Free Case Review or Call Today! 801.212.9992
Free Case Review or Call Today! 801.212.9992
At Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys, our Salt Lake City car accident lawyers believe in focusing on our clients to help them physically, emotionally, and financially recover after a crash changes their lives.
Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys represents Utah residents who have been injured in a car accident as a result of the fault of the other driver. Under Utah law, Utah Code § 41- 6-101 sets forth the Utah Traffic Code. All Utah drivers and those visiting Utah must comply with the Utah Traffic Code. Even if drivers do not have a Utah license, they must comply with the Utah Traffic Code and are assumed to know the Utah Traffic Code.
That means, as our client, our auto accident attorneys in Salt Lake County operate as your team and want to deliver much-needed relief through our compassion, attention to detail, and tenacious advocacy.
When you retain the services of Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys, you have retained well-trained and dedicated attorneys, paralegals, and legal secretaries. Your team will have a combined experience of 90 years handling car accident and injury claims throughout Utah and the intermountain west. Your team will work closely with you to help build your claim to maximize the compensation you deserve for your losses.
It is very important that you communicate with your Midvale car accident attorneys and support team and make sure they fully understand your injuries, losses, and the respective damages you are claiming to repair your life or the life of a loved one.
Once you partner with our Utah car accident and injury law firm, you can rest easy knowing your team has represented clients in more than 1,200 mediation/arbitration cases and over 85 jury trials with tremendous success. Let us use our experience to help you and your family confidently move forward, starting with a free consultation.
Under Utah law, anyone driving a motor vehicle on the highways needs to have minimum insurance coverage of $25,000/$65,000 for liability. The law is changing and increasing those rates effective January 1, 2025 to $25,000/$90,000.
Prior to the change of law, Utah law required you have $25,000 in liability coverage per person for bodily injury; $65,000 per accident for bodily injury where there was more than one person hurt in the car crash; $15,000 per accident for property damage; and $3,000 for personal injury protection for medical bills.
After January 1, 2025, the Utah legislature is seeking to increase the minimum coverage in Utah to $30,000 liability insurance for bodily injury or death to one person.
The property damage coverage has increased from $15,000 to $25,000. If there is more than one person hurt or killed in a car crash, the minimum coverage for multiple victims is $90,000. This law is to take effect on January 1, 2025 pursuant to Utah law.
When you are involved in an accident, you need to contact the police; seek medical attention; and call a lawyer. Preserving the facts and evidence after a motor vehicle accident or any injury where you are not at fault requires the special knowledge and skill of our Midvale car accident lawyers. Our attorneys can conduct an investigation and assist as to who is responsible for the accident and your respective injuries.
Under Utah law, most cases are controlled by the term “negligence.” Many people speak of the term “negligence,” but really do not understand the elements.
Under Utah law, negligence is defined as:
What this means is to prove the other side is at fault for causing the crash and your injuries, the person must have a duty to drive their vehicle in a reasonable manner. All Utah drivers have a duty to operate their motor vehicles in a reasonable and safe manner. A skilled Midvale car accident lawyer is trained to conduct an investigation.
All Salt Lake City auto accident attorneys at Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys are trained to conduct a quick and thorough investigation to determine if the driver is negligent in causing the crash and your injuries. Please contact us immediately so we can conduct an investigation for you.
Many Utah motorists do not understand that their vehicle is equipped with a device called an event data recorder. Utah Code Ann.§ 41-1a-1501 sets forth the Event Data Recorder Act for Utah. In car crashes where there is a dispute as to the responsible duties for each driver, many times, those disputes can be resolved through retrieving the Event Data Recorder.
It is very important to contact the Salt Lake City auto accident attorneys at Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys so they can conduct a thorough and quick investigation and hire the necessary experts to retrieve your event data recorder if there is a dispute as to who caused the crash.
The event data recorder will record such things as:
It is important that your vehicle be preserved until the investigation is conducted if there is a dispute as to the crash or whether there is a problem with your vehicle that was, in part, a cause of the car crash.
When you are involved in a car accident in Utah, it is important to immediately call the police, seek medical attention, and call the attorneys at Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys. The attorneys at Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys are trained to conduct a thorough investigation to preserve evidence.
Evidence needs to be gathered, including the police report, photographs of the vehicles, photographs of the scene, witness statements, and any adjacent video footage from other businesses in the area if there is a dispute as to what took place.
In car crashes, usually the insurance company will take your statement regarding what took place. It is important that you have an attorney at Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys present with you when you give your statement about how the accident took place.
Many motorists may be confused as to who has responsibilities and duties as to how the Motor Vehicle Traffic Code works. It is important, if you are involved in a motor vehicle crash, that you do not give misstatements as to what you think or thought happened verses what actually happened. This is why it is very important to have an attorney at Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys with you when you talk to the insurance company about the facts of the crash.
Since our Midvale auto accident law firm and support team are comprised of experienced lawyers, paralegals, and legal secretaries, most of the cases we handle are resolved through settlement. We do everything we can to help you avoid the stress of going into litigation and an eventual jury trial.
