Montana Code 31-4-108. Disclosure and discovery of litigation financing contracts
31-4-108. (Effective January 1, 2024) Disclosure and discovery of litigation financing contracts. (1) Except as otherwise stipulated or ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction, a consumer or the consumer’s legal representative shall, without awaiting a discovery request, disclose and deliver to the following persons the litigation financing contract:
Terms Used In Montana Code 31-4-108
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- 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.
- Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(a)each party to the civil action, administrative proceeding, claim, or cause of action, or to each party’s legal representative;
(b)the court, agency, or tribunal in which the civil action, administrative proceeding, claim, or cause of action may be pending; and
(c)any known person, including an insurer, with a preexisting contractual obligation to indemnify or defend a party to the civil action, administrative proceeding, claim, or cause of action.
(2)The disclosure obligation under subsection (1) exists regardless of whether a civil action or an administrative proceeding has commenced.
(3)The disclosure obligation under subsection (1) is a continuing obligation, and within 30 days of entering into a litigation financing contract or amending an existing litigation financing contract, the consumer or the consumer’s legal representative shall disclose and deliver any new or amended litigation financing contracts.
(4)The existence of the litigation financing contract and all participants or parties to a litigation financing contract are permissible subjects of discovery in any civil action, administrative proceeding, claim, or cause of action to which litigation financing is provided under the litigation financing contract, regardless of whether a civil action or an administrative proceeding has commenced.