This subject was on the
July 2009 Montana Bar Exam, and is eligible to be on
future Bar Exams. It deals with
the actions and transactions of an increasingly mobile
population which involve the laws
of two or more jurisdictions. It covers both the Restatement
and the other major analytical systems
for determining whose law applies. In this multi-jurisdictional
context it ties together and applies
many other subject areas, including torts, insurance
law, contracts, transactions involving
both real estate and personal property, jurisdictional
requirements, constitutional constraints,
Indian law and the conflicts between state and tribal
courts, conflicts between state and
federal jurisdiction, family law (dissolution and child
custody and visitation), estate-related law
(wills, trusts and probate), and workers compensation.
Examples include: an auto accident in
Montana involving both Montana residents and residents
of another state who were insured in another
state; (The Montana and North Dakota Supreme Courts recently
issued diametrically opposed opinions
on the same set of facts in this context); crimes and
commercial transactions between
Indians and non-Indians, both on and off-reservation;
conflicts between a Montana trial court
and an out-of-state Bankruptcy Court; transactions in
which Montana land, or equipment to be used in Montana,
is financed out-of-state; a deficiency judgment obtained
upon a foreclosure of a Montana
mortgage which is sought to be enforced in another state;
an Oregon insurance company providing
workers' compensation insurance seeking to capture part
of the employee's recovery for
a truck driver's injury occurring in Montana; a dispute
between a Montana probate
personal representative and an out-of-state decedent
or trustee; or a dispute between citizens of State
A and State B concerning the validity of a divorce, child
custody or visitation. The course will cover national, international and Montana cases.
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