Getting a call from an insurance adjuster telling you the crash was your fault is one of the most disorienting things that can happen after an accident. You may have been sitting at a red light, following all the rules of the road, or simply trying to get home, and now an insurance company you have never dealt with is telling you that you caused the crash and that your claim is denied or reduced. It feels unfair because in many cases it is.
Here is what you need to know right now: a fault determination made by an insurance adjuster is not final. It is a business decision made by someone whose job is to minimize what their company pays out. It can be challenged, negotiated, and in many cases reversed with the right evidence and the right legal representation.
If you are in this situation in Montana, stay calm, do not admit fault, do not give a recorded statement, document everything you can, and call a Montana car accident attorney before you say anything else to the insurance company. Conner, Marr & Pinski offers free case reviews and represents accident victims across Montana from our Great Falls office. Call (406) 727-3550 whenever you are ready.
Insurance companies are businesses. Their financial interests are served by paying out as little as possible on every claim, and one of the most effective ways to reduce or eliminate a payout is to assign fault to the claimant. This is not a conspiracy. It is standard industry practice, and adjusters are trained to do it.
When you file a claim after a crash, the adjuster assigned to your case is not investigating what actually happened. They are building a file that protects their company. They review the police report looking for language they can use against you. They analyze your recorded statement for inconsistencies or admissions. They look at the sequence of events and identify any way they can argue that you contributed to what happened.
Common blame-shifting tactics include using your own words against you by recording statements early when you are still disoriented and may phrase things in ways that sound like admissions, emphasizing any prior traffic violations or accident history to suggest a pattern of careless driving, citing ambiguous language in the police report, and disputing the timeline of the crash to suggest you had time to react and did not.
None of this means their conclusion is correct. It means you are dealing with a professional adversary who has done this thousands of times before, and that is exactly why having your own advocate matters.
The other driver’s insurance company will almost certainly ask you to give a recorded statement. They may frame it as routine, tell you it is required, or suggest it will speed up the process. You are not legally required to give a statement to the other party’s insurer, and doing so before you have spoken with an attorney is one of the most common mistakes injured drivers make.
Recorded statements are used to lock you into a version of events before you have had time to fully understand what happened, recover from any injuries, or consult with someone who can advise you on what to say. Adjuster questions are carefully designed to elicit responses that minimize your claim or increase your assigned fault percentage.
It is not just formal recorded statements that cause problems. Casual conversations with adjusters, offhand comments at the scene of the crash, or anything you say to the other driver can and will be noted and used. Saying “I’m sorry” at the scene, even as a reflexive human response to a stressful situation, can later be characterized as an admission of fault. Telling an adjuster that you think you may have been going slightly over the speed limit when the crash happened gives them something to work with.
You can confirm basic facts: that a crash occurred, the date and location, and your contact information. You can tell the adjuster that you are represented by an attorney or that you are in the process of retaining one and that all further communication should go through your legal representative. Beyond that, less is more.
Montana is an at-fault state, which means the driver who caused the crash is responsible for paying damages. But many accidents involve shared fault, and Montana’s modified comparative negligence law governs how those situations are handled.
Under Montana Code Annotated § 27-1-702, your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found to be 20% at fault and your total damages are $100,000, you recover $80,000. However, if you are found to be 51% or more at fault, you are barred from recovering anything at all.
This is the 51% bar rule, and it is why insurance companies are motivated to push your assigned fault percentage as high as possible. Getting you from 30% fault to 51% fault is the difference between you receiving a significant settlement and receiving nothing. Every percentage point they can shift onto you saves them money, and they have strong financial incentives to be aggressive about it.
The key insight is that fault percentages are not objective scientific measurements. They are negotiated positions based on evidence, legal arguments, and the relative experience of the people making the case. An attorney who understands how comparative fault plays out in Montana courts is in a far better position to challenge an inflated fault assignment than you are negotiating alone.
To learn more about how fault is determined in Montana and what factors courts and insurers consider, our earlier post breaks down the full analysis.
