Montana Supreme Court, 2007

The Montana Supreme Court revised the State’s speedy-trial framework, adopting a case-specific balancing of four factors and explaining how delay, responsibility, the accused’s responses, and prejudice must be assessed.

The court held that restoration damages for contamination of real property may exceed the property's pre-tort market value when diminution in value would not fully compensate the owners, and that CECRA does not preempt a common-law restoration claim.

The Montana Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for Cenex, holding that the easement language unambiguously authorized Cenex to bury and use a fiber optic cable without limiting its use to pipeline operation or monitoring and permitted assignment of easement rights.

The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the judgment because the appellant failed to provide a trial transcript sufficient to permit review of the evidentiary challenges to the damages verdict and jury submission.

The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in favor of Seltzer in all respects addressed in the opinion text. It held that the defendants waived or inadequately presented their jury-instruction challenges, failed to establish entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on abuse of process, and failed to show…

The Montana Supreme Court denied Terry Miller's habeas corpus petition, holding that he failed to make a prima facie showing that his constitutional right to reasonable bail was violated, and overruled Ingraham by declaring habeas proceedings independent of the underlying bail decision.

The Court affirmed Kotwicki’s sentence, holding that his unpreserved challenges to the fine did not qualify for review under the exception for allegedly illegal sentences. Because the $25,000 fine was within the statutory maximum, the alleged failure to consider his ability to pay made the sentence objectionable but…