Idaho Law Blog

Idaho Workers’ Compensation Basics Part. 1

Published on: July 16, 2015 | by Racine Olson

By: Fred Lewis and George Casper

Workers’ Compensation is a system of insurance that pays an employee that cannot work because he or she has been injured while working. Workers’ Compensation can have very complicated medical and legal issues depending on the severity of the workers’ injuries and other factors. Although some cases can get complicated, every case follows the same general pattern. Knowledge of this pattern helps clients to understand what stage of the claim process they have reached. The purpose of this two-part blog is to explain these steps to make injured workers aware of potential legal actions they can take.

Any worker injured while performing duties related to their job is entitled to certain worker’s compensation benefits by law. These benefits are: (1) The payment of any medical care necessary to treat the injury, (2) Total Temporary Disability (TTD) Benefits, and (3) Partial Permanent Impairment (PPI) Benefits. These benefits are normally acquired without the intervention of an experienced Idaho Worker’s Compensation attorney. However, it is always helpful to have the assistance of experienced Idaho Worker’s Compensation attorney to guide you. (no fees will be charged when the claim has been accepted and the above benefits are being paid.) The payment of medical bills is pretty straightforward, so there is no need to delve further into the topic.

Police Reports In Idaho

Published on: July 14, 2015 | by Racine Olson

By Josh Johnson

Most of the time when a person is injured in a vehicle accident, that person will have to deal with one or more insurance companies. The insurance companies will then assign an adjuster to the claim. The adjusters analyze the claim for fault and damages. Most of the time, the very first document an adjuster reviews, whether from the injured party’s insurance company or the person at fault’s insurance company, is the police report. The police report is also heavily analyzed by the attorney retained by the insurance company if a lawsuit is filed. It is very important to provide the responding police officer with accurate information about the accident, including any pain or discomfort that the injured person may be having.

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Subrogation For Idaho Personal Injury Cases

Published on: July 10, 2015 | by Racine Olson

I was injured in a motor vehicle collision that was not my fault. My insurance company paid for my medical bills and now they are telling me that they have a right of subrogation in my claim against the at-fault party. What does that mean?

Subrogation is the substitution of one party for another whose debt the party pays, entitling the paying party to rights, remedies, or securities that would otherwise belong to the debtor. Said otherwise, pursuant to the language which is probably in your insurance policy, when your insurance company paid your medical bills and those bills were incurred due to the negligence of another, your insurance company has the right to be paid back. The insurance company can sue the at-fault party seeking reimbursement or alternatively, they can obtain recovery through you in your claim/lawsuit against the at-fault party. When the at-fault party (or their insurance company) pays you to resolve the claim, a portion of those proceeds will need to go to your insurance company unless your insurance company agrees to waive all or a portion of their subrogation rights.

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The Industrial Commission Has Exclusive Jurisdiction

Published on: July 7, 2015 | by Racine Olson

By Fred Lewis and George Casper

This post is relatively simple to comprehend: The Idaho Industrial Commission has the exclusive right and duty to assess fault in cases that are tied to worker’s compensation claim. There are many previous cases and many entries in the Idaho Code that highlight this truth. Here are a few examples:

Idaho Code 72-707 states, “All questions arising under this law [about who has fault]… shall be determined by the commission”. This law also states the Industrial Commission has exclusive jurisdiction of all questions arising under worker’s compensation law; this includes subrogation claims.

Seat Belt Laws In Idaho

Published on: July 7, 2015 | by Racine Olson

By Pat George

As everyone in Idaho knows, a person must wear a seat belt whenever a vehicle is in motion because they will protect you if you are involved in any car accident. However, the Idaho Legislature just made this law even more important. Recently, the Idaho Legislature enacted a statute that could have a large impact on a person who has not used a seat belt and is injured in a car accident. If the failure to wear the seat belt caused the injuries to be more severe than they would have been had the injured person been wearing a seat belt, that evidence can be admitted. This would reduce the injured person’s recovery. The moral of this story is that seat belt is more important than ever.

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Injured Workers In Idaho Get Hit Hard?

