State guide · West
Idaho subrogation law guide
A claimant recovers only if its fault is less than the fault of the party it sues, so 50% or more bars the claim. Idaho compares the claimant with each defendant individually rather than with the defendants combined.
Idaho at a glanceID
- Property damage
- 3 years
- Bodily injury
- 2 years
- Fault rule
- Modified, 50% bar
- Gov. notice
- 180 days
Overview
Idaho pairs a 3-year property damage period with one of the strictest comparative fault rules in the West. Claimants are barred at 50% fault under Idaho Code § 6-801, and Odenwalt v. Zaring reads the statute to compare the claimant with each defendant individually, so an insured 30% at fault may recover from a 60% defendant but not from a 10% contributor. Joint and several liability survives only for concerted action and agency relationships under § 6-803, which makes identifying every solvent party early a priority. Bodily injury claims run 2 years under § 5-219(4), while damage to real or personal property runs 3 years under § 5-218, so mixed auto files carry two clocks. Product claims face a 2-year period and a useful safe life defense under the Idaho Product Liability Reform Act. The economic loss rule is applied firmly: a federal court applying Idaho law barred a carrier's tort claims over a failed toilet supply line that was part of the house the insureds bought. Claims against the State or a city, county or district require a written claim within 180 days under the Idaho Tort Claims Act, a deadline that closes long before either limitation period.
Quick reference with citations
- Property damage SOL
- 3 years
- Idaho Code § 5-218 (trespass upon real property; taking, detaining or injuring goods or chattels)
- Bodily injury SOL
- 2 years
- Idaho Code § 5-219(4)
- Product liability
- 2 years from accrual (Idaho Code §§ 5-219(4), 6-1403); sellers have a useful safe life defense, with a rebuttable presumption that harm occurring more than 10 years after delivery falls outside it (Idaho Code § 6-1403).
- Written contract
- 5 years
- Contract and indemnity recoveries
- Comparative fault rule
- Modified, 50% bar
- Idaho Code § 6-801; Odenwalt v. Zaring, 102 Idaho 1, 624 P.2d 383 (1980)
- Government notice of claim
- 180 days
- Idaho Tort Claims Act: a written claim must be filed within 180 days from the date the claim arose or reasonably should have been discovered, with the secretary of state for claims against the State (Idaho Code § 6-905) and with the clerk or secretary of a city, county or other political subdivision (Idaho Code § 6-906). Suit must then be filed within 2 years (Idaho Code § 6-911).
Fault rule in practice
How Idaho's rule changes a $50,000 recovery.
A claimant recovers only if its fault is less than the fault of the party it sues, so 50% or more bars the claim. Idaho compares the claimant with each defendant individually rather than with the defendants combined.
Authority: Idaho Code § 6-801; Odenwalt v. Zaring, 102 Idaho 1, 624 P.2d 383 (1980)
| Insured's share of fault | Recoverable in ID | Under pure comparative |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | $50,000 | $50,000 |
| 20% | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| 50% | Barred | $25,000 |
| 60% | Barred | $20,000 |
Doctrines that move the number
Idaho doctrine checklist.
Made-whole doctrine
No reported Idaho appellate decision adopts the made-whole doctrine for property or auto subrogation. Without that authority, the policy's subrogation clause and any settlement documents control the split, but expect insureds to argue the general equitable rule when a third party's limits are short. Ninth Circuit decisions apply made-whole as a default rule only to ERISA health plans.
Economic loss doctrine
Idaho applies a strict economic loss rule: there is no tort recovery for damage to the property that was the subject of the transaction (Blahd v. Richard B. Smith, Inc., 141 Idaho 296, 108 P.3d 996 (2005)). The special-relationship and unique-circumstances exceptions are read narrowly, so negligence claims over a defective component of a purchased building usually fail.
Joint and several liability
Idaho Code § 6-803 limits joint and several liability to parties acting in concert (pursuing a common plan that results in an intentional or reckless tort) and to principal and agent or servant relationships. Otherwise each defendant pays only its own percentage, so an absent or insolvent tortfeasor's share is lost to the subrogating carrier.
Anti-subrogation and waiver
A carrier cannot subrogate against its own insured. Waivers of subrogation in construction contracts and commercial leases are contract terms that can bar recovery outright, so pull the contract before pursuing a contractor or tenant.
Practice notes
Working Idaho subrogation files.
