Bank of America v. Braun, 2017 MT 209N

Braun received and used a Bank of America credit card beginning in March 2004; as of March 31, 2014, the balance was $36,042.56.
Braun stopped making payments after July 17, 2013 and made no payments thereafter.
Bank sued Braun in July 2015 seeking judgment for the unpaid credit-card debt.
Bank moved for summary judgment in August 2016; Braun filed multiple summary-judgment motions in August–September 2016.
On January 17, 2017 the District Court granted the Bank’s motion and denied Braun’s motions; Braun appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Bank was entitled to summary judgment on the unpaid card balance	Bank argued Braun admitted the course of dealing, the debt, and receipt of statements showing the balance; no material fact in dispute	Braun did not raise a genuine dispute of material fact or contest the balance	Court affirmed summary judgment for Bank — no genuine issue of material fact existed
Whether an account stated was established	Bank relied on established course of dealing, antecedent debt, and delivery of statements not disputed	Braun did not dispute the statements or balance shown	Court applied account-stated doctrine and found elements satisfied
Whether summary judgment standard was met	Bank asserted record (pleadings, admissions, statements) met M. R. Civ. P. 56 criteria	Braun argued (implicitly) issues warranted denial, but offered no evidentiary facts creating a dispute	Court reviewed de novo and held Rule 56 criteria were met for Bank
Whether memoranda/opinion may be noncitable	Bank sought resolution under settled law	Braun raised no controlling novel issues	Court issued a memorandum opinion under its internal rules and affirmed

Pilgeram v. GreenPoint Mortg. Funding, Inc., 313 P.3d 839 (Mont. 2013) (standard of review for summary judgment)
Roe v. City of Missoula, 221 P.3d 1200 (Mont. 2009) (summary-judgment standards)
Thos. O’Hanlon Co. v. Jess, 193 P. 65 (Mont. 1920) (elements of account stated)