HB 324 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Revise voluntary payment laws to include all claims

HB 324 revises state law regarding voluntary payments made in legal claims, affecting individuals and entities involved in disputes over injuries or property damage. The bill clarifies that making a voluntary payment is not considered an admission of fault or liability for any claim. However, this protection does not apply to certain bad faith insurance actions or proceedings to determine attorney fees. It also maintains that voluntary payments are credited against any future judgment, but the payer cannot recover excess payments if the judgment is less than the amount already paid. The changes apply to liability claims with a cause of action accrued on or after October 1, 2025.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
May 2025
Introduced Jan 28, 2025 Signed May 5, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0324_2(10).pdf HB0324_X.pdf · 5 edits
MODERATE
This bill updates Montana's voluntary payment laws to ensure that payments made to settle claims are not treated as admissions of fault or liability. It clarifies that these protections apply to all types of claims, not just specific ones, and explicitly excludes bad faith insurance lawsuits from these protections. The changes also refine how partial payments are credited against final court judgments.
Scope change
The bill expands the scope of voluntary payment protections to include all liability claims, whereas previous versions may have had narrower applicability or ambiguous language regarding certain claim types.
SCOPE

The title and act text were revised to explicitly state that the laws apply to 'all claims' and clarify that bad faith insurance actions are excluded from voluntary payment protections.

DEFINITION

Section 26-1-701 was updated to ensure the legislative policy regarding voluntary payments covers all liability claims without ambiguity.

REQUIREMENT

Section 26-1-703 was amended to remove redundant or conflicting language ('shall may not') and to explicitly list exceptions for attorney fee proceedings and discretionary damages.

Section 26-1-706 was revised to clarify that voluntary payments made before a judgment act as a credit against that judgment, preventing the payer from seeking a refund if the judgment is lower than the payment amount.

TECHNICAL

Formatting inconsistencies, such as extra line breaks and page headers, were standardized to align with the enrolled bill format.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 8, 2025 · House Feb 14, 2025

How they voted

480
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 50
Apr 8, 2025
D Democratic18
17 Yea 1
94% Yea
R Republican32
31 Yea 1
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
44
Key actions
9
Committee
6
May 1, 2025
Signed into law
(H) Signed by Governor
lower
Apr 22, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Signed by President
upper
Apr 18, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Signed by Speaker
lower
Apr 8, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (48-0-2)
senate
Mar 20, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs
upper
Mar 20, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs
upper
Feb 21, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Business, Labor and Economic Affairs
upper
Feb 14, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (94-0-6)
house
Feb 5, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Business and Labor
lower
Feb 5, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Business and Labor
lower
Jan 28, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Business and Labor
lower
Jan 28, 2025
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Steve Fitzpatrick
Steve Fitzpatrick
RRepublican
MT
24