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5 Things Every Driver Should Know About Car Insurance

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5 THINGS EVERY UTAH DRIVER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CAR INSURANCE

SAINT GEORGE INJURY LAWYER EXPLAINS WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AUTO INSURANCE

Auto insurance can be a pretty tricky thing because everyone has to have it and most people don’ t know that much about it.  Typically, when you ask people what kind of coverage they have on their car, they often respond with, “Oh, I have full coverage.”  They seem to think that full coverage means that their insurance will pay 100% no matter what happens with anything related to an accident in their car.  This seems to be the impression that some people are under.  This is simply not true.  Any auto insurance policy is going to have completely separate lines of coverage.  What those are, is separate contract language that applies to a given situation that will trigger the application of one of those contracts.  This article will explain each separate line of coverage and what it covers.

#1  Comprehensive and Collision Coverage

The first line we will discuss is the coverage of property.  There is collision coverage and comprehensive coverage.  This is for damage to your own property.  Collision coverage is used when your car is damaged by another vehicle.  When you have collision coverage on your car, it doesn’t matter who is at fault in the accident to use that benefit. You can go through your own insurance whether someone hits you or you hit someone else.  There will likely be a deductible that applies with the most common being $500.  However,  the deductible could range from no deductible to several thousand depending on what you choose.  If you do use your own collision coverage to pay for the damages on your auto and the other driver is found to be at-fault, their insurance will reimburse your insurance company those expenses.

Comprehensive coverage is very similar in that it doesn’t matter who is at fault and it covers the damage done to your own vehicle.  This covers all of the other hazards that could happen to your car other than a collision with another car.  An example might be a tree falling on your car, or vandalism of your car or a fire.  This is also the line of coverage that covers when a rock hits your windshield.  There is usually a deductible on this coverage also.

#2  PIP Coverage

The second type of coverage that we have in the state of Utah is PIP.  This stands for Personal Injury Protection.  It is a special form of med pay coverage.  Med pay coverage is a line of coverage for medical payments for yourself.  So if you get hurt in a car accident, your med pay would be the first policy to come in and pay for your medical bills.  So they would pay for your ambulance ride or your emergency room visit, or visits to your chiropractor and so on.  Your own insurance would cover the bill.

In the short term, some people will say, “Well, why would my insurance cover that bill?  The accident wasn’t my fault. The other guy ran a red light. Why is my insurance paying anything?”  This answer to that is that in Utah we have a PIP law, a statute, that says that every single auto insurance policy sold to an individual in the state of Utah, must have a minimum of $3,000 in PIP coverage.  Everyone must have at least this much.  There are also other coverages that you must have unless you sign a waiver to get out of them.  Your PIP coverage also includes service that you may need if you are seriously injured in a automobile accident such as household services.  Let’s say you were injured  and you were laid up, you unable do your own dishes, you can’t raise your arms up above your head, or mow your own lawn.  You need someone to come by and help you manage those things.  PIP coverage requires a minimum of $20 a day to be available to you to pay for those types of services.  This coverage will pay to have someone come in and  help you take care of your house while you are recovering.  PIP coverage also includes some wage loss.  So the $3,000 in medical coverage, plus the household services, plus the wage loss in part of the PIP coverage.  The loss of wages will be either $250 per week or 85% of your normal weekly wage whichever is lower.  The insurance company can pay you the lowest of the two.  Those figures are minimums.  You may be thinking that you make a lot more than that and that’s not going to cover you.  No, it’s not,  but it is something to help tide you over and ease the pain short term until you can make a claim for lost wages against a bodily injury liability policy that may apply on the at-fault driver’s insurance.

We have this PIP requirement in place in Utah for a couple of reasons.  This PIP coverage can be both good and bad for Utah drivers, mostly good.  If you get hurt in a crash, you don’t have to wonder who was at fault, was it him or was it me, when deciding to seek medical treatment. You don’t have to ask yourself  those questions before getting medical attention in Utah because your PIP will pay for your treatment automatically whether you are at fault or not and that is a very good thing.  We value people being able to get medical care even if they can’t afford it.  Nobody is expecting to be involved in a car accident and they shouldn’t have to think about how they will pay for medical care for an accident that they didn’t cause.  One of the tradeoffs to PIP coverage is that if you don’t reach the minimum threshold of $3,000 in medical expenses claimed on your PIP portion of your policy, you are actually precluded from making a claim against the at-fault driver’s liability policy.  So, if you are a car accident victim and you get hurt and go to the emergency room  for treatment and you have minor injuries such as bruises and stitches and your bills total $1,500 and then your injuries heal and  you are fine. . . you cannot make a claim against the liablitiy policy of the driver that hit you.  Even though you are not made whole under the law.  Clearly no one would say, “Hey, go ahead and hit me as long as you pay my medical bills.”  That is not a fair trade, clearly no one wants to be hurt and go through physical pain and then the hassle of seeking medical treatment until they recover.  So the driver that caused your injury may owe you more than the cost of your medical bills but you have no right to seek any further resolution in your case if your medical bills are less than $3,0000. That will bring us to the next type of coverage we will discuss.

