# Meech v. Hillhaven West, Inc.

> Montana Supreme Court · June 29, 1989 · 238 Mont. 21

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9843449

## Case

- **Full name:** RUSSELL E. MEECH, Plaintiff, v. HILLHAVEN WEST, INC., and R. Ron Semingson, Defendants
- **Court:** Montana Supreme Court
- **Decided:** June 29, 1989
- **Citations:** 238 Mont. 21; 776 P.2d 488; 4 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 737; 1989 Mont. LEXIS 162
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Harrison
- **Judges:** McDonough, Harrison, Turnage, Gulbrandson, Weber, Hunt, Sheehy
- **Cited by:** 74 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9843449

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- explaining that Montana’s Open Courts provision is “a section dealing with the administration of justice,” and is “addressed to securing the right to set the machinery of the law in motion”
- recognizing that the WDEA “limits the time for bringing a cause under its provisions to one year from the date of discharge”
- noting that the legislature has "plenary power ... in determining the availability of punitive damages"

## Opinion text

MR. JUSTICE HARRISON,
dissenting.
While I agree with much that is said by the majority in this opinion, the totality of this opinion in reversing so many cases this Court has previously decided, necessitates my filing this dissent.
I cannot concur with all that has been said in the dissent of Mr. *74 Justice John C. Sheehy, yet I find I must agree with Justice Sheehy regarding Corrigan v. Janney (Mont. 1981), [ 192 Mont. 99 ,] 626 P.2d 838 , 38 St.Rep. 545 . I feel that it is totally unnecessary to reverse Corrigan which established that when a cause of action is grounded on statute the plaintiff has a fundamental right to full legal redress under that statute.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9843449. Public record. Not legal advice.