Since your team of Salt Lake City auto accident attorneys is very experienced, there is a 95% chance that your case will be resolved through settlement verses litigation. If you do need to go into litigation, your team is very experienced in litigation and preparing you for each stage where your team needs your involvement in the litigation process. If your case cannot be resolved through settlement, your team is experienced in attempting to divert your case to mediation, which is cheaper and quicker as a form to resolve your case.
If mediation is an option for you to resolve your case, your team will explain in detail the mediation process and be there with you during the mediation.
Since your team is very experienced, another way to divert your case from the stress and rigors of litigation is to go through the arbitration process. If arbitration has agreed to resolve your case, your team will prepare and assist you through the arbitration process. Your team will explain the details of the arbitration process.
Typically, arbitration is quicker, cheaper, and less stressful since it takes place in the lawyer’s office in a conference room verses the courthouse. At the appropriate time, if your case is selected for arbitration, we will answer any and all questions and explain the process in detail to you.
Utah is a no-fault insurance state. What this means is if you are involved in a car crash, you are going to go through your own auto coverage for your medical expenses, wages, and household services under the term “No Fault PIP.” No Fault and PIP are interchangeable terms. As soon as you can after a crash, you need to contact your auto insurance carrier to obtain a No Fault PIP Application to fill out to route your medical bills to your auto insurance.
Under Utah law, the relevant section for your no-fault benefits is 41-6a-305. This particular Utah statute sets out the duties of insurance companies to pay no-fault benefits when you are involved in a crash and have sustained injuries.
Under Utah law, you need at least $3,000 in medical bills related to the car crash to be able to pursue a claim against the person who is at fault for causing the crash.
The lawyers at Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys are trained to assist you in working through the steps to go through your medical treatment and obtaining the necessary evidence to establish that the injuries you sustained were caused or aggravated by the car crash. It is important that you contact our skilled car accident attorneys in Midvale as soon as possible to help you through this process.
Once you begin your treatment for the injuries you sustained in the motor vehicle accident, your auto insurance No Fault/PIP benefits will pay the medical bills. In addition, you will be provided loss of wages if you are missing work and have a doctor’s note up to $250 per week for one year.
In addition, if you cannot do your household chores or services, you can have somebody fill in for you up to $20 per day, seven days per week, for one year. After your no-fault medical coverage has been exhausted, which is normally $3,000 (it can be any amount, but will not be less than $3,0000), the Midvale auto accidents lawyers at Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys will obtain a letter of exhaustion for you from your no-fault carrier and send it to your health insurance.
After that, your bills will be routed to your health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, or other method to pay the medical bills you have until your case is resolved by the attorneys at Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys through the at fault driver’s insurance policy. If you do not have health insurance, the Midvale car accidents attorneys at Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys can assist you in getting your medical coverage through medical providers that will accept a lien and provide you medical care to treat your injuries until your case is resolved.
Under Utah law, the statistics demonstrate that many drivers operate motor vehicles on the highways irresponsibly. What this means is that many people are driving their motor vehicles without insurance that is required by Utah law. Many Utah drivers are driving their motor vehicles upon the highways in Utah with insufficient coverage to compensate somebody that is seriously injured as a result of their negligence.
To protect yourself, you can talk to your insurance agent about increasing your insurance coverage for uninsured drivers and drivers that do not carry enough insurance called “underinsured drivers.” The short term for an uninsured driver coverage is “UM” and the short term for an underinsured motorist drivers is “UIM.”
In many situations, the additional coverage to protect you to purchase UM and UIM coverage is not that much in additional premiums. For example, if somebody seriously injuries you and only has coverage of $25,000 and your medical bills are $100,000, it is clear that that is not enough to pay your medical bills. If your agent had sold you a UIM policy for $250,000 in coverage, you could then access that coverage after you have received the liability limits from the driver who caused the crash to pay your medical bills and other expenses related to the crash.
An additional form of coverage that helps protect you against uninsured drivers and underinsured drivers is purchasing an umbrella policy, tying your home to your autos. You need to be very diligent in understanding this area.
You can purchase an umbrella policy to protect you in situations where you may seriously injure somebody else. First, the person that would be hurt by your negligence would go to your liability policy of your auto. If that was not sufficient to compensate the person that was hurt as a result of your fault, then they could access your umbrella policy.
Likewise, if you have purchased the correct coverage and somebody seriously injures you or your family member or kills one of your family members, you can access your UIM coverage and umbrella policy necessary to fully compensate you for your losses. You should discuss that with your agent. The Midvale auto accident attorneys at Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys are trained to understand the insurance coverage and are going to answer many questions regarding the insurance coverage and how the auto insurance coverage works in the State of Utah.
Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys has represented thousands of Utah clients, successfully obtaining settlements during negotiations and fighting for their rights and optimal outcomes in jury trials for more than 90 combined years.
If you have been hurt or lost a loved in a car accident caused by negligence in Utah, contact our Salt Lake City auto accident and injury attorneys today to discuss your claim during a free consultation.
We provide top-notch legal representation on a contingency basis and never recover any legal fees until we win your case. Even then, we promise our clients that their net settlement will be more than our legal fee recovery percentage because it is the right way to do business.
© 2024 Waddoups Law Personal Injury Attorneys. All Rights Reserved.