#3 Liability Coverage

Liability coverage really breaks down into multiple coverages.  In Utah,  the state minimum limits for liability are 25/65/15.  What that means is that you have $25,000 in coverage per person that you hurt and  up to $65,000 for all the people in the vehicle that you hurt and $15,000 to apply to property damage that you cause. Liability coverage protects you from lawsuits from other people.  So when you hurt someone else, you have a duty to make them whole.  And because most people don’t have twenty grand sitting around but we could easily cause $20,000 worth of injury to someone, we are required to carry liability coverage.  When you make a claim against a liability portion of someone else’s insurance because they are at fault for the accident, your own PIP coverage, that paid out your medical bills for the short term, actually gets paid back.  Your insurance gets the money they paid out, back for your medical expenses.

Within the limits of liability, there are specific circumstances that each amount would be used for.  Our example is 25/65/15.   The last amount listed is the amount of coverage that you have for property damage.  This amount would be your coverage if you were to damage someone else’s property.  For instance if you were the at-fault driver in a car accident and you totalled an $55,000 SUV, you would need much more than the property damage limit in our example of $15,000.  Considering the value of many cars on the road today, a person may want to increase the amount of property damage that they carry on their auto policies.  If the current limit is exhausted in a lawsuit, the claimant can then sue the individual policy holder for the remaining damages.  It would be wise to consult with your insurance agent and make an informed decision about the amount of the liability limits in all three areas within your auto policies.

In the above example, the first amount, $25,000, is the amount of liability coverage that your policy would offer for payment of someone else’s injuries.  In a serious accident, that amount could be used up quickly.  What if someone loses a limb or is disfigured or loses the ability to work for the rest of their life.  Or even worse, what if someone loses their life as a result of an accident where you were the at-fault driver?   The second amount, $65,000, is the global figure for all medical expenses.  This means that the limit for medical expenses that your insurance will pay for all persons that you injure while driving your car is $65,000. What if the other car had four to six passengers and they were all injured?  In a serious accident, this would simply not be enough coverage.   You would probably be sued for much more than your limits provide.

Auto Accidents

Auto Accidents

#4  UM Coverage

The fourth line of coverage is called UM coverage, which means uninsured motorist coverage.  You might be hit by someone who is carrying no liability coverage.  They are driving illegally with no insurance or perhaps, for whatever reason, the policy on their car does not apply.  It can happen. The best person to insure against your own risk while you are driving is you.  You don’t know what kind of coverage  the other driver that hits you will be carrying.  So if you get uninsured coverage you will  have the necessary  insurance available to make a potential claim against.  You treat it just like it’s the liability coverage of someone else.  It is triggered within your own policy by the fact that your were hit by someone without liability insurance.

#5  UIM Coverage

The last line of coverage that you should be aware of is underinsured motorist coverage.  This kicks in when you have exhausted the liability limit of the other driver.  It’s a secondary type of coverage.  So let’s say that you got hit and you suffered a terrible back injury that required a $50,00 surgery, but the at-fault driver may only have the state required minimum limit of $25,000.  You still wouldn’t have enough coverage to pay for the surgery that you need.  This is where your underinsured coverage would come into force.  It would fill in the gap so you could get the care you need.

This article was a brief summary of the individual coverages contained within an auto policy in the state of Utah.  Collision and comprehensive coverage are not required by law.  However,  if your car is financed through a bank or a credit union, they will require that your carry it in order to cover their financial interest in the car.  Some insurance companies also offer specific towing coverage to their policyholders for a small fee.

Andrew Spainhower McMullin Injury Law

5 Dangers of Driving with Utah State-Minimum Insurance

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5 Dangers of Driving with Utah State-Minimum Insurance

Utah State Minimum Insurance

The State of Utah requires people to have at least some car insurance in order to drive legally on Utah roads. That is why you show proof of insurance when you get pulled over. The amount that is required is referred to as “state-minimums.”  They are not recommended amounts.  These are minimum amounts. They are not advised amounts.  They are minimum amounts to be legal.  Usually when people choose them, they do so because the amount of premium that they pay will be lower.  Just because you have barely enough to not be committing a crime does not mean you have enough to be safe and responsible and protect yourself and your loved ones. In reality,  the premium is not affected that much to increase the limits to a much safer, more responsible limit. Motorcycle drivers have even more incentive to be aware of their insurance limits.

Choosing the lowest limits can compare to the situation where if you have only one drink of alcohol you may still be below the blood alcohol level that would register you for a DUI, so its legal, however drinking alcohol and then getting behind the wheel of a car is not advised.  Even if you are below the legal limit.  Everyone knows that this is not recommended but some still try to beat the odds and do it anyway. Carrying low liability limits on your auto insurance is a similar risk in that although it is legal it is still not advised.  It is dangerous to carry low amounts of coverage on your car and this article will explain why.

