Montana Code 61-4-511. Manufacturer’s dispute settlement procedure — certification — prohibited contents
61-4-511. Manufacturer’s dispute settlement procedure — certification — prohibited contents. (1) A manufacturer who has established an informal dispute settlement procedure under the provisions of Title 16 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 703, shall submit a copy of the procedure to the department. The department shall issue a certificate of approval to a manufacturer whose procedure complies in all respects with the federal regulations and subsection (2) and shall maintain a record of the manufacturer’s procedures certified. The department may issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of witnesses and the production of records, documents, or other evidence necessary to the department in an investigation related to the certification of a manufacturer’s informal dispute settlement procedure.
Terms Used In Montana Code 61-4-511
- Department: means the department of justice acting directly or through its duly authorized officers or agents. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Manufacturer: includes any person engaged in the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers, semitrailers, pole trailers, travel trailers, motorboats, sailboats, snowmobiles, or off-highway vehicles as a regular business. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Motor vehicle: means :
(i)a vehicle propelled by its own power and designed or used to transport persons or property on the highways of the state;
(ii)a quadricycle if it is equipped for use on the highways as prescribed in chapter 9; or
(iii)a golf cart only if it is equipped for use on the highways as prescribed in chapter 9 and is operated pursuant to 61-8-391 or by a person with a low-speed restricted driver's license. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- Vehicle: means a device in, on, or by which any person or property may be transported or drawn on a public highway, except devices moved by animal power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. See Montana Code 61-1-101
(2)A manufacturer’s informal dispute settlement procedure must afford the consumer or the consumer’s representative an opportunity to appear and present evidence in Montana at a location reasonably convenient to the consumer and, further, may not include any practices that:
(a)delay a decision in any dispute beyond 60 days after the date on which the consumer initially resorts to the dispute settlement procedure;
(b)delay performance of remedies awarded in a settlement beyond 10 days after a decision, except that a manufacturer may have 30 days following the date of decision to replace a motor vehicle or make refund to the consumer as provided in 61-4-503;
(c)require the consumer to make the motor vehicle available for inspection by a manufacturer’s representative more than once;
(d)fail to consider in decisions any remedies provided by this part; or
(e)require the consumer to take any action or assume any obligation not specifically authorized under the federal regulations referred to in subsection (1).