TOP 8 BEST PRACTICES AFTER YOUR UTAH CAR ACCIDENT
Being seriously injured in a Utah car accident is often unknown territory for most people Here are 8 ways to make your injury claim go smoother, faster and with better results. 
(1). Proper Medical Diagnosis and Treatment.
There is little worse then people who are seriously injured being treated by the wrong type of doctors. If you have a concussion, your chiropractor should not be treating it. If you have a knee injury or dental injury have the right type of doctor diagnose those injuries. You wouldn’t have a foot doctor (podiatrist) treating your wrist injury would you?
Without a proper diagnosis from the right doctor your injuries will not be counted by the insurance company.
The insurance adjuster will talk like this:
“I just couldn’t see where a medical (M.D.) diagnosed that you had a concussion.”
“I can see from the ER records that you hit you knee on the dashboard, but I don’t see where you actively treated the injury. All your treatment was with a chiropractor.”
(2). Photos/Video of Your Injuries Through the Recovery Process.
Although not fun, you should take pictures of your injuries and abilities as you age through the recovery process. You should date stamp your pictures to show the time frame there were taken. You should have a picture of video at each major stage of recover, which at a minimum is start, middle and full recovery (if that is every obtained).
(3). Gather Before and After Witnesses. 
Gathering and determining what people knew you before and after the accident is critical to telling your story. Quality before and after stories really help the jury or insurance adjuster understand how the injuries have affected you.
Common before and after witness are:
Teachers. Religious leaders.
Family and friends. Long-time family practice doctors.
Sports teammates. Running or lifting partners.
People in hobby clubs with you.
People are often reluctant to get involved in a court hearing, but you should let them know they are just stating their observations.
(4). Tell Your Doctors to Document the Utah Car Accident in their Chart Notes.
When you are meeting with your physical therapist, your family doctor or the ER nurse, be sure to tell them you are here because of a car accident. Clearly tell them that they need to take the time to document their chart notes fairly and indicate each and every injury caused by the car accident. Any missed diagnosis will be used against you by the insurance company as if the injury never happened.
Common emails from the adjuster about missing diagnosis will be:
“I see you were at the ER overnight. There is no mention on the ER records or the nurse triage records of any dashboard knee injury. I know that 2 months later your physical therapist subsequently diagnosed a knee injury, did something else happen after the accident?”
(5). Wage Loss. Do it Right. Get the Right Documentation.
A wage loss claim to do it right takes a few documents to substantiate your wage loss claims.
Basic Wage Loss Documents:
W2s, 3 years of past tax returns.
Current paystubs for the last 6 months.
A letter from your doctor indicating you were hurt.
A letter from human resources indicating you missed work would be help also, explaining how much vacation time you have or expended in treating this injury.
A current resume and CV may be helpful to explain your skillsets and your work history.
(6). Hire a Qualified Utah Car Accident Lawyer.
Not every lawyer, regardless of their years in practice, conducts to jury trials. In fact, only a small percent of lawyers in general regularly try jury trials and an even smaller percent try civil personal injury juries.
New attorneys in age or practice have a hard time getting raw jury trial work under their belt. Civil personal injury juries just don’t happen that much and when you have a serious injury you want a jury trial lawyers who has been there. You don’t want your wrongful death going to a jury trial and it is that attorney third jury trial ever.
Common Traits to Look For in an Experienced Jury Trial Lawyer:
–25 plus jury trial conducted as the responsible attorney.
–1,000 court appearances.
–Handled hundred and hundreds of litigated personal injury car accident cases.
–Been a practicing lawyer for at-least 10 years.
–At a big enough law firm where they can front the costs of the best expert witnesses to capture your damages. Orthopedic surgeons, economists and life care planners cost a lot of money.
(7). Gather Before Videos and Photos Pre-Accident.
Finding good before the accident videos and pictures can help tell your story about how the injury has affected you. This doesn’t mean pulling out your college rowing pictures, but something the reflected your activity level prior to the accident.
Good pictures of your sporting or hobbies are helpful. T-shirts of your competitions, your clubs, teas or activities are good evidence of how this affected you.
Common Before and After Exhibits:
–Trophies of your particular sport.
–Pictures of you participating in your hobbies that are recent.
–T-Shirts from the competitions you went to, or the leagues you played in.
–Piano performance pictures.
–Family pictures of outdoor activities.
(8). Stay Off Social Media.
Anything you post on social media will be reviewed by the insurance company private investigators. Insurance defense attorneys are commonly using social media snap shots at trial where you are smiling on vacation or eating ice cream the day after the car accident as evidence you are not hurt. Any social media posting will be turned against you.
Often you will be required to produce electronic downloads of your Facebook, Instagram and all other relevant social media platforms that you were using.