We Won a 2025 Idaho Supreme Court Case Against the City of Boise.
Goicoechea Law represents injured workers throughout Idaho — including Boise and Ada County. In 2025, we argued before the Idaho Supreme Court on behalf of a Boise police officer whose employer — the City of Boise — had been using the workers’ compensation system against her instead of for her. We won.
If you have been injured at work in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, or anywhere in the Treasure Valley, call 208.743.2313 for a free, confidential case review. No fee unless we win.
Coronado v. City of Boise — Idaho Supreme Court (2025)
Sherri Sue Coronado was a Boise police officer who suffered a work injury on the job. The City of Boise — acting as its own insurance company as a self-insured employer — accepted her claim for a right hip injury but later refused to authorize treatment for her left hip. When Coronado declined to submit to an IME and provide medical records access on the City’s terms, the City unilaterally suspended her compensation payments.
Years of procedural wrangling followed. The City eventually filed its own complaint against Coronado before the Idaho Industrial Commission, attempting to use the Commission’s hearing process as a weapon to force adjudication of issues on the City’s timetable and terms. The Industrial Commission allowed it. We appealed to the Idaho Supreme Court.
The Idaho Supreme Court ruled in Coronado’s favor on the central issue: under Idaho’s workers’ compensation law, only an injured employee — not an employer — may file a complaint to adjudicate unpaid or disputed compensation benefits. The Commission’s order permitting the City’s complaint was set aside as exceeding its powers.
This decision matters for every injured worker in Idaho. Employers and their insurance companies can no longer initiate proceedings before the Idaho Industrial Commission to pressure or corner injured workers. The right to bring a claim belongs to the worker.
Read the Idaho Supreme Court decision → Read the Industrial Commission decision →
Why Hire Goicoechea Law?
Boise has many competent workers’ compensation attorneys. What Goicoechea Law offers is something different: a firm that has shaped Idaho workers’ compensation law at the Supreme Court level — and keeps doing it.
Michael Kessinger has argued cases before the Idaho Industrial Commission and the Idaho Supreme Court, including cases that established legal principles protecting injured workers throughout Idaho. The Coronado decision is the most recent example. It was decided in November 2025.
When your case involves a difficult legal question — a denied claim, a disputed causation issue, an employer or insurer acting improperly — experience at the appellate level matters. We have tried and won cases that other attorneys would have settled or abandoned.
What We Handle for Boise-Area Workers
We represent injured workers in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell, Eagle, and throughout Ada and Canyon County in all phases of a workers’ compensation claim:
- Denied and disputed claims — When the insurance company or self-insured employer disputes that your injury is compensable
- Improper benefit suspensions — When an employer or surety cuts off your benefits without a Commission order
- IME disputes — When the employer’s doctor reaches a different conclusion than your treating physician, or you are pressured to submit to IMEs on unreasonable terms
- Medical benefit disputes — When treatment is denied or cut off before you have recovered
- Temporary total disability (TTD) — When you cannot work and need wage replacement benefits
- Permanent impairment and disability ratings — When your injury has lasting effects on your ability to earn a living
- Public employee and city/county employer claims — When your employer is a government entity that is self-insured
- Idaho Industrial Commission hearings — Full representation through contested proceedings
- Idaho Supreme Court appeals — When the Commission gets it wrong
What Boise Workers Need to Know
Your employer cannot file a complaint against you to force a hearing. The Coronado decision established this clearly. Only you — the injured worker — have the right to initiate proceedings before the Idaho Industrial Commission to adjudicate your benefits. If an employer or its insurance company is attempting to use the Commission’s process against you, contact us immediately.
Self-insured employers play by the same rules. Large employers — including government entities like the City of Boise — sometimes self-insure their workers’ compensation obligations. That does not give them additional rights or different rules. A self-insured employer cannot suspend your benefits without a Commission order, cannot require you to submit to IMEs without following proper procedures, and is bound by the same Idaho workers’ compensation law as any other employer.
Public employees are covered. If you work for the City of Boise, Ada County, the State of Idaho, Boise State University, or any other public employer, you are covered by Idaho workers’ compensation. Government employment does not limit your rights.
There are deadlines. In Idaho, if no benefits have been paid, you generally have one year from the date of injury to initiate legal proceedings. Do not wait.
Why Goicoechea Law
We just won a case against the City of Boise at the Idaho Supreme Court. In November 2025. That is not a credential most Idaho workers’ compensation attorneys can offer.
We practice only workers’ compensation and personal injury. You get an attorney who handles these cases every day — not a generalist.
We represent workers statewide. Our office is in Lewiston, but we try cases before the Idaho Industrial Commission throughout Idaho and argue before the Idaho Supreme Court in Boise. In our modern age, geography is not a barrier.
No fee unless we win. You pay nothing upfront. We are only paid if we recover benefits for you.
Free Case Review — Call Today
If you have been injured at work in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, or anywhere in the Treasure Valley, contact Goicoechea Law today for a free, confidential case review.
Call 208.743.2313 or fill out our online contact form. There is no obligation and no attorney fee unless we win your case.