traffic citation accusing a driver of going faster than the posted limit or...

DEFINITION 2026-03-26

street racing charge

Could a burst of high-speed driving with another car lead to more than a speeding ticket? Yes. A street racing charge is an accusation that a driver took part in an unlawful...

DEFINITION 2026-04-01

strict liability dog bite

Think of it like a tool that fails on the job the first time it's used: the person responsible may still be on the hook even if nobody warned them beforehand. That is the basic...

DEFINITION 2026-04-03

texting while driving

Insurance adjusters and defense lawyers often raise this issue to argue that an injured person was distracted, careless, or partly responsible for a crash. If they can show...

DEFINITION 2026-03-29

vicious propensity

Miss this issue, and a serious animal-attack case can fall apart because nobody gathered the right proof early. Vicious propensity means an animal has shown a tendency to act...

DEFINITION 2026-04-03