Boise Personal Injury Lawyer

Personal injury claims arise when people are injured by the negligent conduct of others or are injured by products that are defective in some way. Such injuries can be physically, financially, and emotionally disastrous.

At Johnson May, we will assess your situation and explain your options. We will work with insurance companies and other parties involved in your case to ensure your needs are handled promptly and appropriately. We will help you fully understand your rights and take all actions necessary to protect you and your interests. We will assist you in obtaining quality medical care. We will see that you are fairly compensated for your injuries. We will help you recover, rebuild, and move forward.

Take Action NOW. Specific time limits can impact your personal injury claim. It is wise to consult with one of Johnson May’s Personal Injury attorneys as soon as possible.

Our Personal Injury practice includes:

Injuries Are Disruptive

Our legal team realizes that accidents injure our clients in different ways. Some people are put into a coma after a traumatic accident, while others need to take things easy due to bodily pain.

Some of the worst personal injuries include:

• Concussions & Traumatic Brain Injuries
• Spinal Column Injuries
• Fractures
• Organ Damage
• Compressed Nerves
• Soft Tissue Injuries
• Amputations
• Crush Injuries
• Facial Injuries & Eye Damage

Painful bodily injuries disrupt sleep and lead to depression and anxiety. Coming back from a personal injury requires dedication and the help of expert medical professionals who can develop a treatment plan based on your medical history. Unfortunately, serious injuries will often keep someone out of work for an extended period, which hammers a family’s finances.

Remember to seek out medical care immediately after an accident. You might feel “okay,” but adrenaline often masks injuries, and you want to be diagnosed as soon as possible. Save copies of any medical records, paperwork, and bills. Your attorney can use this information when building a legal claim. And follow through with your doctor’s treatment plan so that you get well.

Who Pays for Medical Care After a Personal Injury?

This is a critical question. Medical care is expensive, and few people have $5,000-10,000 lying in a savings account. The rules are somewhat complicated.

Anyone with health insurance can use it to access immediate care. As part of a settlement, we seek compensation for your medical bills. At the end of the process, your health insurer will probably have a right to reimbursement of any bills they paid. But a settlement takes time, and you need care immediately after getting hurt. Your health insurance can cover some of the expense.

If you don’t have insurance, you will need to pay out of pocket. If you have no money, then talk with our law firm. A doctor might agree to treat you on a lien basis. We provide many services to our clients, and finding appropriate care is one of them. Let us talk about your case in greater detail.

What You Can Expect From Our Boise Personal injury Attorneys

We will meet with you about your case and answer any questions you may have. Work will begin on your case immediately — it won’t sit around on someone’s desk. We will develop an action plan to ensure that you will receive the best possible result for your personal injury claim. This action plan includes a thorough investigation of your accident, interviews of witnesses, consultations with medical experts about the nature, cause, and severity of your injuries, whether you will have a permanent impairment, your future medical needs, lost income, and any work restrictions you may have.

While our investigation is underway, we strive to help you get back on your feet. We know that being injured in an accident can cause severe financial difficulties. We assist clients in accessing medical payment coverage, health insurance benefits, and a good-faith payment plan to cover the bills.

We begin settlement negotiations with the insurance company when your medical treatment is complete. You will be fully informed throughout this process. We will advise you whether the insurance company’s offer is fair and reasonable and will explain the basis for our advice. You may wonder what the appropriate settlement amount should be in your case. To answer this question, we rely on results from our past cases and published settlement and jury verdict data. If the insurance company does not offer an amount you are willing to accept, you have the right to file a lawsuit and let a jury decide the amount at trial.

Our Personal Injury Lawyers Strive To Reduce Your Worries And Stress.

Our personal injury law firm in Boise, ID understands the physical, emotional, and financial stress caused by severe injuries. We strive to minimize that stress. After we take your case, we promptly notify the insurance company that you are represented by an attorney. The insurance company must communicate with us from that point forward, not you. Our Boise personal injury lawyers’ goal is to let injury victims focus on your recovery and leave the discussions with the insurance company to our experienced personal injury attorney.

How Do I Find Your Office?

What Are Your Rights?

You have the right to contact an attorney to seek legal advice before settling or even speaking with an insurance company.

You have the right in certain situations to be compensated for:

You have the right, in a non-workers’ compensation case, to see a doctor of your choice and have your injuries evaluated and treated.

You have the right to negotiate with an insurance company prior to settlement.

You have the right to refuse the settlement and take your case to trial.

Damage Caps in Personal Injury Cases

Idaho limits the amount of compensation a personal injury victim can receive. In particular, the law limits compensation for pain and suffering and other non-economic losses. Per statute, the most you can receive is $250,000, although this amount is adjusted each year for inflation. As of 2023, the cap is currently $458,728. Be aware this cap does not apply to economic losses like medical bills and lost income.

The cap will not apply if you were hurt by reckless or willful conduct, or if the defendant’s conduct would qualify as a felony beyond reasonable doubt under Idaho law. For example, someone might have intentionally struck you with their car. This is intentional, possibly felonious conduct. In that situation, there is no cap on the pain and suffering compensation you can request. However, if the driver was merely careless and hit you, then the cap comes into play.