Southern Utah Personal Injury Lawyer Discusses Car Insurance

The information below is written by a St George Ut Personal Injury Attorney. Auto Accident Attorneys in Southern Utah deal with auto insurance policies everyday, so at McMullin Injury Law, we know how these policies work. If you are looking to buy more insurance, don’t call us, we don’t sell it, we just help people deal with claims.

1. The Danger of carrying only 25/65 in bodily injury liability coverage. 

Bodily injury liability coverage is the type of insurance that protects it’s own insured when they injure someone else in a car accident.  That is why it is called liability coverage.  If you hurt someone and you are responsible for their bodily injury, they then have a lawsuit against you.  Because they have a valid  case against you, your liability policy on your automobile insurance then steps into your shoes and has the contractual duty to you to protect you from this personal injury claim.  Your insurance company will either need to settle it or resolve it or pay for legal defense to defend you against the suit.  Either way,  they indemnify you or protect you from having to pay for your own attorneys or having to pay out of your own pocket to settle the case.

When you have the state minimum requirements for liability coverage which are 25/65, that means that you have coverage for up to $25,000 per person and $65,000 per incident.  The incident could be that you seriously injure a family of seven in a huge van.  There is only $65,000 now to protect you against the claims from all seven of those injured claimants.  It’s very likely that that family is not going to be happy with that amount.  It is likely not even going to be enough money to cover their hospital and therapy bills let alone any general damages.  They will have no recourse but to file a lawsuit against you.  They would probably get a judgment against you for well above the amount of $65,000 and your insurance will only pay up to that limit.  Now you will be personally liable for the difference.  The court can order that your wages be garnished.  They can put liens on your property.  They can potentially take away your life savings and everything that you have worked to achieve for an accident that happened in a split second.  That is the danger of carrying low limits of liability on your car insurance.  You should always be insured up to an amount that is more than enough to protect you even in the case of very serious injuries that one day you might accidentally cause.  No one intends to hurt other people.  People will be upset when they get sued but the truth is, when you hurt someone and your insurance is terrible, you are really giving them no meaningful choice other than to sue you.  Otherwise they will be left bearing the brunt of the costs of all of their injuries that they did not cause and they did not choose to have. It is your fault.

2. The dangers of having only $15,000 in property liability coverage

This is another form of liability coverage.  It protects you from being sued when you damage someone else’s property while driving a car.  It is the limit that your insurance will pay to someone else should you damage their vehicle in an accident that is your fault.  Let’s say that you smash into a $40,00 SUV and you total it.  Now their vehicle needs to be replaced but you only have the state minimum requirement of $15,000 for property damage.  You are now responsible for the balance of $25,000.  They will have little to no recourse but to sue you for that difference.  $15,000 worth of damage can happen with a lot less of an impact in a crash than people think.  If you have an expensive vehicle, and your cause a significant amount of damage to it, you can hit that $15,000 limit pretty easily.  Especially if the damage bends the body frame and renders the vehicle non-drivable or affects the engine.

3. The dangers of having only the required $3,000 in PIP

PIP is the abbreviation for Personal Injury Protection.  PIP is Utah’s form of what is called med pay insurance.  Med pay insurance is no-fault insurance.  It exists on the policy to pay the initial medical bills for anyone that suffers an injury regardless of fault.  So this covers your own injuries on the insurance of the vehicle that you are in.  You might not be at fault for the accident but your PIP will come in and pay any of your medical bills.  In Utah it is required that you carry only $3,000. In many states they don’t require that you carry any coverage for med pay at all.

          *Motorcycle Accident –

If you drive a motorcycle, Utah law does not even require you to have PIP, but it should.

Unfortunately, it is dangerous to be carrying the state minimum requirement because $3,000 can be gone extremely quickly.  Let’s say that you were to get in an auto accident and hit your head and then you were having problems at the scene of the accident.  You were not feeling well enough to drive your car, so an ambulance takes you to the emergency room to make sure that you are going to be ok.  Head injuries can be extremely scary.  Now you will have a bill from the ambulance and a bill from the emergency room.  You were treated for a head injury so they probably ran a series of very expensive diagnostic tests to make sure you are ok.  You will probably already have exceeded your $3,000 in PIP coverage.  Now, if your were at fault for the crash, the balance of the medical bills falls to you to pay out of your own pocket.

This PIP coverage also applies to each person that you have in your own vehicle.  A separate $3,000 per person in coverage.  So if you are driving around four friends and you lose control of your vehicle in snow or ice and go off the road into an embankment, you are now responsible for their medical bills.  Each passenger would only have a total of $3,000 for medical costs and anything above that, you would need to pay for.  This type of thing can happen even to very good drivers.  That would be a terribly stressful and sad situation to have your friends injured and not have adequate coverage to pay for their medical expenses.

