The police report may say the crash was "minor" or list only property damage. That does not control your claim. What matters is the date of the crash, when your injuries were discovered, whether anyone already settled the claim, and whether the at-fault party was a private driver, employer, or government entity.

The insurance company will tell you that if two years have passed, your case is over. In Idaho, that is often true for a standard injury lawsuit from a vehicle crash: the general deadline is 2 years from the injury date under Idaho Code § 5-219.

What is actually true is more specific.

If the wreck involved a private grain truck, farm truck, or commercial vehicle on roads around Pocatello, including rural routes feeding into I-15 or US-91 during harvest, the normal civil filing deadline is usually 2 years. If that date passed, a lawsuit is usually barred.

But there are important exceptions:

• If you were mentally incapacitated after the crash, the deadline can be affected.
• If the claim was against a government entity - for example, a city, county, or highway agency vehicle - you usually had only 180 days to file a tort claim notice under the Idaho Tort Claims Act.
• If this was a work-related crash, Idaho workers' compensation deadlines are different. You generally must give notice to the employer within 60 days and file an application for hearing with the Idaho Industrial Commission within 1 year if benefits are disputed.

If you already settled, signed a release, or cashed a full settlement check, you usually cannot reopen the claim for later surgeries, chronic pain, or disability.

If you did not settle, future losses can matter: ongoing treatment, Medicare liens, out-of-pocket prescription costs, home help, and reduced earning capacity even after retirement if the injury increased your living expenses on Social Security or fixed income. A doctor's impairment rating can be important in a workers' comp case, but in a regular auto claim the key issue is documented future medical need and how the injury changed daily function months or years later.