LUCAS NELSON and SHANNON ROBINSON NELSON v. Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
LUCAS NELSON and SHANNON
ROBINSON NELSON,
Plaintiffs - Appellants,
v.
HARTFORD INSURANCE COMPANY
OF THE MIDWEST; SAFECO
INSURANCE COMPANY OF ILLINOIS;
and IRMA SULLIVAN, individually,
Defendants - Appellees.
No. 12-36042
D.C. No. 9:11-cv-00162-DWN
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Montana
Donald W. Molloy, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted April 10, 2014
Seattle, Washington
Before: KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, and RAWLINSON and BEA, Circuit Judges.
This case arises in diversity out of Montana. We review de novo the district
court’s order that granted summary judgment to Appellees, and we affirm. Autotel
FILED
APR 21 2014
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.

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v. Nevada Bell Tel. Co., 697 F.3d 846, 850 (9th Cir. 2012). We conclude that
under Montana law a common law action for bad faith insurance practices that
does not involve workers’ compensation does not accrue for statute of limitations
purposes solely upon judgment in or settlement of an underlying claim against a
defendant insurance company’s insured. Fode v. Farmers Ins. Exch., 719 P.2d
414, 417 (Mont. 1986) (holding that a common law bad faith cause of action
against an insurance company “may be filed to toll the statute of limitations”
during the pendency of an underlying suit against tortfeasor insureds); O’Connor v.
Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co., 87 P.3d 454, 458 (Mont. 2004) (distinguishing Fode as
“not a workers’ compensation case”). Appellants’ claims against defendants
accrued under Montana law more than three years before they filed this suit and are
therefore time-barred. Mont. Code Ann. §§ 27-2-102(1)(a) & 102(2), 27-2-204(1).
AFFIRMED.
2

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