Bassett v. Lamantia

Justice Laurie McKinnon delivered the Opinion of the Court.

***310¶ 1 The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit presented the following certified question to this Court on May 30, 2017: "Whether, under Montana law, the public duty doctrine shields a law enforcement officer from liability for negligence where the officer is the direct and sole cause of the harm suffered by the plaintiff?" We accepted the question on June 6, 2017, and held oral argument on November 29, 2017. We exercise our authority pursuant to M. R. App. P. 15(4) and reformulate the question as:

Under Montana…