No. 87-133 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 

1987 

R. WESLEY MAPSTON, Personal Representative 

of the Estate of RAEGAN ANN MAPSTON, and 

R. WESLEY MAPSTON and CAROL SUE MAPSTON, 

Plaintiffs and Appellants, 

-vsJOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 8, LAKE, 

MISSOULA, SANDERS COUNTIES andGLEN PAULSON, 

Defendants and Respondent. 

APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Fourth Judicial District, 

In and for the County of Missoula, 

The Honorable Jack L. Green, Judge presiding. 

COUNSEL OF RECORD: 

For Appellant: 

Victor F. Valgenti, Missoula, Montana 

For Respondent: 

Worden, Thane & Haines; Sam Warren, Missoula, 

Montana 

Submitted on Briefs: June 11, 1987 

Decided: July 29, 1987 

Filed: JuL 2 9 7987 

Clerk 
Mr. Justice William E. Hunt, Sr., delivered the Opinion of 

the Court. 

This is an appeal from the Fourth Judicial District, 

Missoula County, Montana, from an order granting defendant's 

motion for a change of venue from Missoula County to Lake 

County. 

We affirm the District Court. 

The sole issue raised on appeal is whether Lake County 

is the proper county of venue for this tort action. 

The facts in this case are simple, but tragic. F-aegan 

Ann Mapston and another female student were killed on 

December 29, 1983 when the tractor tire innertube which they 

were using as a sled, hit a tree. The sledding outing was a 

school sponsored event supervised by Glen Paulson, a teacher 

at the Arlee High School. The accident occurred on a steep 

snow covered hill in the Jocko Canyon area of Lake County, 

Montana. Raegan was a 15 year old freshman at Arlee High 

School at the time of her death. She lived with her parents 

in Missoula County and was bused to high school in Arlee, 

which is located in Lake County. 

Joint School District No. 8 services Lake, Missoula and 

Sanders counties. Approximately two thirds of the students 

who attend school within the district reside in Lake County. 

The principal offices of the school district are located in 

the Arlee High School. All permanent physical facilities of 

the school district are located in Lake County. The sledding 

accident occurred in Lake County. 

Appellant agrees that defendant, Glen Paulson, resides 

in Lake County. Appellant also acknowledges that the alleged 

tort was committed in Lake County. However, appellant 
asserts that 5 25-2-122, MCA, which would unequivocally place 

this tort action as properly triable in Lake County, is not 

controlling. Appellant contends that 5 25-2-126, MCA, is the 

decisive statute and, as worded, labels Missoula County as a 

proper place of venue. We disagree. The pertinent language 

in § 25-2-126 (3) states: 

(3) The proper place of trial against a political 

subdivision is in the county in which the claim 

arose or in any county where the political 

subdivision is located. 

Case law in Montana has not addressed whether a school 

district is properly labeled a "political subdivision." As 

this case can be decided without making such a distinction, 

we will not address it here. 

Montana case law has analyzed the question of venue 

concerning a Montana corporation which does business in more 

than one county within the State. In such cases, this Court 

has held that a corporation does not reside in any county in 

which it happens to do business. A corporation in Montana 

has only one residence. That residence is the county in 

which it has it's principal place of business. Platt v. 

Sears, Roebuck & Co. (Mont. 19861, 721 P.2d 336, 338, 43 

St.Rep. 1160, 1162. 

Although a school district is not a corporation, it is 

similar in that it has a principal place of business which is 

easily identifiable. 

In the present case some students attend Arlee High 

School in Lake County while residing in Missoula and Sanders 

counties for reasons of convenience and efficiency. The 

district includes these families living outside of Lake 

County because they live closer to the Arlee School than to 

the those located in their own respective counties. The 

extent of the school district's contact with Missoula County 
is when buses cross the county border, pick the children up, 

take them to school and return them to their homes in the 

afternoon. This limited contact with Missoula County does 

not make it a county in which a school district, primarily 

located in and operating from Lake County, can be sued. 

The proper place for a tort action is: (1) the county 

in which defendants, or any of them, reside at the 

commencement of the action; or (2) the county where the tort 

was committed. Section 25-2-122, MCA. See also Bradley v. 

Valmont Industries, Inc. (Mont. 1985), 701 P.2d 997, 998, 42 

St.Rep. 925, 927. 

The proper county in which to try this tort action is 

Lake County. 

The order of the District Court granting defendant's 

motion for a change of venue to Lake County is affirmed. 

We Concur: 

I 

(,I Justices ).