Articles Posted in Personal Injury

Husband and wife were driving/riding on a motorcycle and were involved in a collision with a car; wife sustained fatal injuries.　 Through a series of additional very unfortunate events, not all of wife’s medical bills were timely billed to her insurance company for payment.　 The at-fault driver of the car only had $50,000.00 in insurance to cover wife’s damages.　 Wife’s unpaid medical bills were approximately $90,000.00 and the insurance company that paid the bills that were timely submitted had a subrogated interest of approximately $50,000.00.　 Any recovery for wife’s estate seemed dim.　 I was able to get the entire $90,000.00 written off and the $50,000.00 was compromised to $10,000.00.　 The wife’s survivors were tearfully grateful for the recovery and compromises obtained.　 This result will forever be with me as a case where I made a big difference for my client.　 Stephen Muhonen

You took a car trip over the holidays, and got in a wreck. Now you are recovering from personal injuries caused by someone who lives in another state. It looks like you will have to sue to get compensation. What do you do?

You will probably have to sue in some other state. In all likelihood, the courts in your home state lack “jurisdiction” over the responsible driver. The U.S. Constitution and state laws make it difficult to drag someone into court in a distant state with which she has few connections.

If you must sue, you will have to find a court that has jurisdiction over the responsible person. Under the laws in almost every state, that means the state in which the responsible person resides, or the state where the accident occurred. Every state has a law which allows its courts to exercise jurisdiction over persons who come into the state and cause an injury there.

Clients should look for and retain an attorney who they feel they can freely and openly communicate with on all aspects of their case.　 The case should be viewed and handled as a team; the process requires teamwork and candid communication, with all involved working together towards an understood and concerted goal.　 Stephen Muhonen

Ever heard of the quip, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”　 In many respects this rings true in the law as well.　 Because I have been a Pocatello Police Officer and an Idaho State Police Trooper, I have developed relationships within the field of law enforcement that have been extremely helpful to many of my personal injury cases.　 A lot of officers are wary of attorneys and are reluctant to speak freely to them.　 However, because of the relationships I have with these officers, many of them are willing to speak to me freely about their thoughts and insights of their cases or even cases they weren’t involved in but may have expertise in.　 Knowing the people involved in the investigation of collisions has been extremely important to the success of many cases.　 Stephen Muhonen

Most people are aware that their places of business may have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires meeting accessibility standards determined by the federal government. What about websites? If a website cannot be accessed by a person with, say, sight or hearing impairments, does it violate the law? Courts have said yes, in some circumstances.

The ADA requires that any no person be discriminated against in the “full enjoyment” of any “place of public accommodation” on the basis of a disability. The ADA can be enforced by affected individuals or by the U.S. Department of Justice. Violations can result in injunctions and monetary damages. In some circumstances, websites have been found to be “places of public accommodation” subject to the ADA. For instance, colleges are clearly places of public accommodation, and their websites are generally necessary to the “full enjoyment” of their services. So colleges are obliged to make their websites comply with the accessibility standards.

If your business is not a physical “place of public accommodation,” but instead exists only on the Web, it gets a little more complicated. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the ADA does not apply to websites that are not affiliated with a brick-and-mortar place of accommodation. Ninth Circuit decisions are binding on federal courts in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada, Montana, and Arizona. But, a federal court in Vermont recently held that it might apply to the online service Scribd, because the internet is now so central to a person’s participation in public and economic life. Similar holdings are likely in the future.

Even when it is crystal clear that it was the other guy’s fault, most of the time, his auto liability insurance won’t voluntarily pay your bills. That is because his liability insurance doesn’t insure you for your injuries or property damage. It insures him for any amounts (up to policy limits) he is legally obligated to pay as a result of his negligent operation of his vehicle. You may think it was his fault, and he may even agree with you, but until his actual fault, and the amount of your damages, are legally established, his insurance company technically does not have to pay.

Most cases involving auto liability insurance get resolved without going all the way to trial. They frequently get settled without even a suit being filed. When that happens, though, it is because the injured party made a compelling case to the insurer why the other guy was at fault, and what the damages are. That is the job of your lawyer: to make the case for you so that you are reasonably compensated for your damages.

A personal injury lawyer will usually take a case like this on a contingency fee basis, which means the lawyer’s fee is an agreed-on percentage of any money that is recovered for the client. An injured person is more likely to recover, and to recover greater amounts, if represented by a good personal injury attorney.