4. The danger of not having comprehensive and collision coverage for your own vehicle

The danger of not having comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy is that you would have no coverage on your own vehicle should it be damaged in an accident.  In Utah the only coverages that are required on your auto insurance are the liability limits of 25/65/15, meaning $25,000 per person, $65,000 per accident, $15,000 for property damage  and PIP coverage of $3,000. You are not required by law to have comprehensive and collision coverage for your own vehicle. I guess law makers don’t feel like they have to protect you from yourself. They just want to protect other people from you.

Collision coverage covers the damage to your own car in the event of an accident whether you are at-fault or not.  It is by contract so it doesn’t matter if you are at fault or not.

Comprehensive coverage is what is sounds like.  It is comprehensive coverage for your property damage.  It applies to damages caused by things other than collisions.  As in the Allstate commercials when mayhem strikes and something falls on your vehicle, like a tree branch, then comprehensive coverage is what will cover that damage.  Other acts of nature would also be covered such as hail storms or wind storms that blow things on top of your car.  Vandalism and fire are also situations that are covered by comprehensive coverage.

You don’t have to have either of those coverages unless you have a loan on your car.  If you do have a loan on your car, your lienholder, the lender, will require that you carry both comprehensive and collision coverage on your vehicle.  They will require that your insurance send them proof of that coverage.  If your insurance ever lapses, your insurance agency will notify your lender that is has lapsed.  If this happens, your lender can add their own insurance on to your loan amount and this is very expensive.  They are smart and they want to protect their asset.  They understand that if your car is wrecked, you are not going to want to pay for it.

People who do not have loans on their cars are not required to carry this insurance on their vehicles.  The danger of not having it is that in the event you are in accident and it is your fault, you will not have any coverage on that vehicle.  You will need to pay for the repairs or replacement yourself.  You will need to decide if you can afford to replace your vehicle yourself should something happen to it.

You could have a situation arise where your vehicle is damaged but it wasn’t your fault but no one else’s insurance will cover the damages either.  You could have your car parked at a mall and when you finish your shopping and return to it you could find the whole side dented in. Someone could hit your car and drive away.  Now you have significant damage to your car and though you are not at fault, it would be your collision coverage that would pay for it.

These coverages tend to be the expensive ones to carry on your policy.  This is because the premium for these coverages is based on the value of your automobile.  The newer and fancier your car, the higher the premium for these coverages will be.  Both of these coverages carry a deductible amount.  You can choose the deductible amount and the higher the deductible the lower the premium for the coverage.  A $250 deductible would be more expensive than a $500 deductible.  Were you to have a loss of $1,200, your deductible of $500 would be subtracted from the amount due to you for the repairs and you would receive $700 toward your expenses.

5. The dangers of not having any UM or UIM coverage

The last danger we will discuss is not having UM or UIM coverage on your policy.  Both of these are optional to your policy.  Um refers to uninsured motorist and UIM refers to underinsured motorist.  Underinsured motorist applies when you are hurt by another driver and they are not carrying insurance on their vehicle or it may be a hit and run situation and you don’t even know who hit you.  Underinsured motorist coverage applies when you are hurt to an extent where your case is worth in excess of the amount of liability coverage that the at-fault driver carries. The dangers of not having those forms of coverage is that you can be hurt by a hit and run or by one of the thousands of Utah drivers that carry inadequate insurance on their vehicles.  Think about it, the best person to protect your interests and your body is you. Don’t count on somebody else to do that.  The very people who are irresponsible enough to choose the lowest possible limits on their policy to save a few bucks are probably the very ones that will be driving irresponsibly on the roads and causing accidents.  You don’t want to rely on some bad driver out there that they will be wise enough to carry proper limits on their policy.

Attorneys see auto injury cases all the time where the injured person has sustained life-changing injuries and the at-fault driver has the lowest possible limits or liability or was driving illegally with no insurance.  This is where the UM/UIM coverage can make all the difference. This coverage is really very inexpensive and well worth the few dollars that it adds to your premium.

Take the time to discuss each of these coverages with your insurance agent and be sure that you have adequate insurance for your needs now and in the future. Don’r drive with Utah State minimum insurance.

McMullin Injury Law is in Southern Utah and we are here to help. Give us a call at 435-673-9990. Our primary focus is helping car accident victims in St. George and Cedar City, Utah.

This article and others on this site do not constitute a legal opinion or advice. Interactions on this website do not create an attorney-client relationship and do not serve as a replacement for consulting with an attorney. McMullin Injury Law expressly disclaims all liability relating to actions taken based on contents of this site. This article is for general education purposes, if you are seeking legal advice, contact an attorney. 

top 5 things to consider before settling your injury case

6 Ways to Resolve Your Utah Personal Injury Case

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6 Ways to Resolve Your Utah Personal Injury Case

There are six ways to resolve a personal injury or automobile accident case in the State of Utah.  This article will explain your options and increase your understanding of how these processes work.  This will enable you to make a more informed decision about how you should proceed with your claim.  A qualified attorney will be able to guide you further in the direction that will best serve your needs whether you are in Cedar City, St. George, Provo, or Ogden. For more specific information on your case, call our Southern Utah Lawyers for help.

