Idaho Law Blog
We are currently in the 99th year of the Idaho Workers’ Compensation system. The Idaho legislature has not had to tinker much with the Idaho Workers’ Compensation system during that entire time period. I believe this is in large part due to the Claimants’ direct right of appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court. In other words, if you are injured on the job in the state of Idaho and you receive a result from the Idaho Industrial Commission and you and your lawyer believe the Commission has made a mistake on the application of the law, you can appeal the unfavorable decision directly to the Idaho Supreme Court. This allows the Idaho Supreme Court to make sure that the Idaho Workers’ Compensation Laws are applied evenly and correctly to all injured parties throughout the state.
You can even ask the Idaho Industrial Commission to give you a specific application of Idaho workers compensation law as to your case. This happens by having your Idaho Workers’ Compensation lawyer file papers with the Idaho Industrial Commission.
The Idaho Industrial Commission has passed rules known as the judicial rules of practice and procedure under the Idaho Workers’ Compensation Law. Rule 15 allows parties to petition the Industrial Commission for a declaratory ruling. This allows the commission to rule on the construction validity or applicability of a certain portion of the Idaho Workers’ Compensation Law. But if the Claimant then believes that the Industrial Commission got the law wrong in their order, the Claimant can then appeal that decision directly to the Idaho Supreme Court. The appeal process from the Idaho Supreme Court first requires that the Idaho Industrial Commission’s record be settled which requires the Commission to organize the entire file of all of the documents that have been filed by the lawyers in the case into a bound volume. The Industrial Commission then adds their decision or order to the bound record and then each page is stamped with a page number so that each page of the record can be identified by all the parties involved. A briefing schedule is then set and the lawyers for the Claimant and the Defendant Insurance companies file written briefs with the Idaho Supreme Court. The law clerks for the Supreme Court then write bench briefs for the Idaho Supreme Court justices. Oral arguments are next scheduled and each lawyer has 30 minutes to present their oral argument in an attempt to persuade the five members of the Idaho Supreme Court to their respective positions.
When you are looking for an experienced Idaho Workers’ Compensation lawyer, you need to do the research and determine if the Idaho Workers’ Compensation Lawyer that you are evaluating to hire has experience successfully arguing workers’ compensation cases before the Idaho Supreme Court. But I acknowledge that very few cases go to the Idaho Supreme court. However, you want to make sure that your lawyer can effectively argue your Idaho Workers’ Compensation case in front of the Idaho Supreme Court. I have had three workers’ compensation cases go before the Idaho Supreme Court. I have won all three cases, two of which were unanimous reversals of the Idaho Industrial Commission rulings by the Idaho Supreme Court.