Published on: July 2, 2015 | by Racine Olson

By Fred Lewis and Gorge Casper

Determining the payout of a Idaho workers’ compensation cases that occur at work and are the result of negligence by a third party can be very complicated. Cases where a third party is responsible for the injury suffered by the worker are generally severe. When medical bill payments are coupled with the large disability payments workers get from these types of injuries because of their extended (sometimes permanent) time away from work, the subrogated claim can often be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Injured workers need as much of the settlement money they can get because they can more often than not no longer find work that pays even half of what they were making before their accident. They need this settlement money to support their families.

Before joint and several liability was abolished in 1987, the injured employee could collect 100% of the tort damages from the negligent third party, but was subject to deduction for his or her own negligence. A credit was also given to the third party for any workers compensation benefits paid by the employer’s insurance company. For example, if a claimant was awarded $1,000,000 in the third party case, and the third party was found to be 60% negligent, the employer 30% negligent and injured worker was found to be 10% negligent (a deduction of $50,000), the injured worker would receive $900,000 from the third party, with a deduction for workers compensation benefits paid .

Protection Against Underinsured Drivers In Idaho

Published on: July 2, 2015 | by Racine Olson

By Fred Lewis and George Casper

Picture this. You get into a car accident and the other motorist is found to be negligent. You file a lawsuit in order to have the other motorist’s insurance pay for any vehicle damages, lost wages, medical bills and pain and suffering. You find out that the other motorist has an insurance policy that only covers up to $25,000 (the legal minimum) of damages that result from an accident. Your damages, wage losses, and medical bills amount to over $400,000 dollars. What do you do in order to get the rest of your claim paid for?

Unfortunately, the scenario described above happens all too often. Underinsured motorist’s can leave drivers on the wrong end of a car accident with feelings of anger and frustration. In order to prevent these feelings, make sure that you check your own auto insurance policy and see what the limits are for car accidents with underinsured drivers. Buy as much underinsured coverage as you can reasonably afford. It is one of the best insurance values available.

No Double Recovery In Idaho Workers’ Compensation Cases

Published on: June 29, 2015 | by Racine Olson

By Fred Lewis and George Casper

In Idaho Worker’s Compensation cases where the injury is partially caused by a third party (resulting in two separate lawsuits), there is a big misconception that one can gain a cash settlement that is larger than the actual value of the case. Some argue that workers with legitimate third party claims can hit the lawsuit lottery if they are able to sue multiple entities at the same time. This is simply not the case. The type of recovery described above is called a “double recovery” in the legal world and expressly prohibited. In order to protect against a double recovery for an injury, the ruling court (in the case of a Worker’s Compensation case, this would be the Idaho Industrial Commission) will make sure that there is no double recovery. This basically means that the employer’s insurance company would lose their chance at reimbursement of their subrogated claim (what they have paid in medical bills and disability benefits) if the employers is found negligent. The only exception to this would be if the worker’s compensation benefits and the benefits won in the third party case add up to be more than the actual value of the case.

In order to better illustrate exactly what would constitute a double recovery, here is an example:

Idaho Drowsy Driving

Published on: June 26, 2015 | by Racine Olson

By Pat George

A recent study shows that 40% of U.S. drivers will doze off while their driving at some point in their lives. This fact is frightening not just for drivers across the country, but right here in Idaho. In fact, in 2009 there were 563 car accidents due to drowsy driving. Driving drowsy is just as dangerous as drunk driving since fatigue slows reaction time and impairs judgment.

Its important to report those drivers that you suspect are impaired while driving whether this is due to alcohol or fatigue. This protects you, your loved ones, and all of us in Idaho.

Driving Under The Influence In Idaho

Published on: June 24, 2015 | by Racine Olson

By: Fred Lewis and George Casper

Driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs is a serious issue for today’s motorists. It is one of the main causes for car accidents in the United States. In 2013 alone, over 32,000 people were killed in alcohol-related car accidents. Thousands of others have suffered serious personal injury. If you are involved in an automobile accident with somebody who has had one, two, or ten drinks too many, you need to seek legal action against that driver.

driving If you do decide to bring suit against an impaired driver (you’d be misguided not to), it is important to know where the person was drinking. According to Idaho Code 23-808, the business selling the alcohol to the drunk driver can be indicted as a co-contributor to the car accident under dram shop liability. Dram shop law states that liability can be thrust upon establishments that provide alcoholic beverages if they sell drinks to visibly intoxicated persons or minors who subsequently cause death or injury to third parties not associated with the establishment. Dram shop can be especially useful if the drunk driver who caused the car accident is either underinsured or uninsured.