Idaho Law Blog

Someone who has suffered personal injuries in an accident is probably going through tough financial times. She may be out of work, and dealing with medical expenses. Paying a lawyer probably isn’t in the cards.

Never let financial difficulties keep you from hiring a lawyer to deal with the personal injuries that caused the problem. Most Idaho lawyers will take personal injury cases on a “contingency fee.” This means that the lawyer doesn’t get paid unless and until you collect some money from the party responsible for your injury.

How does a contingency fee work? When you hire a personal injury lawyer, he should have you sign a fee agreement which lays out the details. It should be in plain English, and make sure you understand it before you sign. The details will be different from lawyer to lawyer, but it will work something like this:

The “slip-and-fall” case. It is the mainstay of jokes about the ambulance-chasing personal injury lawyer. The truth, though, is that the “slip-and-fall” case, and other premises liability cases, enforce a rule that is hundreds of years old: a landowner who invites the public onto his property, like a grocery store or restaurant, owes the public a duty to make the premises reasonably safe. If the landowner negligently fails to make the premises safe, and a person is injured as a result, the landowner is liable, just as he would be if he drove negligently and caused an injury.

In Idaho, to recover for personal injuries resulting from a fall or other accident on another’s property, your lawyer will have to prove a number of facts. First, that you were not a trespasser. Trespassers usually cannot recover for injuries suffered on another’s property. The landowner does not owe a trespasser a duty to make the land safe for him to be there. But if you are a “licensee,” which means that the landowner has permitted you to be there, the landowner must at least warn you of dangerous conditions. And if you are an “invitee,” or someone whom the landowner has invited onto the premises for his own benefit — like a customer in a store — the landowner must make reasonable efforts to make the premises safe.

Second, your lawyer will have to prove that the landowner was negligent. That is, that through carelessness he failed to make the premises safe or to warn you of a dangerous condition. “Carelessness” in any given case will depend on the circumstances. If the store’s employees let a puddle of water stand on the floor for an hour, that might be careless. But if another customer pours water on the floor an instant before you step on it, that probably isn’t careless — at least on the part of the store.

Traumatic brain injuries are common in car accidents, falls, and other activities. According to the Brain Injury Association of America, 2.4 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) every year. Yet TBI is often never diagnosed or treated. People who strike their head in a minor car wreck or fall sometimes laugh it off. “I just hit my head. I’m okay.”

Possible TBI should never be treated lightly. Impacts to the head can damage the brain, and the swelling that follows an injury can sometimes cause further damage. Even a minor injury can cause difficulty learning or remembering new information, dizziness, vision problems and other effects. Some symptoms can even become permanent if not treated. A TBI may even increase your risk of developing Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.

How do you know if you have suffered a traumatic brain injury? You are at risk any time you have experienced a significant impact to the head. Sometimes striking the head is not even necessary to cause a TBI. A whiplash-type impact can develop enough force to cause damage to the brain. You should always seek medical treatment if you have experienced an impact to the head in a car accident, or a fall from more than three feet, or any impact severe enough to stun you, even momentarily.

If I lend my car to someone else and they cause a crash, am I liable as the owner of the car?

Yes! Idaho Code 49-2417 provides that the owner of a motor vehicle is liable and responsible for the death or injury to a person or property resulting from negligence in the operation of his motor vehicle.

“Whiplash” is a catch-all phrase for injuries caused by a sudden back-and-forth jerking motion of the head. It is common in car wrecks, but it can also happen in contact sports and heavy metal concerts.

The actual injuries that may occur because of the whiplash motion include strain of muscles in the neck and back, damage to the cervical discs and ligaments, and nerve root damage. The cervical vertebrae can also break or dislocate, but we don’t usually call that “whiplash.” We call that a broken neck.

Symptoms of whiplash may appear instantly, or may wait two or three days before they show up. These symptoms include neck pain and stiffness, headaches, shoulder pain or pain between the shoulder blades, low back pain, and pain or numbness in the arm or hand. Because the whiplash motion may also have caused a minor brain injury, you may also experience dizziness, difficulty concentrating, or memory problems. You may also have trouble sleeping, or feel fatigued.

I was riding in my friend’s car and he crashed because he was texting while driving and now I’m hurt. I heard that Idaho has a guest statute that precludes me from suing my friend for my damages. Is that true?

It’s not true! Idaho’s guest statute is found in Idaho Code 49-2415. The statute states that a guest in the motor vehicle cannot bring an action against the owner or operator of the motor vehicle unless the accident was intentional or caused by intoxication or gross negligence. However, Idaho’s appellate courts ruled this statue unconstitutional in Thompson v. Hagan, 96 Idaho 19 (1974). Yes, you can sue the owner and/or operator for the negligent conduct that caused your damages.