IMMEDIATE STEPS AFTER YOUR SARATOGA SPRINGS, UT CAR ACCIDENTAND(TOPMISTAKESVID)
STEP 1. Move Cars to Safety. Exchange Information. When appropriate and safe, take pictures and exchange insurance information with all drivers. Obtain witness information, take picture of all cars and their damages.
STEP 2. Get Appropriate Medical Care. After a car accident is not the time to gamble on your health by not seeking medical care, or trying to “tough it out.”
STEP 3. Hire an experienced Saratoga Springs, UT 84045 Car Accident Lawyer. Not all attorneys actually practice car accident law. Most advertise for it, but few regularly, day-in, day-out handle car accidents. If you hire an attorney who regularly doesn’t handle car accidents, your injury claim will be devalued.
STEP 4. Get Better. The most important part of any Saratoga Springs, UT car accident is for you to get better. Often a Saratoga Springs, Utah car accident lawyer can help you pay for the appropriate medical care when you don’t have private health care insurance.
WHY HIRE A SARATOGA SPRINGS, UT 84045 CAR ACCIDENT LAWYER FOR YOUR CAR ACCIDENT CASE?(ANDWHATTOLOOKFOR)
(1). Better Results. When you hire an experienced Saratoga Springs, Utah car accident law firm to handle your injury case you will get better results. Real, practicing car accident attorneys have been start to finish hundreds of times and know how to guide your car accident insurance claim towards settlement.
Doing it yourself will lead to traps, pitfalls and less compensation for your injuries.
(2). No Out-of-Pocket Litigation Expenses. Going up against the insurance companies is expensive. When you hire Saratoga Springs, UT car accident lawyer Jake Gunter you don’t have any out-of-pocket expenses.
(3). Less Stress. Less stress is worth it alone to hire an experienced Utah car accident lawyer. Knowing what is coming next is less stress. Helping you see the end result is huge.
NO ATTORNEY FEES UNLESS WE WIN YOUR CAR ACCIDENT CASE.
Attorney Jake Gunter doesn’t take a legal fee unless you receive compensation for your injuries. If you don’t win, Jake and his law firm don’t get paid.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, UTAH CAR ACCIDENT PERSONAL INJURY THRESHOLD AND STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS
What is Threshold? In Utah, the car accident threshold is incurring greater than $3,000 in medical bills or permanent injuries caused by the car accident. See Utah Code Ann. 31A-22-306 to 309.
Do I Even Have an Injury Claim? Most people involved in car accidents have an insurance claim to recover their medical bills and lost wages. If they pass threshold, they will have additional claims for general damages, like inconvenience, pain, suffering and money damages to make up for what was damaged to the person’s life from the car accident.
Is My Saratoga Springs, Utah Car Accident Case Too Small? No. Attorney Jake Gunter takes small car accidents case where the medical bills are only $3,500 to wrongful death car accident cases. Each case is given appropriate care. Each injured person will receive better treatment and compensation from the insurance carriers with an attorney on-board.
What are the Requirements for a Car Accident Case?
Here are the basics of Utah’s negligence laws as applied to car accidents:
(1). You were hurt in the car collision.
Common injuries from car collisions involve muscular, ligament and tendon strains or sprains. Fractures or head injuries also are common.
Even if you have pre-existing injuries, if those injuries were aggravated by the car collision, you are entitled under law to recover the part of your injuries that were aggravated. The negligent, at-fault driver who rear-end you is responsible for all damages that they cause.
(2). The car accident was not your fault. You can’t be more than 49 percent at-fault for your Saratoga Springs, Utah car accident. If you are more than 49 percent at-fault you recover nothing. Whatever percentage fault is determined by the jury or judge to be yours, that reduces your damages. See this article on “How to Prove Fault.”
Example Intersection Accident. You are hit by a car turning left in front of you as you entered an intersection. The jury finds the left-hand turning car 80 percent at-fault and you, 20 percent at-fault for the intersection accident. The jury ultimately awards you $100,000. That amount is reduced by your portion of attributed 20 percent fault. The judge reduces the jury’s award to $80,000 to reflect your fault percentage.
(3). You exceed $3,000 in medical bills or have permanent physical injuries. Even if you were hurt in the car accident, you injuries must exceed Utah’s threshold laws. You must incur greater than $3,000 in medical bills or have a permanent injury in order to recover anything past your medical bills.
Example. Rear End Car Accident. You are rear-ended on Center Street, Saratoga Springs, Utah. Even though you were severely hurt, your medical bills were only $2,100 at the Utah Valley Hospital. You don’t have a claim for anything past your medical bills because you didn’t exceed threshold.
Example. Scarring, T-Bone Car Accident. You were t-boned on Highway 73 near the Ranches. Your medical bills are only $1,000, but you have a permanent scar on your knee from hitting the dashboard. Because of the permanent scarring you have a claim for general damages, above and beyond your medical bills.
Utah Car Accident Statute of Limitations.
Utah has a general four year statute of limitations for car accident physical injuries. Property damage recovery has a three year statute of limitations. If you are injured in a car accident by the government, like Saratoga Springs, UT, then a strict 1 year claim notice applies. Always, always, call an experienced Saratoga Springs, Utah car accident regarding any statute of limitations you may have.