#1 Settlement

The first and most common way to resolve a case is a settlement.  This option involves no one getting sued, no one going to court, no one being placed under oath, and no one being served.  It’s much cheaper and easier to facilitate the resolution of a case with a fair settlement than through any other means. However, in order to reach a sufficient settlement, you will need to be armed with all the information you need in order to arrive at a fair settlement amount.  Most personal injury attorneys, including lawyers in Cedar City Ut, will meet with clients for a free initial consultation and can help you understand all that needs to be considered before you accept a settlement offer.

A case is worth what you have the leverage to negotiate for.  So both sides are going to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of a case.  Both sides will look at the facts and damages and compare them.  If they come up with numbers that are somewhat similar, then the case will likely settle.  However, sometimes the numbers are very far apart and in those types of cases, a settlement is not likely to work.  Other factors that could hinder a settlement are that there may be a dispute about the facts in regards as to what happened in the accident or the insurance company may even deny any fault on their side or accept only a percentage of fault.  They may also have a big problem with some of the treatment that was given and the charges associated with that treatment.  The insurance company may also fail to recognize that the injuries sustained in the accident will have long lasting effects on the claimant that will affect quality of life or ability to earn income or that may require continued medical treatment.  These could be reasons that the case won’t settle and you would have to consider one of the other options that we will discuss further in this article.

Lawsuit 

Although mediation or arbitration could occur without filing a lawsuit, they are both more common after filing a lawsuit. So a lawsuit would commence with one of really five different options.  Continue reading to find out to better understand what those options are and how each one could benefit or be more difficult considering the circumstances of your particular case. For specifics, call our St. George Ut Lawyers.

#2 Mediation

This is the second quickest way to resolve a case. It is actually a settlement, but it is done through a formal mediation process.  Mediation is a collaborative meeting where you and your attorney meet face to face with the attorney and the insurance company from the other side and discuss why you are so far apart and see if that helps.  These meetings are confidential and informal.  Also because they are less formal or threatening it is easier to preserve relationships if per chance parties involved in the case happen to be friends or family.

When both sides come face to face sometimes the insurance company is not as likely to just make a completely low-ball offer to you and sometimes you are able to reach a place that seems fair for both sides.  Typically, you will go and meet in separate rooms in the same building, the two opposing sides, and the mediator will bounce back and forth between the rooms and argue against both sides and point out your cases weaknesses so that both sides are more likely to meet in the middle.  This back and forth process allows both sides the opportunity to understand the other’s point of view and clear up any misunderstandings.  It can be very effective if both sides come willing to compromise and consider all that is presented by the other side. Call today for a free consultation with a Cedar City Utah Lawyer.

#3 Arbitration

Often times when you file a lawsuit instead of actually going all the way through to a formal trial and courthouse, like you see on television, you could actually go to an arbitrator to decide what is going to happen with the case.  An arbitrator is typically just a very experienced attorney who sits and acts as the judge and jury.  Both sides present their case.  You will be given the opportunity to present evidence and witnesses.   You still follow some of the same types of procedures that you would follow in court, it’s just you are not in court.  This saves you time because you don’t have to be on the waiting list for a courtroom. You will most likely meet in your attorney’s office or in a conference room somewhere.  The arbitrator will hear and see the evidence and testimony on both sides and then decide what happens on your case. McMullin Injury Law utilizes multiple conference rooms available from our own office in St. George Utah, all the way up through Cedar City and on to Northern Utah.

In Utah, there is something called a 321 arbitration.  That’s where someone that’s been hurt in a car accident can actually force the insurance company into arbitration.  Whereas, normally, for arbitration, both sides would have to agree that they will arbitrate rather than going to a trial.  But with 321 arbitration you can force the insurance company into it.  The drawback is that there is a cap and your case has to be worth less than $50,000 in order to utilize that option. And if you do utilize that option and you were to win, it is possible that the insurance company could just appeal for a trial de novo and actually take you to a jury trial anyway, thereby defeating the whole point that you wanted to save time and money. However, this is discouraged by the fact that there is some risk for the party that requests the appeal.  If the defendant requests the appeal and they are not awarded at least 30% less than the arbitration award, then they will be responsible for the plaintiff’s expenses with a cap of $6,000. So they can be risky in some circumstances but they can be a great option as well.

#4 Bench Trial

This is like what you see on TV that takes place in the courthouse but does not require a jury.  A bench trial can be a quicker option than a jury trial because time does not have to be taken to choose a jury and instruct them on the legal rules and proceedings of the courtroom.  Also the wait time to get on the schedule is not typically as long as the wait for a jury trial.

Also another benefit of a bench trial over a jury trial would be if there is potentially damaging evidence or irrelevant facts that could sway the jury that may be presented.  For example, testimony could be given in a jury trial that the defendant was a gang member.  This could sway the jury’s decision based on emotions of the jury.  In this type of situation a judge would be more neutral.

