Title 26, Title 26

A member of the clergy or priest may not, without the consent of the person making the confession, be examined as to any confession made to the individual in the individual's professional character in the course of discipline enjoined by the church to which the individual belongs…

Except as provided in Rule 35, Montana Rules of Civil Procedure, a licensed physician, surgeon, or dentist may not, without the consent of the patient, be examined in a civil action as to any information acquired in attending the patient that was necessary to enable the physician…

A speech-language pathologist or audiologist may not, without the consent of the client, be examined in a civil action as to any communication made by the client to the pathologist or audiologist.

The confidential relations and communications between a psychologist, psychiatrist, licensed professional counselor, or licensed clinical social worker and a client must be placed on the same basis as provided by law for those between an attorney and a client. Nothing in any act …

Any person who is engaged in teaching psychology in any school or who, acting as such, is engaged in the study and observation of child mentality shall not, without the consent of the parent or guardian of such child being so taught or observed, testify in any civil action as to …

A counselor, psychologist, nurse, or teacher employed by an educational institution may not be examined as to communications made to the individual in confidence by a registered student of the institution. However, this provision does not apply when consent has been given by the …

A public officer may not be examined as to communications made to the officer in official confidence when the public interests would suffer by the disclosure.

(1) Unless a report is otherwise required by law, an advocate may not, without consent of the victim, be examined as to any communication made to the advocate by a victim and may not divulge records kept during the course of providing shelter, counseling, or crisis intervention s…

(1) Mediation means a private, confidential, informal dispute resolution process in which an impartial and neutral third person, the mediator, assists disputing parties to resolve their differences. In the mediation process, decisionmaking authority remains with the parties and t…

(1) A statement, affirmation, gesture, or conduct expressing apology, sympathy, commiseration, condolence, compassion, or a general sense of benevolence relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a person that is made to the person, the person's family, or a friend of the perso…

This part shall be known and may be cited as the "Media Confidentiality Act".

(1) Without a person's consent, a person, including any newspaper, magazine, press association, news agency, news service, radio station, television station, or community antenna television service or any person connected with or employed by any of these for the purpose of gather…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), dissemination in whole or in part does not constitute a waiver of provisions of 26-1-902. (2) If the person claiming the privilege testifies, with or without having been subpoenaed or ordered to testify or produce the source, before a jud…

The process by which the attendance of a witness is required is by a subpoena. A subpoena is a writ or order directed to a person and requiring the person's attendance at a particular time and place to testify as a witness. The subpoena may also require the person to bring with t…

The subpoena is issued as follows: (1) To require attendance before a court or at the trial of an issue in a court, it is issued under the seal of the court before which the attendance is required or in which the issue is pending. (2) To require attendance out of the court before…

If a witness is concealed in a building or vessel so as to prevent the service of a subpoena upon the witness, any court, judge, or any officer issuing a subpoena may, upon proof by affidavit of the concealment and of the materiality of the witness, make an order that the sheriff…

Disobedience to a subpoena or a refusal to be sworn or to answer as a witness or to subscribe an affidavit or deposition, when required, may be punished as a contempt by the court issuing the subpoena or requiring the witness to be sworn, to answer, or to subscribe. If the witnes…

A witness disobeying a subpoena also forfeits to the party aggrieved the sum of $100 and all damages that the person may sustain by the failure of the witness to attend. The forfeiture and damages may be recovered in a civil action.

In case of a failure of a witness to attend, the court or officer issuing the subpoena, upon proof of the service and of the failure of the witness, may issue a warrant to the sheriff of the county to arrest the witness and bring the witness before the court or officer where atte…

Each warrant of commitment issued by a court or officer pursuant to this part must specify, particularly, the cause of the commitment. If the warrant is issued for refusing to answer a question, the question must be stated in the warrant. Each warrant to arrest or commit a witnes…

A subpoena remains in effect unless quashed or until judgment, dismissal, or other final determination of the action by the court in which the action was filed or to which the action was transferred.

If the witness is a prisoner confined in a jail or prison within this state, an order for the witness's examination in the jail or prison upon deposition or for the witness's temporary removal and production before a court or officer for the purpose of being orally examined may b…

Such order can only be made on the motion of a party, upon affidavit showing the nature of the action or proceeding, the testimony expected from the witness, and its materiality.