How Comparative Negligence (Comparative Fault) Impacts Your Case

Many accidents are black and white. There is one victim, and the defendant is 100% to blame. For example, you might have been standing on the sidewalk when a drunk driver went off the road and struck you. That type of accident is 100% the fault of the driver.

In other cases, our clients are partially to blame for their accident. Imagine you are texting and driving when a speeding motorist rear-ends you. Because you were distracted by a phone, you aren’t blameless but share some of the fault.

Idaho Statutes § 6-801 lays out the state’s modified comparative negligence rule. Our clients can seek compensation provided their share of fault is “not as great as” the defendant’s share. In other words, you can be 49% to blame but not more. If you are 50% to blame, then the law prevents any financial recovery.

Someone who is less to blame will still have their compensation reduced under the law. So if your case is worth $100,000 but you are 40% at fault, then $60,000 is the maximum you can receive.

The Most Important Step after an Accident

The most important step is to quickly reach out to a seasoned Boise personal injury lawyer to gain professional assistance with your claim. Obtaining compensation is hard work. Anyone struggling with pain and mental injuries must focus on their recovery. Trying to build a legal claim is almost impossible when you are bedridden or otherwise unable to leave the house.

Our legal team will shield you from harassing insurance adjusters and investigators. We can collate all medical records and bills, find other useful evidence, and complete required insurance forms. Without this help, it’s easy to let important deadlines slide and for your case to fall through the cracks. Contact us now to keep everything on track! You can receive compensation with the help of an experienced personal injury lawyer.

Mistakes to Avoid after a Boise Personal Injury Accident

Some victims make critical errors in the days and weeks following an accident. These errors might be accidental, but they could have enormous consequences for your Boise personal injury claim. Please avoid doing any of the following:

1. Never give a recorded statement to an insurance adjuster or answer their questions. This is a major error. As mentioned above, your own fault can reduce your compensation. You might even slip up and say something which shows you are 50% to blame, which means you’ll get nothing. Insurance adjusters often engage in fishing expeditions to see if they can find something to use against you.
2. Do not self-diagnose your injuries or self-medicate. You should go to the doctor to receive professional medical care. This way, you can show you did everything possible to remain well. People who self-medicate often end up sicker or with longer-lasting injuries.
3. Avoid agreeing to a settlement without meeting with our legal team. You need a Boise personal injury attorney to go over the proposed settlement with a magnifying glass and see if it’s in your best interests. You can expect any offer to be much too low.
4. Don’t hire a divorce lawyer or criminal defense attorney to represent you. Personal injury is a unique area of law. You need a lawyer with the skills necessary to negotiate a case on your behalf and maximize your take home settlement.
5. Never talk about your accident on social media. This is a good way to say something you regret. Remember, insurance companies can try to gain access to your Facebook or Instagram account, and they might use information to prove you are partly to blame for the accident. Set your account to private—and stop posting.

We have other tips to offer accident victims! Call Johnson May to schedule a meeting with our legal team.

Idaho’s Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury

After an accident, call our law firm. Under Idaho Code § 5-219, you get two years for most personal injury cases. The two-year period will start as soon as you are injured.

What happens if you delay, and two years pass by? In that case, the defendant can request dismissal of your personal injury case. It will be much harder to obtain compensation for the injury, even if the defense is obviously, 100% at fault. Although the statute does not apply to insurance claims, you still are hurting your case by waiting.

How We Negotiate a Settlement

Our lawyers have won some of the hardest cases around. We don’t need to go to trial to win fair compensation. Defendants often have an incentive to settle because they might fear a jury hammering them with a huge award.

Our clients also benefit from settlement. We can get you compensation faster and avoid the agony of trial.

Settlement takes a lot of work. Our firm might need to perform a thorough investigation to really uncover all useful pieces of evidence. We are principally trying to see how the accident happened, which will allow us to assign fault.

Once we are confident in a case, we start negotiations. We might go back and forth with the defendant or their insurer until we get to a number that feels right. Our goal is always to get our clients as much compensation as we can under the facts of the case.

Personal Injury Laws that Affect Your Case

The lawyers at Johnson May have studied Idaho law for decades. We closely follow changes to the law coming from the legislature or Idaho appellate courts. Some of the most important laws include:

• Hours of service regulations if you are injured in a truck accident. These regulations set the maximum number of hours a trucker can work in a day and week.
• Punitive damages. We can request punitive damages as a punishment when the defendant’s conduct is malicious, oppressive, fraudulent, or outrageous.
• Dram shop law. In certain situations, victims of drunk driving accidents can sue a bar or tavern for serving the drunk driver. The main situations are where the defendant served a minor or someone who was obviously intoxicated.

No Recovery? No Attorney Fees. It’s That Simple.

At Johnson May, we do not charge an hourly rate to handle a personal injury lawsuit. We charge a contingent fee, which is a percentage of the total recovery we collect for your personal injury settlement and medical expenses. Although the costs of litigation are extra, it costs nothing upfront to hire the law firm. Regardless of the time we put into your case, you will pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover for you. If you’re ready to receive the maximum compensation for your injuries and receive proper legal representation, call our Boise personal injury lawyers today for a free consultation!