- 1
Idaho auto files carry two clocks. Collision and rental subrogation can run into year three under § 5-218, but any injury-related recovery tied to the 2-year § 5-219(4) period expires first. Calendar both from the date of loss, and treat the 180-day Tort Claims Act claim as the first deadline whenever a road defect, snowplow, school bus or other public vehicle appears in the adjuster notes or police report.
- 2
Fault math under the individual rule: a fictional Boise warehouse fire produces $200,000 in paid loss. The jury assigns 25% to the insured, 60% to an electrical contractor and 15% to a lighting manufacturer. The carrier recovers $120,000 from the contractor (60% of $200,000) but nothing from the manufacturer, because the insured's 25% exceeds the manufacturer's 15%, and several liability means the contractor does not absorb that missing share.
- 3
Water losses need an other-property theory. In Safeco Ins. Co. of Illinois v. LSP Products Group (D. Idaho 2022), a carrier's strict liability and negligence claims over a failed toilet supply line were barred because the line was part of the home the insureds purchased, and contents claims failed for lack of proof the items were bought later. Document purchase dates for damaged contents and preserve warranty and contract theories.
- 4
Indemnity claims against contractors run on contract time: 5 years for written contracts under Idaho Code § 5-216, subject to the 6-year construction repose in § 5-241 measured from final completion of the improvement. When the economic loss rule blocks a negligence claim against a builder, a written-contract or express warranty theory is often the only path, so request the construction contract and subcontracts with the first evidence letter.
- 5
Ishqkala runs dual Idaho clocks, 1,095 days for property damage and 730 days for bodily injury, with a separate 180-day alert whenever entity extraction finds a public body in the loss narrative. Its liability scoring tests each named adverse party against the insured's estimated fault share, so a low-fault contributor in an Idaho file is scored on its own rather than lifted by a codefendant's larger share.
Key cases
Odenwalt v. Zaring
102 Idaho 1, 624 P.2d 383 (1980)
Held that the Idaho comparative negligence statute adopts the individual rule: the claimant's negligence is compared with each defendant separately, so recovery can proceed against a more negligent defendant while being barred against a less negligent one.
Blahd v. Richard B. Smith, Inc.
141 Idaho 296, 108 P.3d 996 (2005)
Barred negligence claims for purely economic loss to the property that was the subject of the transaction and confirmed the narrow special-relationship and unique-circumstances exceptions, a frequent obstacle for construction defect subrogation.
Inter-company arbitration
Carrier-to-carrier auto physical damage claims in Idaho typically go to Arbitration Forums, Inc., where signatory companies must arbitrate disputes up to $100,000 in total company-paid damages, with the deductible excluded from that limit. Because Idaho bars recovery at 50% and compares parties individually, name every responsible signatory in the first filing. Under AF rules, if a responding company argues an unnamed party's negligence and the recovering company lets the case be heard, it waives the balance against that unnamed party.
How Ishqkala applies this guide
ID rules, built into every score.
- Opportunities with a Idaho loss state are calendared against the 3 years property damage period or the 2 years bodily injury period, whichever controls the claim type.
- The insured's estimated fault share is applied under modified, 50% bar before recoverable dollars are scored.
- Files involving a public entity get a 180-day notice deadline that outranks the general SOL in the priority queue.
- Alerts fire at 180, 90, 45 and 15 days before the controlling deadline.
FAQ
Idaho subrogation FAQ
3 years (Idaho Code § 5-218 (trespass upon real property; taking, detaining or injuring goods or chattels)). A subrogating carrier generally takes the insured's claim subject to the same limitation period, usually measured from the date of loss.
Modified, 50% bar (Idaho Code § 6-801; Odenwalt v. Zaring, 102 Idaho 1, 624 P.2d 383 (1980)). A claimant recovers only if its fault is less than the fault of the party it sues, so 50% or more bars the claim. Idaho compares the claimant with each defendant individually rather than with the defendants combined.
Idaho Tort Claims Act: a written claim must be filed within 180 days from the date the claim arose or reasonably should have been discovered, with the secretary of state for claims against the State (Idaho Code § 6-905) and with the clerk or secretary of a city, county or other political subdivision (Idaho Code § 6-906). Suit must then be filed within 2 years (Idaho Code § 6-911).
No reported Idaho appellate decision adopts the made-whole doctrine for property or auto subrogation. Without that authority, the policy's subrogation clause and any settlement documents control the split, but expect insureds to argue the general equitable rule when a third party's limits are short. Ninth Circuit decisions apply made-whole as a default rule only to ERISA health plans.
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