If the witness is imprisoned in the county where the action or proceeding is pending, the witness's production may be required. In all other cases, the witness's examination, when allowed, must be taken upon deposition.

A witness served with a subpoena shall attend at the time appointed, with any papers under the witness's control required by the subpoena, and answer all pertinent and legal questions and, unless sooner discharged, shall remain until the testimony is closed.

A witness shall answer questions legal and pertinent to the matter in issue though the answer may establish a claim against the witness. However, the witness is not required to give an answer that will have a tendency to subject the witness to punishment for a felony or to give a…

A person present in court or before a judicial officer may be required to testify in the same manner as if the person were in attendance upon a subpoena issued by the court or officer.

It is the right of a witness to be protected from irrelevant, improper, or insulting questions and from harsh or insulting demeanor; to be detained only so long as the interests of justice require it; to be examined only as to matters legal and pertinent to the issue.

Every person who has been, in good faith, served with a subpoena to attend as a witness before a court, judge, commissioner, referee, or other person in a case where the disobedience of the witness may be punished as a contempt is exonerated from arrests in a civil action while g…

The arrest of a witness contrary to 26-2-402 is void and, when willfully made, is a contempt of the court. The person making the arrest is responsible to the witness arrested for double the amount of the damages that may be assessed against the person and is also liable to an act…

(1) An officer is not liable for making the arrest in ignorance of the facts creating the exoneration but is liable for any subsequent detention of the witness if the witness claims the exemption and makes an affidavit stating that the witness: (a) has been served with a subpoena…

The court or officer issuing the subpoena and the court or officer before whom the attendance is required may discharge the witness from an arrest made in violation of 26-2-402. If the court has adjourned before the arrest or before application for discharge, a judge of the court…

(1) Except as provided in 26-2-505 and subsection (2) of this section, witness fees are as follows: (a) for attending in any civil or criminal action or proceeding before any court of record, referee, or officer authorized to take depositions or commissioners to assess damages or…

Witnesses in courts not of record in civil actions and proceedings shall receive $10 for each day's actual attendance and mileage as provided in 2-18-503 for each mile actually traveled in going from their residences by the usual traveled route to the court and return.

Witnesses in courts not of record in criminal actions and on coroner's inquests shall receive $10 per day for actual attendance and mileage as provided in 2-18-503 for each mile actually and necessarily traveled from their places of residence to the court and return.

Interpreters and translators must receive the same fees as witnesses.

An expert is a witness and receives the same compensation as a witness.

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), fees and compensation of a witness in all criminal and civil actions must be paid by the party who caused the witness to be subpoenaed. (2) (a) When a witness is subpoenaed by a public defender, as defined in 47-1-103, the fees and expens…

A witness is not obliged to attend court or appear before a referee, officer authorized to take depositions, or commissioner, when subpoenaed, unless the witness's mileage and fees for 1 day's attendance are tendered or paid to the witness on demand or unless the fees for attenda…

The attorney general, any county attorney, or any public defender, as defined in 47-1-103, is authorized to cause subpoenas to be issued and compel the attendance of witnesses without paying or tendering fees in advance to either officers or witnesses. A witness refusing to or fa…

The clerk of any court before which a witness has attended on behalf of the state or county in a civil action shall give to the witness a certificate under seal of travel and attendance that entitles the witness to receive the amount stated in the certificate from the state or co…

The provisions of 26-2-508 and 26-2-509 extend to all actions and proceedings brought in the name of the attorney general, any other person or persons for the benefit of the state or county, or any other person or persons for the benefit of a public defender, as defined in 47-1-1…

An employee of the state must receive all regular pay and benefits for time spent answering a subpoena when called to testify in connection with the employee's official duties in a civil action in which the state or one of its agencies is not a party. The person requesting issuan…

(1) A person may not testify as an expert witness on issues relating to negligence and standards of care and practice in an action on a malpractice claim, as defined in 27-6-103, for or against a health care provider, as defined in 27-6-103, unless the person: (a) is licensed as …

The jurisdiction sufficient to sustain a record is jurisdiction over the cause, over the parties, and over the thing, when a specific thing is the subject of the judgment.

That only is deemed to have been adjudged in a former judgment which appears upon its face to have been so adjudged or which was actually and necessarily included therein or necessary thereto.