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Tipp Coburn Lockwood, P.C.

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Tipp Coburn Lockwood, P.C.

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Lawyers Fighting for Montanans Since 1959 The law firm of Tipp Coburn Schandelson PC in Missoula, MT, has a storied heritage, and began in 1959.

Our founding partner, Ray Tipp, started his practice from a single homemade desk set on a staircase landing of a downtown Missoula office building. Shortly thereafter, he teamed up with Vernon Hoven, and the firm name changed to Tipp & Hoven and was located at 123 West Broadway in downtown Missoula. Vern stayed with the firm until shortly before his death in 1983. Over the years several other attorneys have been associated or partnered with the firm. The firm moved to its present location on the South Side of Missoula in 1972. Since that time, Tipp Coburn Schandelson PC has gradually grown to its present size of five full time attorneys, and our legal team has represented more than 7500 clients over the years. Even so, we strive to provide the same level of careful attention to the needs of our clients that we have from the beginning. In 2013 the Firm received the “Outstanding Law Firm” award from the Montana Innocence Project for our work with the wrongly convicted. Rich Buley came to the firm as a Legal Intern when he was still attending the University of Montana School of Law. Rich joined the firm as an Associate immediately after his graduation in 1981. Rich became a partner with the firm in 1985. Bryan Tipp joined the firm in 1994. Since that time, Tipp & Buley has gradually grown to its present size of six full time attorneys.

11/02/2026

"I didn't blow, so there's nothing they can use." It's a common belief after a Missoula DUI stop.

Refusing doesn't erase the case the way people expect. Under Montana law, a refusal may still come into the courtroom as evidence, and it does not automatically stop the state from prosecuting the DUI. It still counts. The officer's report doesn't disappear just because the tube never got used.

There's a second track running at the same time: the license fight. If you refused, there's typically a 30-day window after the arrest to request an administrative hearing, and missing it may close off that separate fight over your license. That clock runs on its own, apart from whatever happens in criminal court.

The earlier in the case, the more options you have. Call us: 406-506-0575.

10/21/2026

Your criminal case may feel like it's moving slowly. Meanwhile, the drive to pick up your kid from school, the commute across town, all of it depends on a license clock that runs on its own schedule.

After a Missoula DUI arrest involving a failed test or refusal, Montana's administrative hearing request deadline typically runs 30 days from the arrest date. That clock has nothing to do with when the prosecutor finishes deciding what to charge, and it keeps running even while your criminal case sits untouched on a docket somewhere.

For a standard adult driver's first failed-test suspension, Montana generally sets that license consequence at six months. Requesting the hearing is how you get a chance to argue your side of that license action.

Before that 30-day window closes, call us: 406-506-0575.

09/21/2026

Merge lanes on I-90 get tighter this time of year. That's not your imagination.

Late summer into fall around Missoula typically brings a mix of highway construction and extra freight traffic tied to harvest season, often stacking up on stretches like I-90 and US-93, and that combination can correlate with an observable uptick in traffic incidents involving semi-trucks on those same routes.

Grain trucks running behind schedule. Construction crews squeezing two lanes into one. A driver logging more hours than usual just to keep a load moving. None of that guarantees a crash, but it changes the odds for anyone driving these roads right now, whether it's a commute to work, a school pickup, or a drive home for dinner.

The earlier in the case, the more options you have. Call us: 406-506-0575.

09/10/2026

The adjuster who calls sounds friendly. Just a few quick questions, they say, and a recorded statement to get the claim moving.

That call isn't the formality it sounds like. You're generally not required to give the at-fault trucking company's insurer a recorded statement at all. And while liability is still up in the air, a few offhand words about how the crash happened can come back and shrink what you're owed.

The pressure to answer right then is real. It doesn't mean you have to.

Before you agree to that recorded statement, call us: 406-506-0575.

08/31/2026

A semi's onboard computer logs everything the driver did before a crash: speed, hours on the road, rest breaks. That's the ELD. Federal law only requires the carrier to hold that data for six months. Vendors often keep it longer, but the carrier's duty stops at six months.

