Hidden Defects and the Clock: What Nelson v. Forest River Means for Montana Consumers

If you have ever bought something expensive — a home, a vehicle, an RV — and later discovered a defect you had no way of spotting at the time of purchase, a recent decision from the United States District Court for the District of Montana is worth understanding. It addresses a question that quietly decides many consumer and defect cases before they are ever heard on the merits: when does the clock start running on your right to sue?

The Case: Nelson v. Forest River

In Nelson v. Forest River, Inc., No. CV-22-49-GF-BMM (D. Mont. Apr. 13, 2026), a Montana RV owner brought a proposed class action against manufacturer Forest River, alleging that the seven-way cord wiring systems in its Fifth Wheel RVs were defective and violated National Electrical Code standards. Because those alleged defects sit inside the RV's complex wiring — out of sight and beyond the understanding of an ordinary buyer — the case turned largely on timing and on who belongs in the class.

Forest River asked the court to do two things: impose purchase-date cutoffs that would bar older claims under the statute of limitations, and remove twenty RV models from the class that the plaintiff's experts had either passed on inspection or not yet inspected. Chief Judge Brian Morris granted part of that request and denied part of it — and the reasoning is instructive for any Montana consumer facing a hidden defect.

The Discovery Rule: Why Latent Defects Change the Deadline

Montana law generally starts the statute of limitations clock when a claim "accrues" — often the date of purchase. But Montana also recognizes a critical exception known as the discovery rule. Under it, the clock does not begin until the injured party discovers, or reasonably should have discovered through due diligence, the facts that make up their claim. The rule applies where the facts are "by their nature concealed or self-concealing," or where the defendant took steps to prevent the injured party from discovering the problem.

The court applied that principle carefully. It held that the plaintiff's negligence claim remained subject to Montana's ordinary three-year statute of limitations, and set a purchase-date cutoff for that subclass. But it reached a different conclusion on the Montana Consumer Protection Act (MCPA) claim. Because the alleged wiring defect is the kind of problem an ordinary consumer could not detect — something that "can ultimately only be discovered by professional analysis" — the court found the discovery rule applied. Consumers are not required to hire an electrician to audit their RV's wiring simply to preserve their legal rights.

The Power of Proceeding as a Class

Forest River also argued that many class members could not prove they had actually been harmed, and asked the court to carve out models that had passed inspection or had not yet been inspected. The court declined to do so at this stage. It reasoned that a single sample unit passing inspection does not prove that an entire model line is defect-free — nor that a whole model line is defective. The plaintiff had offered enough circumstantial evidence, including production records, wiring part numbers, assembly and supplier records, warranty data, and expert testimony, to keep all twenty models in the class for now.

Importantly, the court was clear about what comes next: at trial, the plaintiff will bear the burden of proving that the defect actually exists across the models included in the class. Surviving to that stage, however, is what allows affected owners to press their claims together rather than one lawsuit at a time — which is often the only practical way to hold a large manufacturer accountable for a widespread defect.

Why This Matters

The lesson of Nelson reaches well beyond RVs. Hidden, technical defects — faulty wiring, latent structural problems, construction that does not meet code — are exactly the kinds of issues an ordinary buyer cannot be expected to catch at the time of sale. Montana law recognizes that reality and, in the right circumstances, does not start the clock until the defect could reasonably have been discovered. But those protections are not unlimited, and the deadlines still matter.

Don't Wait to Have the Conversation

Statutes of limitations and repose run in the background — whether or not you are actively investigating a problem. If you have discovered a defect in a home, a building, or a product that was not apparent when you purchased it, the time to understand your options is sooner rather than later.