By David Alexander

The quick and easy answer is, the drunk driver is responsible to pay your damages. If you are lucky, he will be insured, as the law requires. But most people carry only the minimum insurance required in Idaho of $25,000 per person/$50,000 per occurrence, which may not be enough to cover your damages. Collecting additional money directly from the drunk driver is a questionable venture.

But there may be other persons who are also responsible. Many states have laws, called Dram Shop Acts, which make bars and restaurants liable for injuries which are caused by drunk persons to whom they provided alcohol. In Idaho, the Dram Shop Act is very limited — the alcohol seller is only liable under two circumstances:

As attorneys in Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and Boise, we see car accidents where there are no broken bones, but a person is still injured. Often these type of injuries are referred to as “soft tissue injuries.”

In Idaho, Soft tissue injuries are quite common among car victims. Contrary to popular belief, they can be very serious. Individuals who have severe soft tissue injuries may end up bedridden and unable to work and perform their normal, day-to-day activities. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find a lawyer who will represent someone with seemingly minor soft tissue injures. This is primarily because some lawyers don’t believe that these types of injuries are compensable. While this is sometimes true, it’s not always. There are Idaho personal injury attorneys who will take on these types of cases and who win them.

What is a Soft Tissue Injury?

Negligence is the failure to exercise the degree of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise under the given circumstances. It can include doing something that a reasonably prudent person would not do or failing to do something that a prudent person would do in the given circumstances.

In auto accidents, negligence includes a driver’s failure to obey the rules of the road, such as the speed limit or traffic control signs. A driver’s failure to contest an infraction or misdemeanor citation issued by the investigating police officer and payment of the fine is considered evidence of an admission of fault. However, such is not dispositive in the injury case and does not prevent the driver from denying fault or alleging that the other driver is also partially at fault for causing the accident.

The person injured need not be free of fault in order to recover damages. As long as the injured person’s negligence or fault is less than the fault of the defendant, he can recover the pro rata share of his damages. For example, if the plaintiff is found by the jury to be 25% at fault and the defendant 75% at fault, then the plaintiff can recover 75% of his damages. If each party is found 50% at fault, then plaintiff recovers nothing.

There are approximately 252 million cars and truck on U.S. roadways. According to the Idaho Department of Transportation, there were 22,134 vehicle accidents on Idaho roadways in 2014 that resulted in 11,768 total people being injured. Of the 22,134 vehicle accident occurring in Idaho, 6286 occurred in Ada County, Idaho. Not surprisingly, the number one cause of personal injury lawsuits in Boise, Idaho and statewide are caused by vehicle accidents. In Idaho, all vehicle owners are required to have their cars insured to provide fair compensation to victims of car accidents. However, this does not mean insurance companies freely give victims of car accidents fair compensation. Insurance companies are in business to make money, not pay money to accident victims. An experienced attorney can often obtain more compensation for an accident victim, than the victim can obtain dealing directly with an insurance company.

In addition to personal injuries occurring from car accidents in Boise, Idaho, other types of common causes of personal injuries come from medical malpractice, slip and fall or intentional torts. A medical malpractice claim occurs when a person becomes injured or dies because of the negligent act or failure to act of a medical professional. A claim can also arise if a medical professional’s negligent action or inaction makes a prior injury or condition worse. The medical profession is often a doctor, but can also be a nurse, physician’s assistant, physical therapist or even an institution, such as a hospital. As with vehicle accidents, the medical provider is usually covered by an insurance policy for malpractice. Slip and fall accidents usually arise when a commercial store, such as a grocery store, restaurant or retain store, fails to ensure that customer walkways are clear from hazards. In those instances, a store can be liable for the injuries its negligence causes. Other types of personal injury cases in Boise, Idaho involve dog bites. The owner of a dog can be liable for personal injuries caused by his or her dog. Many times, those claims are covered by home owner’s insurance or renter’s insurance. Intentional torts can also give rise to a personal injury lawsuit. An intentional tort is committed when someone intentionally acts to cause injury, such as a battery. While not always covered by insurance, a victim of an intentional tort is entitled to receive compensation from the person who committed the intentional tort. In all personal injury incidents, an experienced attorney from Racine Olson is available for a consultation.