Idaho Law Blog
Every potential lawsuit has a “statute of limitations”—a time period in which the lawsuit can be filed in a court. If it is not filed within this time, the lawsuit expires and is forever barred. For example, in Idaho, if you are injured in a car accident, you have two years to file a lawsuit against any party who injured you. If you fail to do so, you must bear the burden and expense of your injuries alone. Any party who caused or contributed to your injuries is off the hook. The law doesn’t care whether you knew about the statute of limitations; your claim still expires.
Statutes of limitations may seem unfair, but there are many compelling policy reasons behind them, such as encouraging people to promptly enforce their rights, minimize deterioration of evidence, reduce the volume of lawsuits in courts, and to promote peace of mind (after some point, a person who is worried about being sued should know he is in the clear).
There are a few exceptions to strict enforced of statutes of limitations. One exception is if the party with a legal claim is a minor. Generally speaking, the law does not require a child to diligently and quickly pursue his or her legal rights like it does an adult. In Idaho specifically, statutes of limitations are tolled—or put on hold—until either the child reaches the age of majority (18 years old) or six years have passed, whichever is earlier. This tolling statute considers minors to be “persons under disabilities.” The particular disability that afflicts minors is immaturity. Their brains have not yet completely developed, so the law gives them the opportunity to more fully mature before requiring them to pursue their legal rights. (As a side note, even many adults’ brains have not yet fully developed. Some studies show that people’s brains don’t fully develop until the mid-20s.)
Let’s give some examples of how this tolling statute plays out. Suppose a driver blows through a stop sign and hits an adult at a crosswalk. Because the injured adult cannot benefit from the tolling statute, he must sue the driver within two years of the accident. However, if the driver hits a 16-year-old boy, the statute of limitations is tolled until the boy becomes an adult, and the boy can wait until two years after his 18th birthday (or until age 20) to file a claim. If the driver hits and injures an eight-year-old, the statute of limitations is also tolled, but only for six years, until the child reaches the age of 14. At that point, the child has two more years to bring a claim (or until age 16).
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