In a bench trial, the judge makes the procedural decisions and hears the evidence. He is actually the finder of fact.  Meaning the judge not only rules on the legal issues but he decides what happened in the case and how much the case is worth and gives an award.  Both sides will be allowed to present their case by calling witnesses, showing evidence that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that one party is at fault.

Typically, insurance companies in Utah are not huge fans of bench trials and they actually prefer juries.  This is because juries tend to be pretty defense minded in Utah and fairly conservative in their awards.  Insurance companies would rather take their chances on a jury trial. The good people of Cedar City Utah and St. George Utah generally don’t enjoy suing one another. Our Cedar City Attorneys are able to explain the process in a way that a jury will understand.

#5 Jury Trial

A jury trial is the big deal with all the hoopla. That is type of dispute resolution that takes by far the most time to schedule, prepare for, and to go through.  Often times a jury trial will last multiple days.  The judge rules on procedural and evidentiary issues in the courtroom.  His job is to decide what the jury can and cannot be allowed to see and hear in the case.  He will make decisions as to who can be a witness and what they can testify about as well as what documents or physical evidence can be presented.  This prevents the jury from hearing irrelevant, prejudicial or untrustworthy testimony or evidence in the case that the jury should not hear.   The jury is the finder of fact and so they will decide what happened at the scene of the accident and who is actually at fault and ultimately how much the case is potentially worth.

With any of these options you an appeal a decision from a trial but you have to appeal on a legal issue and go to appellate court and the case will become exponentially even more expensive and more time consuming. So these above resolutions are really, in a sense, final resolutions.

#6  Small claims

In Utah, the justice court is the small claims court.  You can bring a dispute to small claims court as long as the dispute is not for more than $10,000 total that you are disagreeing about.  So if you are involved in say a minor car accident, where you did get hurt, but it’s not a huge case, small claims would be an action that you can consider.  The benefits of small claims over all of the other options are that it is much faster to get to the resolution and it is cheaper to file.  The filing fee for a small claim can be as little as $60 if the claim is for less than $2,000 and as much as $185 if the claim is worth between $7,500 and $10,000.   Small claims cases in some counties in Utah are now automatically referred to mediation.  If that occurs, you will be asked to attend a mediation conference and if a resolution is not reached there, then a trial date will be set.  Your mediation conference is confidential and anything said there cannot be used against you in court.

If mediation was unsuccessful, the wait time is still shorter than a jury trial and you could potentially get on the court’s docket only a few weeks out.  Whereas with a jury trial or a bench trial,  you typically don’t expect to meet before a judge and have a case done for over a year from the time that you filed the lawsuit.  That’s another reason that oftentimes people will opt for mediation and arbitration because you can typically get those done in more like three to nine months rather than potentially a year or more like a jury trial would take.  In a small claims court, a judge decides what happens to the case and will issue an award right there.  They are not as time consuming and a little bit easier to get done and cheaper for the client.  So if you have a smaller case, this is an option you will want to consider.

Summary

In summary, this article has presented the six options that a citizen has when seeking resolution and fair compensation for damages.  These options apply to Utah cases whether the crash occurred in Salt Lake city, St. George, or Cedar City. In order to consider all the costs entailed in that claim, it would be wise to seek legal counsel from a qualified personal injury attorney.  Remember most attorneys provide the initial consultation free of charge and will help you make an informed decision about which legal route you should pursue.  They will likely ask you questions that may cause you to think of expenses and repercussions from injuries sustained in the accident that you may not have considered.  If you hire that attorney, they will work on a contingency basis. This means that you pay nothing for his services until your case is settled. If you are in need of a Cedar City Ut Attorney, give us a call.

Cedar City Utah Attorneys

McMullin Injury Law is in Southern Utah and we are here to help. Give us a call at 435-673-9990. Our primary focus is helping car accident victims in St. George and Cedar City, Utah.

This article and others on this site does not constitute a legal opinion or advice. Interactions on this website do not create an attorney-client relationship and does not serve as a replacement for consulting with an attorney. McMullin Injury Law expressly disclaims all liability relating to actions taken based on contents of this site.

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Local Attorneys: 25 Frequently Asked Questions

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TOP 25 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: ST. GEORGE UTAH INJURY ATTORNEYS

Welcome to the Frequently Asked Questions section of www.stgeorgeutahattorneys.com. At McMullin Injury Law, our attorneys do our best to provide helpful legal information to the Southern Utah community- for free. We get asked tons of questions. Some are completely unique, each case is different. But, oftentimes, these questions repeat themselves. Most questions have multiple answers. Below are our TOP 5 ANSWERS to each of our client’s TOP 25 MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS. Feel free to peruse the content below. As always, if you still have questions, please don’t hesitate to call us. We are happy to get you on the phone with one of our attorneys free of charge. 435-673-9990. Southern Utah has been good to us, and we want to be good to you.

