Jarred Marks Treatment ended quickly
You finished care in a few weeks and your medical picture is complete, so nothing about the value is still unknown.
Utah Injury Claims · Hiring Decision
Often, no. This page sets out which claims are safe to handle yourself and which ones have a fight built into them.
The honest answer
If you were treated once and released, your bills sit under the PIP limit, no one disputes who caused the collision, and the insurer is paying, you can usually finish that claim yourself. A lawyer who takes a third of it has not earned the third.
The question worth asking is narrower: does anything about this claim create a fight, and is the amount at stake large enough that losing the fight costs real money.
When to handle it yourself
You finished care in a few weeks and your medical picture is complete, so nothing about the value is still unknown.
Your own personal injury protection is covering the medical expense and you have no wage loss to argue about.
The other driver was cited or their insurer accepted liability in writing.
No fracture, no permanent impairment, and medical expenses under $3,000, which means general damages are not available anyway.
When to call
Utah reduces your recovery by your share of fault and bars it entirely once your share reaches half. Contested fault is money.
A wrongful death claim has a shorter deadline, its own standing rules, and a division among heirs that is frequently its own dispute.
Trucking and delivery companies have counsel and an adjuster on the scene within days, and the evidence that matters is on their equipment.
Permanent impairment has to be documented on objective findings while you are still treating, or the record will not support it later.
The claim moves to your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, and your insurer defends it like any other opponent.
A notice of claim is due within one year and the claim is barred without it, whatever the underlying deadline would otherwise allow.
The fault rule
Utah allocates fault by percentage, and a claimant recovers only from defendants whose combined fault exceeds the claimant's own.
U.C.A. § 78B-5-818(2)
A person seeking recovery may recover from any defendant or group of defendants whose fault, combined with the fault of persons immune from suit and nonparties to whom fault is allocated, exceeds the fault of the person seeking recovery.
Read the word exceeds closely. At an even split there is no recovery, because 50 does not exceed 50. That is why an adjuster's early questions so often circle around your speed, your following distance, and whether you looked.
Related
How Utah's no-fault PIP system works, what PIP pays, and the six statutory ways to cross the threshold and claim pain and suffering from the at-fault driver.
What actually determines the value of a Utah car accident claim: medical expenses, lost income, general damages, insurance limits, comparative fault and liens.
Utah deadlines for injury, property damage and wrongful death claims, including the one-year notice of claim required when a governmental entity is involved.
A case review costs nothing and takes about 15 minutes. If the claim does not need a lawyer, we will say so.