Enid Allen v. Greyhound Lines, Inc., a California Corporation

This appeal presents two issues pertaining to the construction of a saving clause in Montana’s statute of limitations. Neither issue has been addressed by any Montana court. The threshold question for decision is whether the saving statute — an ameliorative rule that tolls the limitation period for up to one year under certain circumstances — applies to those actions commenced outside the State of Montana. We must further determine whether Montana’s statute of limitations is incorporated in the proviso to the saving statute and therefore governs the time period within which the original action must be filed. Having resolved both questions in the affirmative, we reverse and remand.

Enid Allen, appellant, was injured on January 27, 1974, while a passenger on a Greyhound bus that was involved in an accident near Pocatello, Idaho. On June 2, 1976, over two years later, she filed suit against Greyhound Lines, Inc. (Greyhound) in a Utah state court. The Utah court determined that, although Allen had resided in Utah for a number of years, her domicile both before and after the accident was Montana. Accordingly, the court refused to apply Utah law (with its concomitant three year statute…