UPDATE: March 23, 2022
On March 8, 2022, the Montana Supreme Court denied the Class's petition for a rehearing and remanded to the lower court for further proceedings. Class counsel has requested a hearing to schedule future proceedings, including eventually, a hearing where all class members will be entitled to provide their input. Court documents, including the petition for a rehearing and the Montana Supreme Court orders related thereto are provided.
UPDATE: February 2, 2022
On January 5,
2022, the Montana Supreme Court finally made its decision regarding the
existence and amount of insurance available to pay class members. Unfortunately,
the Court opined that only the $1,000,000 policy limit applied and not the
$3,000,000 limit. See, Opinion. This essentially means there will not be
adequate insurance proceeds to fully compensate class members.
We are,
however, requesting a rehearing as we believe the Supreme Court misinterpreted
and misapplied prior law. See, Petition for Rehearing. The defendant
insurer, Allied Insurance, has responded. See, Response. We await a
decision which we expect in the next few months.
The website
will be updated when the Supreme Court makes its final decision. Further court
proceedings will be necessary in the lower court before we know what can be
done. You will then receive another written notice which will allow you to
provide your input.
For detailed
information, the following court documents are provided for your review.
1)
Supreme Court’s Opinion dated 1/5/22;
2)
Plaintiffs/Appellees’ Petition for Rehearing
dated 1/18/22; and
3)
Allied World’s Objections to Petition dated
1/21/22.
1. Health insurance through New West at any time from January 26, 2002.
2. Injured due to the legal fault of another person or company (e.g. automobile accidents, slips and fall; dangerous consumer products; medical malpractice or other types of claims for injury).
If you or a family member satisfy these two conditions, you are a putative class member and your claim will be considered or eligible to receive money.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU QUALIFY
In order to participate in the distribution of the Net Settlement Funds, you must fill out and mail back the pre-paid claim form no later than February 26, 2021. The Court has ruled that people who fail to mail back their claims form within this time period, may forfeit their right to receive a monetary recovery. If you did not receive a pre-paid claim form via mail, you can download a copy from the documents section of this site.