The truck's black box, capturing speed and braking around impact, doesn't have that same federal floor. Preservation typically depends on putting the carrier on notice.

A preservation letter should demand more than the ELD file—dashcam footage, driver qualification records, maintenance logs, drug testing files—sent to the carrier, the vendor, and sometimes the shipper. Some data can disappear within hours; other systems overwrite over days or weeks.

If you want a second set of eyes on what belongs in that letter, call us: 406-506-0575.

08/20/2026

Out-of-state plates get thick on Reserve Street and Highway 93 every summer, and that seasonal traffic can contribute to more rear-end and left-turn crashes at busy intersections along those corridors.

It isn't proving the crash that gets hard. It's that the driver who caused it might already be back in Idaho or Washington by the time you're dealing with medical bills.

Montana law still reaches them. There's a specific process for serving an out-of-state driver through the Montana Secretary of State, who forwards notice to their last-known address. Not always fast. You still have three years from the crash date to file a bodily injury claim, and confirming the driver actually received that notice can take longer than the clock suggests.

If the driver who hit you had out-of-state plates, call us: 406-506-0575.

08/10/2026

Your brother-in-law read the police report and said, 'well, that's it, you're done.' He saw a fault percentage typed next to your name and figured the case was closed.

It isn't. In Montana, a police officer's opinion on who caused a crash is generally inadmissible in court, so that number in the report doesn't decide your claim. A jury or a settlement does.

Even if you're assigned some of the fault, Montana still lets you recover as long as your share is 50% or less than the fault of everyone you're pursuing a claim against. Your payout gets reduced by your percentage. It doesn't disappear.

The earlier in the case, the more options you have. Call us: 406-506-0575.

08/01/2026

The tow truck usually shows up before the officer finishes the report, and some of your evidence leaves with it.

Skid marks, the debris field, where the vehicles finally stopped. That kind of physical evidence is often transient and can disappear quickly once traffic starts moving again or a road crew clears the intersection. A phone camera is the fastest way to lock it in before that happens.

Witness accounts matter just as much. Someone who saw it happen is usually easy to talk to right after a crash. A few weeks later, memory typically starts to slip, or they've moved, or they stop answering. What often gets missed in the chaos is grabbing a name and number before that person walks off. Photos of the damage and where everything landed help too.

Before that stretch of road gets cleared, call us: 406-506-0575.

07/21/2026

Imagine this: a loaded semi drifts across the centerline on a Missoula highway, and in a matter of seconds, a family's life is rewritten.

In Montana, you generally have three years from the date of a semi-truck injury to file a personal injury claim under MCA § 27-2-204, and the same window applies to wrongful death from the date of death. Property damage is a tighter two-year deadline. Miss those, and even a strong case can be barred for good.

The other clock is quieter but just as cruel: electronic logging data, dash cam footage, driver qualification files, and maintenance records can be overwritten or discarded in days or weeks.

If you or someone you love was hurt in a Missoula semi-truck crash, talk with Tipp Coburn Lockwood P.C. before deadlines pass or evidence disappears. Call 406-506-0575 for a free, no-pressure case review.

07/10/2026

Catastrophic semi-truck wrecks rarely involve a single defendant with a single policy. They involve a chain of decisions, and a chain of insurance.

Consider how responsibility actually gets divided after a serious Missoula crash. The driver is the obvious starting point, but the analysis rarely stops there. Each responsible party can open a separate policy and that matters when the trucker's own coverage tops out at the federal floor of $750,000, a ceiling set during the Reagan administration and never adjusted for inflation, surgery costs, or modern wage loss.

Montana's 51 percent bar under MCA § 27-1-702 raises the stakes further. Defense lawyers actively shift blame toward injured drivers to push them past that threshold.

If a semi-truck crash has upended your life in Missoula, call Tipp Coburn Lockwood P.C. at 406-506-0575 for a free, confidential consultation.

Address

2200 Brooks Street
Missoula, MT
59801

Opening Hours

Monday	8:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	8:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	8:30am - 5:30pm
Thursday	8:30am - 5:30pm
Friday	8:30am - 5:30pm

Telephone

+14065495186

Website

http://www.tippcoburn.com/

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