COMMON TYPES OF SARATOGA SPRINGS, UTAH CAR ACCIDENTS
Here are some common types of Saratoga Springs, Utah car accidents:
(1). Rear-end collisions. Fault is almost always on the person who rear-ended you. Rarely will you bear any fault for a rear-end car collision.
(2). Left-hand turn accident. The person making the left-hand turn by statute tends to at-fault for the accident. Yet the insurance company can attribute some fault to you for failure to break fast enough, or inattentiveness.
(3). Running red lights. Other cars running red lights is common practice, especially at the tail end of the light cycle where cars grouping up like chain gangs trying to get through intersection.
(4). Car hitting pedestrians. Whether or not the pedestrian was in the cross walk is only one aspect of determining who was at-fault when a car hits a pedestrian.
(5). DUI causing car accidents. Drugs and alcohol often contribute to car accidents. DUI or prescription drug causing accidents have unique aspects. There can often be a concurrent pending criminal case and your injury case which needs to be monitored.
COMMON SARATOGA SPRINGS, UT 84045 CAR ACCIDENT INJURIES
Common Saratoga Springs, Utah car accident injuries include:
(1). Muscle strain sprain of back and neck from rear-end car collisions.
(2). Bone fractures.
(3). Dashboard knee. Knees impacting car dashboards causing ligament and tendon surgeries.
(4). Shoulder injuries. Shoulder, rotator cuff and labral injuries from seat belts often show up in Utah car accidents.
(5). Evil Head Injuries. Concussions and head injuries are terrible, silent and hidden injuries that sometimes effect people for the rest of their lives.
COMMON MEDICAL TREATMENT FROM SARATOGA SPRINGS, UTAH CAR ACCIDENTS
Common medical treatment and medical bills from car accidents include:
(1). Physical therapy.
(2). Chiropractic care.
(3). Emergency room visits.
(4). Family practice doctors.
(5). Surgeries.
DO PERSONAL INJURY PROTECTION BENEFITS COVER MY SARATOGA SPRINGS, UTAH CAR ACCIDENT?
Every single Utah car issue policy of insurance has Personal Injury Protection Benefits attached to it. “PIP” has a mandatory minimum medical pay of $3,000 for medical care incurred and caused by a car accident. PIP benefits are no-fault benefits, meaning that they pay out for all injuries caused by a car accident.
Common car accident related medical bills paid by PIP are: emergency room, physical therapy and chiropractic.
HOW ARE SARATOGA SPRINGS, UTAH CAR ACCIDENTS RESOLVED?
Most car accident insurance claims settle out-of-court. Meaning no lawsuit was ever filed and the parties agree to a settlement. Here are the ways Saratoga Springs, Utah car accidents bodily injury cases are settled:
(1). No Lawsuit. Before any litigation breaks out, or a lawsuit is filed, often the car accident attorney and the insurance adjuster agree on a money settlement. The case is over.
(2). File a Lawsuit. When a lawsuit is filed that means the parties couldn’t reach a fair settlement amount and the plaintiff files a lawsuit. Car accident lawsuits can be resolved in the following ways:
Out-of-Court Settlement. Even when a lawsuit is filed, most cases still settle out-of-court where the parties agree to a settlement amount. Normally this occurs after the car insurance companies have had a chance to depose or conduct some discovery on the case.
Agreed to Arbitration. Often filed car accident lawsuits are settled through arbitration. Arbitration is where you hire a retired attorney, or retired judge to privately decide the value of your car accident injuries. Arbitration is very informal and the parties sit around a conference table, where each party presents evidence and later the arbitrator issues a decision. Instead of two days to try your car accident case to a jury, arbitration can be done in two hours. Save a ton of time and money. But for certain cases, arbitration is a terrible idea.
A Jury Trial. Each party under the Utah and Federal constitutions are entitled by law to a jury of their peers to decide the matter. The jury trial is the purest form of courtroom democracy. Ultimately the jury decides what money value to attach to your physical injuries caused by the car accident. It is a long and expensive process. There has never been a more just mechanism to resolve disputes than the common law jury system.
Judge Trial. If each party elects a judge trial, the judge will make the decision on how much money your injuries are worth.
Saratoga Springs, Utah Car Accident Resources
Utah Valley Hospital
1034 North 500 West
Saratoga Springs, Utah, UT 84604
Saratoga Spring, Utah Justice Court
https://www.saratogaspringscity.com/236/Court
367 S Saratoga Rd, Saratoga Springs, UT 84045
Saratoga Springs, Utah City Police Department
https://www.saratogaspringscity.com/248/Police-Department
367 S Saratoga Road
Saratoga Springs, UT 84045
Utah Courts. www.utcourts.gov
Provo, Utah District Court
137 East Freedom Avenue
Provo, Utah, UT 84606
Utah Highway Patrol—Section 6 Utah County
Online Police Report Requests
https://highwaypatrol.utah.gov/online-accident-reports/
763 North 1370 West Street
Orem, UT 84057