Idaho Accidents Definition

Legal and insurance terms explained plainly

You just got a letter that says the other side should not have to pay all of your medical bills because health insurance already covered part of them. That raises the...

DEFINITION 2026-03-31

commercial use exclusion

Yes - this came from a simple insurance-company move: personal auto policies were built for private driving, not for making money. Once rideshare and delivery work took off,...

DEFINITION 2026-03-21

compensatory damages

What usually matters most after an injury is the money side of it: how bills get paid, how lost income is replaced, and whether the final case value actually reflects what the...

DEFINITION 2026-03-31

covenant not to sue

This can put money in your pocket without fully closing the door on everyone else who may owe you. It can also save a defendant from getting dragged deeper into a lawsuit while...

DEFINITION 2026-03-22

damage cap

You may see this in a denial letter, settlement discussion, or court filing as a statement that "damages are capped" or that recovery is "subject to a statutory limit." A...

DEFINITION 2026-04-01

day-in-the-life video

You may see this mentioned in a demand letter, discovery response, mediation summary, or a lawyer's note saying a video will "show daily limitations" or "document functional...

DEFINITION 2026-03-30

demand package

You might see it as a letter from a lawyer or insurance adjuster with attachments like medical records, bills, wage-loss information, photos, and a dollar amount requested to...

DEFINITION 2026-03-22

diminished quality of life

Miss this issue after a serious injury, and a claim can get reduced to medical bills and lost wages while the biggest loss goes unpaid: the part where life no longer feels,...

DEFINITION 2026-04-01

economic damages

Money losses that can be added up. That includes the financial harm caused by an injury or wrongful act: past and future medical bills, lost wages, reduced earning ability,...

DEFINITION 2026-03-27

future medical expenses

Insurance companies and defense lawyers often try to shrink this part of a claim by calling it speculative, exaggerated, or unsupported. They may argue that treatment is...

DEFINITION 2026-03-26

general damages

Insurance companies and defense lawyers often use this phrase to make a person's losses sound vague, emotional, or less real than medical bills and lost wages. They may argue...

DEFINITION 2026-03-28

hedonic damages

What are hedonic damages, and how are they different from pain and suffering? They are money awarded for the loss of enjoyment of life after an injury or death - the value of...

DEFINITION 2026-03-25

life care plan

Not just a doctor's note, a stack of medical bills, or a rough guess about future treatment costs. A life care plan is a detailed roadmap of the care, equipment, services, and...

DEFINITION 2026-03-26

loss of consortium

Insurance adjusters and defense lawyers often treat this like a throw-in claim: soft, emotional, and easy to minimize. They may say a marriage was already strained, the injured...

DEFINITION 2026-03-30

loss of earning capacity

The part that trips people up most is that you do not have to be completely out of work to have this kind of loss. It is about a reduced ability to earn money in the future,...

DEFINITION 2026-03-29

lump sum settlement

A lump sum settlement is a one-time payment that resolves all or part of a legal claim, instead of paying money in smaller installments over time. In an injury case, that...

DEFINITION 2026-03-23

Medicaid lien

People mix up a Medicaid lien with a Medicare lien all the time. They are not the same animal. Medicare is the federal program, mostly for people 65+ or disabled, and its...

DEFINITION 2026-03-22

mitigation of damages

A harmed person must take reasonable steps to keep their losses from getting worse. "Reasonable" is the key word, and bad advice often leaves it out. Mitigation does not mean...

DEFINITION 2026-03-26

multiplier method

Like using a recipe and scaling every ingredient up or down, this approach takes a known number and applies a factor to estimate a larger result. In injury claims, the...

DEFINITION 2026-03-30

nominal damages

A claim can succeed and still produce little or no money. That is where nominal damages matter: they allow a court to formally recognize that a legal wrong occurred even when...

DEFINITION 2026-03-25

non-economic damages

Not the stack of medical bills, lost wages, or repair costs people can easily total up. These damages cover the human harm an injury causes that does not come with a fixed...

DEFINITION 2026-03-30

pain and suffering

Not the same as your medical bills, lost wages, or other out-of-pocket costs. People often assume it means a vague, emotional add-on, but it is actually a recognized category...

DEFINITION 2026-03-28

past medical expenses

Money already spent or billed for diagnosis, treatment, and recovery after an injury is called past medical expenses. These are the medical costs that have already happened by...

DEFINITION 2026-03-25

per diem argument

How do lawyers put a dollar amount on pain that does not come with a receipt? One method is a per diem argument, which asks a jury to value pain and suffering one day at a time...

DEFINITION 2026-03-27

perception-reaction time

Everyone says a careful driver can stop "on a dime," but actually the first part of stopping is not braking at all. Wondering what experts mean by perception-reaction time? It...

DEFINITION 2026-03-22

punitive damages

Can you get extra money if the other side did more than just make a mistake? Sometimes, yes. Punitive damages are money a court may award to punish especially dangerous,...

DEFINITION 2026-03-24

release of claims

The worst-case version is simple: a check arrives, the paperwork looks routine, and a person signs away the right to ask for anything more before the full damage is known. A...

DEFINITION 2026-03-23

scene mapping

If the same crash happened just across the line in Utah, investigators might have more lane markings, traffic-camera views, and fixed urban reference points to work from; on...

DEFINITION 2026-03-22

sight distance

Insurance adjusters and defense lawyers often use this phrase to argue that a driver "should have seen" a hazard in time to avoid a crash. They may point to a straight stretch...

DEFINITION 2026-03-21

special damages

Not the same as punitive damages or a rough estimate for pain and suffering, special damages are the measurable financial losses caused by an injury or wrongful act. They cover...

DEFINITION 2026-04-02

survival damages

People often confuse survival damages with wrongful death damages, but they cover different losses. Survival damages are the losses the injured person could have claimed if...

DEFINITION 2026-04-02

treble damages

Getting shortchanged can turn a manageable loss into a serious financial hit, and this is one of the few rules that can multiply what a wrongdoer owes. Treble damages are a...

DEFINITION 2026-04-02

wrongful death damages

Money awarded to surviving family members or an estate for losses caused by a person's death. "Money awarded" can come through a settlement or a court judgment. "Surviving...

DEFINITION 2026-03-30