How this estimate is built
Your medical expenses and lost wages are your economic damages — the easy-to-document part, and these are never capped in Idaho. We then apply the multiplier method, the same approach insurers and attorneys use industry-wide, to estimate pain and suffering: your economic damages multiplied by a factor of 1.5 to 5, depending on how serious the injury actually was — then checked against Idaho's cap.
A cap that moves every year, by design
Idaho Code § 6-1603 caps non-economic damages — not just in medical malpractice, but in almost any personal injury case. The cap started at $250,000 in 2004, but the statute builds in automatic annual adjustment: every July 1, it rises or falls by the same percentage as the change in Idaho's average annual wage, as calculated by the Idaho Industrial Commission. As of July 1, 2026, the cap stands at $538,425.04 — more than double its original 2004 figure.
Real exceptions for the worst conduct
The cap doesn't apply to cases arising from willful or reckless misconduct, or to conduct a jury finds, beyond a reasonable doubt, would constitute a felony. These are a meaningfully higher bar than ordinary negligence.
Your own fault still has a hard cutoff
Idaho follows modified comparative negligence: if your fault is less than 50%, your recovery is reduced proportionally. Reach 50% fault, and you recover nothing. See our Idaho comparative negligence calculator for the full rule.