Visual documentation of the crash scene is often the most powerful tool available to a disputed-fault claimant. Photographs of vehicle damage, skid marks, road conditions, traffic signals, and the positions of the vehicles after the crash can tell a story that contradicts the insurance company’s version of events. If you were physically able to take photos at the scene, preserve every one of them. If security cameras, traffic cameras, or dashcam footage captured the crash, that footage needs to be requested and preserved quickly before it is overwritten.
Independent witnesses who saw the crash from a neutral vantage point carry significant weight in disputed-fault situations. Their accounts are not subject to the same credibility challenge as statements from the parties involved. If witnesses were present and you obtained their contact information, share it with your attorney immediately.
The police report is also important, but it is not the last word. Officers document what they observe and what they are told, and their preliminary conclusions about fault can be challenged with contradicting evidence. If the report contains an error or reflects only one driver’s account, those issues can be addressed.
Your medical records serve two purposes in a disputed-fault case. First, they document the nature and severity of your injuries and connect them directly to the crash. Second, the timeline of your treatment can corroborate your account of what happened and how the impact affected you. Seeking medical attention promptly after a crash is not just important for your health. It is important for your case.
You may still have a strong personal injury claim even if the insurance company is blaming you. Consider the following situations where disputed-fault claims are often successfully resolved in the claimant’s favor:
Consider a scenario where a driver was rear-ended on a Montana highway and the other driver’s insurer initially claimed the claimant had made an unsafe lane change just before the impact. The adjuster assigned 60% fault to the claimant based primarily on the other driver’s statement. After an attorney obtains surveillance footage from a nearby business and secured statements from two independent witnesses, the fault assignment was revised to 25% and the claim settled for a significant amount the claimant would have received nothing under the initial determination.
A free case review with Conner, Marr & Pinski gives you an honest assessment of where things stand and what your options are. Call (406) 727-3550 or visit our contact page to get started.
You should speak with a car accident attorney as soon as possible after the insurance company assigns you fault, and ideally before you have any further conversations with adjusters. The earlier an attorney is involved, the better positioned you are to preserve evidence, prevent damaging statements, and build a case that reflects what actually happened rather than what the insurance company wants the record to show.
If the crash involved serious injuries, significant vehicle damage, disputed liability, or any possibility of a wrongful death claim, do not attempt to navigate the claims process without legal representation. The bad faith insurance practices that sometimes accompany disputed-fault claims, including failure to investigate, lowball offers, and pressure tactics, may also give rise to additional legal claims that an attorney can identify and pursue.
Montana has a three-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims under most circumstances, but certain factors can shorten that window, and evidence becomes harder to obtain as time passes. Do not assume you have time to wait.
Being blamed for a crash you did not cause, or being assigned more fault than you deserve, does not have to be the end of the road. The insurance company’s determination is a position, not a verdict, and it can be challenged with the right evidence and the right legal team.
Conner, Marr & Pinski represents accident victims throughout Montana from our Great Falls office, and a free case review gives you clarity about where things stand without any pressure to move forward. We will listen to what happened, evaluate the evidence, and tell you honestly what we think your options are.
Contact us today at (406) 727-3550 to schedule your free consultation.
Yes, in many cases. Under Montana’s modified comparative negligence rule, you can recover compensation as long as you are found to be less than 51 percent at fault. An attorney can challenge the insurer’s fault assignment and work to reduce your assigned percentage to a level that preserves your right to recover.
No. You are not legally required to give a recorded statement to the other party’s insurer, and doing so before consulting an attorney can significantly damage your claim. Politely decline and tell them you are represented by or in the process of retaining an attorney.
Your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are 20 percent at fault and your damages total $50,000, you recover $40,000. If you are found 51 percent or more at fault, you are barred from recovering anything. This makes the fault percentage itself a critical battleground in any disputed-fault case.
A police report is one piece of evidence, not a binding legal determination. Officers sometimes make preliminary fault notations based on limited information at the scene. With contrary evidence, witness statements, or crash reconstruction analysis, a police report’s fault conclusion can be successfully challenged.
Montana’s general statute of limitations for personal injury claims is three years from the date of the crash. However, claims involving government vehicles or entities may have shorter notice requirements. Do not wait to consult an attorney, both because deadlines can be shorter than expected and because evidence is easier to gather the sooner you start.