  1. Top 5 Reasons to Hire a Personal Injury Attorney
  2.  Top 5 Ways to Mess Up Your Injury Case
  3. Top 5 Things to Consider Before Settling Your Injury Case
  4. Top 5 Mistakes Made After a Car Accident
  5. 6 Ways to Resolve Your Utah Personal Injury Case
  6. Top 5 Dangers of Driving with Utah State-Minimum Car Insurance
  7. 5 Things Every Driver Should Know About Car Insurance
  8. 6 Tricks to Get Medical Bills Paid After a Car Wreck
  9. Did the Car Accident Really Cause the Injury? 
  10. 4 Ways to Prove Liability in Utah 
  11. Top 5 Reasons People Hire Attorneys

st george personal injury attorneys

McMullin Injury Law is in Southern Utah and we are here to help. Give us a call at 435-673-9990. Our primary focus is helping car accident victims in St. George and Cedar City, Utah.

This article and others on this site do not constitute a legal opinion or advice. Interactions on this website do not create an attorney-client relationship and do not serve as a replacement for consulting with an attorney. McMullin Injury Law expressly disclaims all liability relating to actions taken based on contents of this site. This article is for general education purposes, if you are seeking legal advice, contact an attorney. 

5 common mistakes made after an accident

Top 5 Mistakes Made After a Car Accident

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Top 5 Mistakes made at the scene of an accident

Andrew Spainhower, attorney at McMullin Injury Law, offers 5 helpful tips on how to avoid making crucial mistakes at the scene of a car accident.

This article is  going to focus on possible mistakes that you could  make that can potentially mess up your ability to be compensated after an accident.  The purpose of this article is to help you avoid that as well as increasing your knowledge about basic steps to take after an auto accident.

Obviously, the very first things you do after an accident pertain primarily to safety.  Check on yourself, check on the other passengers in your vehicle, attend to anyone that needs medical attention, attend to the people in the other vehicle and any injuries they may have suffered, call 911 and get ambulances on the way if needed and get people out of harm’s way and into a safe situation.  Remember not to move someone who is unconscious or seems to have head or neck injuries unless there is imminent danger of further hazard to them.  They will need to be moved by a health care professional as soon as they arrive at the accident scene.   It is wise to leave the autos involved in the accident in the position they came to rest at impact until the police arrive.  If the automobiles involved are blocking traffic and are causing serious hazard and you can take pictures before moving them at the scene, you could move the cars to a safer place. However, it is best to leave them as they are if all possible.   Also, never leave the scene of an accident until everyone is attended to and information has been exchanged by the driver’s involved.  Leaving the scene of an accident where someone has been hurt or even worse killed, could result in serious criminal charges.

Those are obviously the emergency response actions that you are going to want to take immediately after an accident and they will take precedence over anything else.  Fortunately, in most auto accidents, the injuries are not very serious. People are often involved in car accidents that result in some pain and or injury, and property damage but fortunately, they are not life and death situations.  In these cases, after the emergency response actions have taken place, some of these secondary actions can become part of the process of handling the accident.  These actions are important because the failure to do them can certainly affect you and the outcome of your personal injury claim.

  1. Failing to Call the Police

So once you have verified the safety of the occupants in the vehicles and gotten your vehicles to a safe place if necessary, the first thing you are going to want to do is notify the police.  You always want a police report created after a car accident especially where there is significant property damage or any type of physical injury. Ask for a police report to be filled out.  An official report tends to lock people in to their story of what happened and people generally tell the truth during those initial statements.  It is advantageous for both parties to have a record of the incident.  The police report also contains pertinent information that you will need from all involved parties as you deal with the paperwork and claim process from the accident in the future.  Other information included in this report will be the responding officer’s name and badge number as well as the address of the location of the accident.  If an officer is not able to respond at the scene of the crash then make sure that you collect personal information such as names, addresses  and phone numbers from all driver’s as well as passengers involved. Remember to remain calm and polite when dealing with everyone at the scene for this will be helpful to everyone.  As you are exchanging driving and insurance information, be careful not to apologize as this could potentially be construed as admitting legal liability and it may not be clear as to who is at fault immediately after the accident.  It would be best to not admit fault unintentionally at this time when emotions are running high. There will be time to tell your full, true account of the accident to your insurance adjuster as well as your attorney.

  1. Speaking with the At-fault Insurance Company

If the first phone call that the other person made was to their own carrier and they want to put you on the phone with their insurance immediately, it’s probably not a good idea. They will have two important questions that they will ask you.  What happened? And is anyone in your car injured?  You need to be wary because you may be in pain, shock or still processing what even happened because it all happened so fast.  Also, they will likely mention that your conversation will be recorded. Insurance claims adjusters are trained in ways of advancing the interests of their company and getting you to say something that will help them and may come back to hurt your case  later. Their main job is to keep costs down and settle the case quickly.  They will be trying to find facts about how the accident occurred, your present injuries, as well as past injuries that can be used to reduce or deny your claim.  They will also be considering a percentage of liability.  It would be possible for  the adjuster to determine that an accident was not 100% their clients responsibility. For example,  a 70/30 liability settlement could be offered.  This would mean that one party is responsible for 70% of the expenses and the other party for 30%.

