Idaho Law Blog
The Idaho Workers’ Compensation Law set up a state agency called the Industrial Special Indemnity Fund or ISIF. This state agency collects 5% of all the workers’ compensation premiums paid by businesses throughout the state of Idaho. The fund holds these funds to be paid out to Idaho Workers’ Compensation claimants that have pre-existing injuries and then suffer an addition accident where the injuries combined with their pre-existing injuries and render them totally and permanently disabled.
In Dumaw v. J.L. Norton Logging, 118 Idaho 150, 795 P.2d 312 (1990), the Idaho Supreme Court listed four requirements a claimant must meet to establish ISIF liability under Idaho Code § 72-432:
(1) Whether there was indeed a pre-existing impairment;
(2) Whether that impairment was manifest:
(3) Whether the alleged impairment was a subjective hindrance to employment; and
(4) Whether the alleged impairment in any way combines with the subsequent injury to cause total disability.
118 Idaho at 155,798 P.2d at 317
If an injured party or their employer can prove these four elements, they can shift most of the responsibility for total and permanent disability benefits to the ISIF. Sometimes, circumstances require that a claimants settle with the employer and then go forward with their claim against the ISIF thereafter. This strategy puts the pressure on the claimant to make sure that the ISIF does not “slip the hook”. The ISIF slips the hook if they can prove that the claimant’s total and permanent disability comes as a result of the last accident or some other subsequent injury. Therefore, a claimant and his experienced Idaho counsel need to make sure that the testimony and evidence reflect a combination of the restrictions from the preexisting conditions combined with the restrictions from the final or last accident that render the claimant totally and permanently disabled. These are difficult cases and you will need an experienced Idaho Workers’ Compensation lawyer who has the resources necessary to hire the experts to be able to win your case.
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