In Linder v. Smith, 193 Mont. 20, 629 P.2d 1187, 1194 (Mont. 1981), the plaintiffs challenged a state statute which required that a malpractice claimant first submit the claim to a special panel prior to going to court. Under the statute, the claimant was not bound by the panel's decision, and the panel's decision was inadmissible in any later court action. Linder, 629 P.2d at 1188-89. The plaintiff claimed, among other arguments, that the statute permitted an "unlawful delegation of judicial and legislative power and infringes on the doctrine of separation of powers." Id. at 1193. The appellate court disagreed. The court defined the judicial power as "the power of the court to decide and pronounce a judgment and carry it into effect between persons and parties who bring a case before it for decision." Id. at 1194. The court further identified prior decisions "upholding other administrative bodies against this [separation of powers] challenge, where those bodies are unable to render enforceable judgments." Id. . The court found no separation of powers violation in its case because "the decision of the Montana panel is not enforceable, and unlike the panel decisions in most states, it is not even admissible at trial." Id.