Montana Code 22-3-521. Limitation on action against the museum
22-3-521. Limitation on action against the museum. (1) No action may be brought against a museum for damages because of injury to or loss of property loaned to the museum more than 3 years from the date the museum gives the lender notice of the injury or loss or 10 years from the date of the injury or loss, whichever occurs earlier.
Terms Used In Montana Code 22-3-521
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Loan: means a deposit of property not accompanied by a transfer of title to the property. See Montana Code 22-3-503
- Museum: means an institution located in Montana and operated by a nonprofit corporation or a public agency primarily for educational, scientific, or aesthetic purposes, and that owns, borrows, or cares for and exhibits, studies, or catalogs property. See Montana Code 22-3-503
- Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Property: includes any tangible object, animate or inanimate, that has intrinsic historic, artistic, scientific, or cultural value. See Montana Code 22-3-503
(2)No action may be brought against a museum to recover property on loan if more than 3 years have passed from the date the museum gave the lender notice of its intent to terminate the loan as provided in 22-3-510.
(3)No action may be brought against a museum to recover property on loan if more than 25 years have passed from the date of the last written contact between the lender and the museum, as evidenced in the museum’s records.
(4)A lender is considered to have donated loaned property to the museum if the lender fails to file an action to recover the property on loan to the museum within the periods specified in subsections (1) through (3).
(5)A person who purchases property from a museum acquires good title to the property if the museum has acquired title to the property pursuant to subsection (4).
(6)Notwithstanding subsections (3) and (4), a lender who was not given notice that the museum intended to terminate a loan and who proves that the museum received a notice of intent to preserve an interest in loaned property within the 25 years immediately preceding the filing of an action to recover the property may recover the property or, if the property has been disposed of, the reasonable value of the property at the time it was disposed of plus interest at 10% a year.