Personal injury lawyer help in Cass County, North Dakota

Cass County, North Dakota includes 22 named communities, the largest being Fargo, West Fargo, Horace. Whether an accident happened on a county road, in a small town or in one of the larger communities, the same North Dakota rules apply: a 6-year filing deadline for most injury claims, modified comparative negligence (50% bar), and lawsuits filed in the Cass County District Court. This page is the county-wide guide, with links to a page for each community.

Ask Legal Matters is a personal injury lead-generation service that collects free case review requests from injured people in the United States and shares them with independent attorneys and law firms. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Requests from Cass County may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle car, truck, motorcycle and pedestrian accidents, slip and fall injuries, workplace injuries and workers' compensation, medical malpractice and wrongful death matters in North Dakota. There is no charge to submit a request and no obligation to hire anyone.

From 2020 through 2024, federal crash records list 46 fatal crashes in Cass County, in which 50 people died. The roads with the most were I-29 with 6 fatal crashes, I-94 with 6 and Sheyenne St with 2.

The yearly count was 9 in 2020, 9 in 2021, 10 in 2022, 11 in 2023 and 7 in 2024; 41% of the crashes happened after dark. 8 involved a pedestrian, cyclist or other person outside a vehicle, and 20 happened at or near an intersection.

Many fatal crashes in Cass County happen at intersections, where claims usually turn on who had the right of way. Signal timing records and footage from nearby businesses are worth requesting early, before they are overwritten.

In North Dakota, the driver must immediately notify law enforcement of a crash that injures or kills anyone or causes apparent property damage of at least $4,000: the local police inside a city, otherwise the county sheriff or the Highway Patrol (N.D. Cent. Code § 39-08-09). The investigating officer files the crash report; a driver who could not give insurance information to the officer must send it to the Driver's License Division within five days.

Who must report

The driver of a vehicle in a crash that injures or kills anyone or causes apparent property damage of at least $4,000 (a crash with a wild animal that damages only the driver's own vehicle is exempt)

Report to

The local police inside a city; otherwise the county sheriff's office or the North Dakota Highway Patrol

Deadline

Immediately

Driver's form

None for the crash itself: the investigating officer files the report; insurance information the officer did not get goes to the Driver's License Division within five days

Copy of the crash report

North Dakota Department of Transportation: purchase a crash report

Sources: North Dakota Century Code, chapter 39-08; NDDOT: purchase a crash report. Checked November 3, 2026. General information, not legal advice; local rules and police practice can add steps.

Each community below has its own guide with the local court, insurance rules and every type of injury claim.

• Fargo, NDpop. 118,523
• West Fargo, NDpop. 33,597
• Horace, NDpop. 2,545
• Casselton, NDpop. 2,521

Smaller communities in Cass County include Absaraka, Amenia, Argusville, Arthur, Ayr, Buffalo, Davenport, Erie, Gardner, Grandin, Harwood, Hunter, Kindred, Leonard, Mapleton, Page, Tower City, Wheatland. Residents of these areas follow the same North Dakota rules, use the same Cass County District Court, and can request a free case review from anywhere in the county.

North Dakota generally gives an injured person six years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit (N.D.C.C. § 28-01-16(5)); medical malpractice is different (two years). Wrongful death claims follow their own deadline, which can differ from the one above. Claims against a city, county, school district or state agency follow separate and often much shorter deadlines. Once the deadline passes, the Cass County District Court will dismiss the case regardless of how clear the fault was, so the practical rule in Cass County is to get legal advice early.

North Dakota follows modified comparative negligence (50% bar). In plain terms, you can recover only if you were less than 50% at fault, and your award is reduced by your share of fault. Insurance adjusters apply this rule from the first phone call, which is why the way an accident is described and documented in the days after it happens in Cass County has a direct effect on what a claim is worth.

After a car accident in Cass County, your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage pays initial medical bills and a portion of lost wages regardless of who caused the crash. A lawsuit against the at-fault driver for pain and suffering is available only when injuries meet North Dakota's serious-injury threshold or costs exceed PIP limits. Minimum required coverage in North Dakota is 25/50/25.

Lawsuits arising from accidents in Cass County are typically filed in the Cass County District Court, the trial court of general jurisdiction for Cass County, although cases can sometimes be filed where the defendant resides or does business, and claims against out-of-state trucking companies or manufacturers may end up in federal court. Most claims settle before trial, but the credible ability to try a case in Cass County is what moves insurers to pay fair value.

Employees injured on the job in Cass County are generally covered by North Dakota workers' compensation, administered through the North Dakota Workforce Safety & Insurance. Report the injury to your employer immediately, and no later than seven days after the accident (N.D. Cent. Code § 65-05-01.2) — a late report can delay or put the claim at risk, and the exceptions vary by state — then file the formal claim within one year. Workers' compensation does not pay for pain and suffering, so when a third party such as a subcontractor, driver or equipment manufacturer caused the injury, a separate personal injury claim is often worth pursuing alongside it.

After a crash in Cass County, most people ask the same questions first. These guides answer them in plain English; the North Dakota rules that change the answers are explained on this page.

• What should you do after a car accident?
• How do you file a car accident insurance claim?
• What is the average car accident settlement?
• How should you deal with the insurance adjuster after a car accident?
• What happens if an uninsured driver hits you?
• Who pays your medical bills after a car accident?

• Ransom County, ND
• Traill County, ND
• Richland County, ND
• Barnes County, ND

See the North Dakota personal injury guide for every county in the state.