Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-606

Opinion No. 606 County Commissionel's-Livestock -Poison-Insect Pests. HI~LD: Neither the county nor the county commissioners is liable in dam- ages by reason of injury to cattle from poison distributed to kill Mormon crick- ets. August 31, 1H34. You submit a claim made against the county commissioners by an owner of livestock for damages by reason of in- jury to cattle from pOison distributell to kill Mormon cl'ickt.'ts. Since you have suhmitted no facts this opinion will necessarily be of general applica- tion only. The general rule is that a county is not liable for its torts. (15 C .. J. 568 et seq., 7 R. C. L. n54. Counties-Kc~' Xos. 141 to 148.) Xcither is is respon- sible for the negligence of its officer~. (7 R. C. L. 056.) In the case of Terri- tory v. Board of County Commissioners. S Mont. SH6, we find the following lan- gunge: "We hold, then, that while a county is a corporation for many purposes, and as such, an independent legal en- tity endowed by law with a limited portion of the sovereignty of the state, and as such, charged with duties, po- Iitical and discretionary in their char- acter, to be exercised for the public good, and that the hoard of county commissioners is the organ through which its functions are mainly exe· cuted, still, when the law itself im- poses a duty upon its commissioners as such, and they are not appointed thereto by the county, the county will not be responsible for theil' breach of duty, or for their non-feasance or misfeasance in relation to such duty." 'l'he liability of a county for negli- ~ence is similar to that. of a school dis· trict. The Supreme Court of this state recentl~' decided, in the case of Perkins Y. Trask, 05 Mont. 1, tha t a school dis- trict and the trustees of such district. are not responsible for negligence of the trustees in the performance of their duties. It ,,"ould. therefore, seem that tbe county is no't responsible in dam- ages in this case: neither do I hclie,'e the commissioners of the county are responsible. (Laird v. Berthelote. 6.':1 ~lont. 122: State ex reI. Shea Y. Cock- ing, 66 Mont. 160, 177.) In matters of this kind it is not pos- sible to write an opinion which might not be altered by facts unknown nt this time. I am merely gh'ing you the. authorities as I find them upon this subject.