Statute of Limitations for Premises Liability / Slip and Fall in Montana

Overview

In Montana, the statute of limitations (SOL) for most premises liability and slip-and-fall personal injury claims is 3 years, governed by Montana Code Annotated § 27-2-102(3).

If you’re dealing with a fall on someone else’s property—such as a grocery store, apartment building, sidewalk, or workplace—your timeline usually comes down to two practical questions:

1. When the injury happened (or, sometimes, when it legally “accrued”), and
2. When you file (and meet other filing/service requirements).

This page is a reference overview of the general/default rule Montana provides for many personal injury claims, including common premises injuries. It does not identify a claim-type-specific slip-and-fall sub-rule; instead, it explains the default personal injury SOL that typically applies unless a different rule or exception is triggered.

Limitation period

Montana’s general rule sets a 3-year deadline for filing most personal injury lawsuits:

• Deadline length: 3 years
• Governing statute: **Montana Code Annotated § 27-2-102(3)
• Claim type fit: Used as the baseline for many injury claims arising from premises conditions (for example, wet floors, uneven surfaces, or inadequate warnings).

What date usually matters for the deadline?

Most SOL calculations start from the date the claim accrues. In personal injury contexts, “accrual” is often tied to when the person was injured and/or when they knew (or reasonably should have known) they were harmed in a legally actionable way.

Practically, that means you’ll usually want to identify at least one of these dates:

• the date of the fall (when the injury event occurred), and/or
• a later date related to symptoms, diagnosis, or discovery if your situation supports delayed realization.

Even if your facts are more nuanced, DocketMath’s calculator is designed to help you plan by starting with the date you believe the claim accrued, then adjusting based on your inputs.

How DocketMath helps you compute the deadline

Use DocketMath’s /tools/statute-of-limitations calculator to estimate your Montana filing deadline using the general 3-year SOL.

1. Open the tool: statute-of-limitations
2. Select Montana (US-MT)
3. Enter the injury/accident date (or the date you believe the claim accrued, based on your facts)

Output you’ll get: a computed last filing date (a calendar date) based on the 3-year period, plus the duration the tool applied.

Inputs that change the output

Double-check these items before relying on a single “last day”:

• ✅ Injury/accident date

  • Shifting this date earlier or later generally shifts the last filing date the same direction.
• ✅ Accrual/discovery date (if applicable)

  • If your facts support later accrual (for example, symptoms became clearly serious later), the deadline may move forward.
• ✅ Case type selection (if the tool prompts for it)

  • If multiple rules exist in the tool’s logic, picking the wrong category can produce an incorrect deadline.

Key exceptions

Montana’s 3-year default doesn’t always behave like a simple “three years from the fall” clock. Depending on the situation, timing may change because the claim accrues later, the period may be paused (tolling), or a different rule could apply.

Because this is a reference-style overview, treat the following as main categories to investigate rather than proof that an exception applies in your case.

1) Accrual and “knew/should have known” issues

Some premises injury claims involve harm that becomes clearer over time. For example, a fracture might be diagnosed days or weeks after the fall, or ongoing pain may reveal a more serious condition.

Practical takeaway:

• If symptoms were delayed or the severity became known later, gather medical records and documentation showing when you first knew (or reasonably should have known) something serious happened and when a diagnosis was reasonably discovered.

2) Tolling for qualifying legal statuses

Certain circumstances can pause the SOL. These depend on specific statutory conditions and are fact-dependent.

Practical takeaway:

• If the injured person was a minor or had another potentially qualifying status at the time of injury, the SOL timeline may differ from the 3-year default.

3) Procedural timing and filing mechanics

Even when the SOL period is relatively clear, lawsuits can fail as “late” if procedural rules aren’t satisfied (for example, requirements affecting proper filing and service).

Practical takeaway:

• Don’t plan only to “file on the last day.” Use the deadline to build an early schedule for drafting, evidence gathering, and filing steps that take time.

Statute citation

The general/default Montana statute of limitations for most personal injury claims is:

• Montana Code Annotated § 27-2-102(3) — 3 years

This 3-year period is the baseline rule used for many premises liability / slip-and-fall injury timing questions in ordinary cases. DocketMath’s Montana SOL calculation uses this 3-year default unless the tool logic indicates another applicable category.

Use the calculator

If you want your most useful next step, run your dates through DocketMath and treat the result as a planning estimate.

1. Go to DocketMath’s Statute of Limitations calculator
2. Choose Montana (US-MT)
3. Enter the injury date (or the accrual/discovery date you believe fits your facts)
4. Review the computed last filing date
5. Add a buffer so you’re not relying on the absolute deadline

Example of how outputs change

(Not legal advice—just a planning illustration.)

• If you enter an injury date of March 1, 2022, a 3-year SOL generally produces a last filing date around March 1, 2025 (subject to accrual/tolling facts).
• If you instead enter an accrual/discovery date of September 15, 2022, the last filing date generally shifts to around September 15, 2025.

Because accrual/tolling can be fact-driven, treat any “discovery date” input as something you should be able to support with records and a coherent timeline.

If the output date feels tight or inconsistent with your understanding of the facts, re-check:

• which date you entered,
• whether symptom onset or diagnosis might affect accrual in your scenario, and
• whether a statutory tolling circumstance could apply.

Sources and references

Start with the primary authority for Montana and confirm the effective date before relying on any output. If the rule has been amended, update the inputs and rerun the calculation.

• Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-201

Related reading

• Choosing the right statute of limitations tool for Vermont — How to choose the right calculator
• Statute of limitations in Singapore: how to estimate the deadline — Full how-to guide with jurisdiction-specific rules
• Choosing the right statute of limitations tool for Connecticut — How to choose the right calculator