Background
McNain Holdings and the Blakes each bought a fractional interest in a three-bedroom villa at the Wilderness Club for $75,000. Their purchase agreements and addendums promised a transfer to a four-bedroom villa once one was built; until then, they could use a four-bedroom cabin and would not owe maintenance fees. No four-bedroom villa was ever constructed.
In 2023, Wilderness demanded maintenance fees and canceled the couples’ reservations when they refused to pay. The buyers sued for breach of contract and under the Montana Consumer Protection Act. The district court granted summary judgment that Wilderness breached the contracts, leaving damages and the consumer-protection claim for trial. A jury awarded each couple $250,000 in contract damages but found for Wilderness on the consumer-protection claim.
The Court’s Holding
The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Wilderness’s post-trial motion. Substantial credible evidence supported the $250,000 award to each couple for lost use of their fractional interests. The evidence showed that Wilderness indefinitely canceled reservations, no one restored the contractual arrangement after the resort changed hands, and the couples expected to continue using their interests for years.
The Court also upheld the award of all attorney fees and costs incurred below. The buyers were the prevailing parties because they obtained the net benefit of the judgment, and their contract and consumer-protection claims were inextricably intertwined: both rested on the same factual narrative and sought damages for the same alleged harm. The Court remanded for the district court to determine reasonable appellate fees and costs under the contracts.
Key Takeaways
- A resort’s sale did not, by itself, end damages flowing from its prior cancellation of owners’ reservations.
- Whether plaintiffs reasonably mitigated damages was supported by evidence and properly left to the jury.
- A prevailing party may recover all contractual fees where compensable and noncompensable claims cannot reasonably be segregated.
Why It Matters
The decision reinforces that contract damages may include continuing losses after a defendant transfers operational control of the affected property, where the breach remains unremedied and the evidence supports an ongoing loss.
It also illustrates Montana’s fee-segregation rule: different legal theories do not require a reduced fee award when the work on those theories is factually and practically inseparable.