# Klaudt v. Flink

> Montana Supreme Court · January 28, 1983 · 202 Mont. 247

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9507707

## Case

- **Full name:** NEIL L. KLAUDT, Personal Rep. of the Estate of Scott A. Klaudt, Et Al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. CALVIN E. FLINK and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., Defendants and Respondents
- **Court:** Montana Supreme Court
- **Decided:** January 28, 1983
- **Citations:** 202 Mont. 247; 658 P.2d 1065; 1983 Mont. LEXIS 618
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Shea
- **Judges:** Daly, Morrison, Weber, Shea, Haswell, Harrison, Sheehy
- **Cited by:** 63 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- **Red flag:** Overruled in part, on other grounds by Fode v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, 221 Mont. 282 (1986).
- Negative treatments: 2
- Distinguished by: 0
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9507707

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- stating issue as whether § 33-18-201, MCA, "confers a private cause of action" and holding that it affirmatively "create[d]" statutory duties to private parties the breach of which is "the basis for a civil action"
- stating issue as whether § 33-18-201, MCA, “confers a private cause of action” and holding that § 33-18-201, MCA, created duties to third-party claimants, a breach of which is “the basis for a civil action”
- stating issue as whether § 33-18-201, MCA, "confers a private cause of action" and holding that it "does create" duties to private parties, a breach of which is "the basis for a civil action"
- holding that a third-party claimant has a cause of action against a defendant's insurer for failure to settle
- recognizing implied private right of action for damages based on violations of § 33-18-201(6), MCA

## Opinion text

MR. JUSTICE SHEA,
dissenting:
I join in the dissent of Mr. Justice Weber. I further agree with Mr. Justices Morrison and Weber that the claims of the third party should not be permitted to be joined with and tried with the action against the claimed tort feasor. By interpreting the statutes as permitting third party claims against insurance companies who insure an alleged tort feasor, we have ignored the plain wording of the Unfair Trade Practices chapter of the Montana Insurance Code. In resorting to the so-called rules of statutory construction to reach this result, the majority has further ignored and tortured the rules of statutory construction. The result is judicial legislation run rampant.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9507707. Public record. Not legal advice.