You are not required to make a statement to them without either speaking with an attorney or your own insurance company.   You can politely state that you will need to speak with your attorney or your own insurance carrier first and then give the other driver your insurance information.   Take the time to seek counsel before you make a recorded statement to the at-fault insurance company.  Many cases have been lost because of that initial statement recorded at the time of the accident.

  1. Failing to Take Photos

Fortunately, with the cell phones that we have today, it is very easy to effectively document a car accident. A photograph can provide crucial evidence for your personal injury case.  If you can safely take photos of the cars in their resting positions after the crash before anything has even moved, that would be ideal.  This will be helpful as far as proving exactly how the accident occurred and the contributing conditions and circumstances surrounding it. These pictures will be your proof as to who the at-fault driver was.  As you take them, consider what images will be necessary to provide a visual of what took place.  What will the adjusters need to see in order to determine which driver was at-fault?  Remember, you cannot take too many photos.

Besides taking pictures of the accident scene, you can use your camera or phone to take photographs of the insurance card of the other driver, as well as his license plate and his driver’s license.  You should definitely take pictures of damage to all cars or property involved in the crash as well as any injuries that are visible on you and the passengers involved in the auto accident.  Remember to take pictures of anything that might help to document the details of your accident such as skid marks, debris, weather conditions, traffic signs, etc. It may even be a possible to record a video of  you speaking with the other driver at the scene of the accident. This would be extremely valuable,  especially If they are admitting that they were at fault for the accident or they are acting incoherent or irrational by saying things that don’t make sense.  It would also be really helpful to record the testimony of any eye witnesses to your accident as well.

It should prove very helpful for your case to have those recordings later should you need them to prove your case.   If it becomes necessary to move your cars before you can take pictures of the impact, it is still important to take pictures of all the factors that you can.  These pictures may still be helpful for the adjusters to determine fault and help your attorney proceed on your case.

  1. Failing to Get Contact Information for Witnesses

With or without a police report, eye witness testimony is what matters most as far as the finder of fact eventually deciding what happened in your accident and who was at fault.  Even if the police decide to site you, if both of the eye-witnesses say something contrary and that the other driver was at fault, you are still likely to win the case.  The police are secondary opinions because they don’t actually watch the accident occur.  They draw some reasonable description based on events that were described to them by eye-witnesses that were there including yourself and the other driver. However, the testimony of yourself and the other driver is often called bias because both of you are describing the events and circumstances of the accident in a way that sounds good and helps yourself.  So a testimony from an eye witness, someone who is neutral and doesn’t know either one of you is the most powerful piece of evidence that you can have in an auto accident case.  So you want to reach out to people before they leave the scene even if they can’t wait to talk to the police.  Get their name and phone number so that you can contact them later and get them to just write down a short description of what occurred.   It may also be helpful to ask locals such as residents or store owners if they have witnessed other accidents in the same place.

  1. Failing to Call a Lawyer for some Free Advice

It’s shocking how many people will get into a car accident and even suffer injuries and then attempt to deal with their insurance problems themselves, only to get fleeced again and again.  If you are in an auto accident, you can seek legal advice about your case from a professional that will help you understand how to move forward in handling your claim in a proactive manner free of charge in most cases.  At our office, we will answer your call and put you on the phone with a licensed attorney in Utah that knows the answers to your questions and has worked on hundreds of auto accident cases and will talk to you for free.  Even if you are unable to come in and sit down in the office and you just need short, quick answers right away, we are willing to do that.

Minor auto accidents with relatively little property damage and no serious injuries can often be handled by the individuals involved and their adjusters in a fair manner.  However, There are several specific instances where hiring legal advice would be highly recommended.  One of those instances would be if you or a passenger in your vehicle was seriously injured.  You want to be sure that the insurance companies give you adequate compensation for your injuries, rehabilitation, missed work and emotional distress.  Another instance would be if there is more that one auto involved in the accident. Also, in multiple car collisions, it can sometimes be difficult to establish liability and an attorney can help you with this.  Speaking with a personal injury attorney would also be recommended is the at-fault insurance company has offered you a settlement amount that is not adequate or they have denied your claim.

The purpose of this article was to help you avoid five common mistakes that are made with auto accident claims.  Keeping these important steps in mind should help you manage your claim process with the best outcome possible.

McMullin Injury Law is in Southern Utah and we are here to help. Give us a call at 435-673-9990. Our primary focus is helping car accident victims in St. George and Cedar City, Utah.

This article and others on this site do not constitute a legal opinion or advice. Interactions on this website do not create an attorney-client relationship and do not serve as a replacement for consulting with an attorney. McMullin Injury Law expressly disclaims all liability relating to actions taken based on contents of this site. This article is for general education purposes, if you are seeking legal advice, contact an attorney.Â