Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 61 > Chapter 4 > Part 2 - Licensing of New Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, Distributors, and Importers -- Disputes -- Standing

• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Authorized agent: means a person who has executed a written agreement with the department and is specifically authorized by the department to electronically access and update the department's motor vehicle titling, registration, or driver records, using an approved automated interface, for specific functions or purposes on behalf of a third party. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Camper: means a structure designed to be mounted in the cargo area of a truck or attached to an incomplete vehicle for the purpose of providing shelter for persons. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Community: means the relevant market area of a franchise. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dealer: means a person that, for commission or profit, engages in whole or in part in the business of buying, selling, exchanging, or accepting on consignment new or used motor vehicles, trailers, semitrailers, pole trailers, travel trailers, motorboats, sailboats, snowmobiles, off-highway vehicles, or special mobile equipment that is not registered in the name of the person. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Department: means the department of justice acting directly or through its duly authorized officers or agents. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Distribute: means to sell new motor vehicles other than at retail or to enter into a franchise agreement authorizing a dealer to buy new motor vehicles for resale or to service motor vehicles under a manufacturer's or distributor's warranty. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Distributor branch: means a branch office maintained or availed of by a distributor or wholesaler for the sale of a line-make of new motor vehicles to new motor vehicle dealers in this state for directing or supervising its representatives in this state. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Domiciled: means a place where:

  (a)an individual establishes residence;

  (b)a business entity maintains its principal place of business;

  (c)the business entity's registered agent maintains an address; or

  (d)a business entity most frequently uses, dispatches, or controls a motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, or pole trailer that it owns or leases. See Montana Code 61-1-101

• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• 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.
• Factory branch: means a branch office maintained or availed of by a manufacturer for the sale of a line-make of new motor vehicles to distributors or for the sale of new motor vehicles to new motor vehicle dealers in this state or for directing or supervising its representatives in this state. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Franchise: means a contract and any agreed-to amendments between or among two or more persons when all of the following conditions are included:

  (a)a commercial relationship of definite duration or continuing indefinite duration is involved;

  (b)the franchisee is granted the right to:

  (i)offer, sell, and service in this state new motor vehicles manufactured or distributed by the franchisor; or

  (ii)service motor vehicles pursuant to the terms of a franchise and a manufacturer's warranty;

  (c)the franchisee, as an independent and separate business, constitutes a component of the franchisor's distribution system; and

  (d)the operation of the franchisee's business is substantially reliant on the franchisor for the continued supply of new motor vehicles, parts, and accessories. See Montana Code 61-4-201

• Franchisee: means a person who receives new motor vehicles from the franchisor under a franchise and who offers, sells, and services the new motor vehicles to and for the general public. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Franchisor: means a person who manufactures, imports, or distributes new motor vehicles and who may enter into a franchise. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
• Gross vehicle weight: means the weight of a vehicle without load plus the weight of any load on the vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Importer: means a person who transports or arranges for the transportation of a foreign manufactured new motor vehicle into the United States for sale in this state. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• 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.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Line-make: means vehicles that are offered for sale, lease, or distribution under a common name, trademark, or service mark. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Manufacturer: means a person who manufactures or assembles a line-make of new motor vehicles and distributes them directly or indirectly through one or more distributors to one or more new motor vehicle dealers in this state or who manufactures or installs on previously assembled truck chassis special bodies or equipment that, when installed, forms an integral part of the new motor vehicle and that constitutes a major manufacturing alteration, but does not include a person who installs a camper on a pickup truck. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Markup: The process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
• Motor home: means a motor vehicle:

  (a)designed to provide temporary living quarters, built as an integral part of or permanently attached to a self-propelled motor vehicle chassis or van;

  (b)containing permanently installed independent life support systems that meet the NFPA 1192 standard on recreational vehicles; and

  (c)providing at least four of the following types of facilities:

  (i)cooking, refrigeration, or icebox;

  (ii)self-contained toilet;

  (iii)heating or air conditioning, or both;

  (iv)potable water supply, including a faucet and sink; or

  (v)separate 110-volt or 125-volt electrical power supply or a liquefied petroleum gas supply, or both. See Montana Code 61-1-101

• Motor vehicle: includes a motorboat and a personal watercraft as defined in 23-2-502, a snowmobile as defined in 23-2-601, and an off-highway vehicle as defined in 23-2-801. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Motorboat: means a vessel, including a personal watercraft or pontoon, propelled by any machinery, motor, or engine of any description, whether or not the machinery, motor, or engine is the principal source of propulsion. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• New motor vehicle: means a motor vehicle that has not been the subject of a retail sale regardless of the mileage of the vehicle. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• New motor vehicle dealer: means a person who buys, sells, exchanges, or offers or attempts to negotiate a sale or exchange or any interest in or who is engaged in the business of selling new motor vehicles under a franchise with the manufacturer of the new motor vehicles or used motor vehicles taken in trade on new motor vehicles. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Off-highway vehicle: means a self-propelled vehicle designed for recreation or cross-country travel on public lands, trails, easements, lakes, rivers, or streams. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Operator: means a person who is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Owner: means each person who holds the legal title to a vehicle. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, state agency, local government unit, another state government, the United States, a political subdivision of this or another state, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Personal watercraft: means a vessel that uses an outboard motor or an inboard engine powering a water jet pump as its primary source of propulsion and that is designed to be operated by a person sitting, standing, or kneeling on the vessel rather than by the conventional method of sitting or standing in the vessel. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Recreational vehicle: includes a motor home, travel trailer, or camper. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Retail sale: means the sale of a new motor vehicle. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Sell: means to transfer ownership from one person to another person or from a dealer to another person for consideration. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Snowmobile: means a self-propelled vehicle of an overall width of 48 inches or less, excluding accessories, that is designed primarily for travel on snow or ice, that may be steered by skis or runners, and that is not otherwise registered or licensed under the laws of the state of Montana. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Street: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every publicly maintained way when any part of the publicly maintained way is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Suspension: means the temporary withdrawal by action of the department of a person's driver's license, privilege to drive a motor vehicle on the public highways, and privilege to apply for or be issued a driver's license for a period of time designated by law. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highways for purposes of travel. See Montana Code 61-1-101
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Transferee: means a person or entity that:

  (a)is in possession or control of a new motor vehicle dealer;

  (b)holds an ownership or signed contract interest in a new motor vehicle dealer;

  (c)is acting in a fiduciary capacity for a new motor vehicle dealer; or

  (d)is an heir, devisee, personal representative, beneficiary, successor, or assign of a new motor vehicle dealer. See Montana Code 61-4-201

• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• 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
• wholesaler: means a person who sells or distributes a line-make of new motor vehicles to new motor vehicle dealers in this state or who maintains distributor representatives in this state. See Montana Code 61-4-201
• Writing: includes printing. See Montana Code 1-1-203