Opinion ID: 882912
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: duty to exercise ordinary care

Text: Article II, section 18, of the Montana Constitution provides in relevant part that: The state ... shall have no immunity from suit for injury to a person or property, except as may be specifically provided by law by a 2/3 vote of each house of the legislature. Section 2-9-102, MCA, provides that: Every governmental entity is subject to liability for its torts and those of its employees acting within the scope of their employment or duties whether arising out of a governmental or proprietary function except as specifically provided by the legislature under Article II, section 18, of the Constitution of the State of Montana. It is clear, then, that unless specifically prohibited by the Legislature, the State is liable to the same extent that a private individual would be liable for its negligence as defined in the common law. Under the common law of Montana, we have previously held that statutory obligations give rise to duties which, if breached, form the basis of a common law cause of action. For example, § 27-1-701, MCA, provides that: Except as otherwise provided by law, everyone is responsible not only for the results of his willful acts but also for an injury occasioned to another by his want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his property or person except so far as the latter has willfully or by want of ordinary care brought the injury upon himself. In Limberhand v. Big Ditch Company (1985), 218 Mont. 132, 144-45, 706 P.2d 491, 498-99, we held that this statute imposed a duty on land owners to use ordinary care in the management of their property so as not to create an unreasonable risk to those who could be foreseeably injured by their failure to do so. According to our Constitution and the statutory authority previously cited, the State had the same duty to maintain the fence and cattle guard that it constructed on the right-of-way that it owned. The majority opinion fails to discuss why the duty imposed by § 27-1-701, MCA, applies to every private person in this State, but not to state government itself.