27-30-207. Private cause of action for public nuisance, MCA

Montana Code Annotated 2025

TITLE 27. CIVIL LIABILITY, REMEDIES, AND LIMITATIONS

CHAPTER 30. NUISANCES

Part 2. Public Nuisances

Private Cause Of Action For Public Nuisance

27-30-207. Private cause of action for public nuisance. (1) A public nuisance cause of action is available to a private person only if that person has sustained a special injury proximately caused by the public nuisance and only if the person can show the existence of the special injury by clear and convincing evidence.

(2) A special injury is an injury that is different in kind, not just in degree, from an injury sustained by the general public exercising the same public right. A special injury is not one based upon impairment of the spiritual, cultural, or emotional significance associated with a navigable lake, river, bay, stream, canal, or basin or a public park, square, street, road, or highway.

(3) Financial expenditures made by a private person related to an injunction of, or any other response to, a public nuisance does not constitute a special injury sufficient to confer standing on the person to file or maintain a public nuisance action.

(4) The remedy available to a private person in a public nuisance action is limited solely to compensatory damages for the special injury.

(5) The abatement of a public nuisance pursuant to 27-30-204 does not preclude the right of a person to recover compensatory damages under this section.

(6) Private persons may not bring a class action for special injuries arising out of a public nuisance.

History: En. Sec. 6, Ch. 531, L. 2025.