Our Salt Lake City car accident lawyers at Parker & McConkie help people injured in crashes investigate what happened, deal with insurance companies, and pursue compensation for the losses someone else caused.
Whether you were hit during I-15 traffic, at a Salt Lake City intersection, or on another busy Wasatch Front roadway, our attorneys can preserve evidence, evaluate available insurance, document your injuries, and build your claim to fight for the compensation you deserve.
Utah's no-fault insurance system can make the process confusing. Your own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage generally provides initial benefits regardless of who was at fault, while separate rules determine when you can pursue certain damages from the driver who caused the collision.
Our Salt Lake City attorneys offer free consultations, and we handle car accident claims on a contingency fee basis, so you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you.
What Should You Do After a Car Accident in Salt Lake City?
After a Salt Lake City car accident, get to a safe location and, if possible, report the crash when required, seek appropriate medical care, exchange information, photograph the scene and vehicles if you can do so safely, and report the accident to your insurer. Avoid making assumptions about fault or accepting a quick settlement before you understand your injuries.
Evidence gathered immediately after a collision can become important later. Photographs can document vehicle positions, damage, debris, traffic controls, weather, and visibility. Witness contact information can help our attorneys locate people who saw the crash before they become difficult to find.
Medical attention is important for your health and also provides documentation of symptoms following the collision. Some injuries are obvious immediately, while symptoms associated with concussions, soft-tissue injuries, and other conditions can develop or worsen after the initial impact.
If you were injured and have questions about what to do next, our Salt Lake City car accident attorneys can review your circumstances during a free consultation.
Do I Need a Lawyer After a Salt Lake City Car Accident?
While not every collision requires an attorney, you should consider speaking with a car accident lawyer when you suffer significant injuries, fault is disputed, the insurer challenges your medical treatment, multiple vehicles are involved, or your losses may exceed available insurance benefits.
Utah requires at least $3,000 in PIP coverage per person for qualifying medical expenses. PIP can also provide specified benefits for lost income and certain other losses.
PIP does not mean the person who caused the collision escapes responsibility. When Utah's requirements for pursuing additional damages are met, our attorneys can file a claim against the at-fault driver and investigate other applicable insurance coverage options.
Why Choose Our Salt Lake City Car Accident Lawyers?
The attorneys at Parker & McConkie have handled serious motor vehicle accident cases throughout Utah. Our experience includes claims in which the injuries and financial consequences extended far beyond an emergency-room visit and damaged vehicle.
The firm's case results include:
- $9 million in a trucking accident case.
- $8 million in a product liability/auto manufacturer case.
- $2.25 million in a motorcycle accident case.
- $1.85 million in an auto-pedestrian accident case.
- $1.3 million in an auto accident case.
These results cannot predict the value of another person's car accident claim. However, they demonstrate our experience handling substantial motor vehicle injury claims in which liability, damages, insurance, and long-term consequences required careful development.
(Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.)
How Our Attorneys Investigate a Salt Lake City Car Accident
A police report can be useful, but that is not where our investigation ends. When liability is disputed or injuries are serious, our lawyers look beyond the information exchanged at the scene.
Depending on the collision, useful evidence can include surveillance or traffic-camera footage, witness accounts, photographs, vehicle damage, electronic data, cellphone records when obtainable and relevant, and information concerning road or weather conditions.
Vehicle Evidence Can Tell a Different Story Than the Drivers
Modern vehicles can contain information that helps reconstruct a collision. Depending on the vehicle and circumstances, electronic event data recorders may provide information concerning speed, braking, or other inputs shortly before impact.
Physical damage can also help experts evaluate impact location, direction, and crash mechanics. That evidence becomes especially valuable when drivers provide conflicting accounts of a lane change, an intersection collision, or a multi-vehicle crash.
Video May Exist Beyond the Intersection
A crash does not need to occur directly in front of a government traffic camera for useful video to exist. Nearby businesses, parking facilities, residences, dashcams, and other vehicles may capture the collision or a driver's actions immediately beforehand. But privately held footage can be challenging to obtain and overwritten quickly.
When the cause of a serious crash is disputed, early investigation gives our attorneys a better opportunity to identify and preserve evidence before it disappears.
Salt Lake City Roads Can Create Different Types of Car Accident Claims
Localizing a car accident claim requires more than knowing nearby highways. The roadway can affect how the collision happened and what evidence matters.
I-15 and I-80
High speeds, congestion, lane changes, merging traffic, and multiple vehicles can make freeway collisions particularly complex. Crashes around the I-15/I-80 interchange can involve disagreements over merging, following distance, lane position, or which impact began a multi-car sequence.
Vehicle damage, video, witnesses, and electronic information can become important when several drivers or insurers point fingers at one another. I-80 also carries traffic east toward Parleys Canyon, where grade, weather, and changing road conditions can become relevant to a collision.
Bangerter Highway and Major Arterials
Drivers traveling throughout the Salt Lake Valley also encounter high-volume routes such as Bangerter Highway and arterials, including State Street. Intersection crashes frequently raise different evidence questions than freeway accidents. Traffic-signal sequencing, turn lanes, right-of-way, sight lines, and nearby surveillance footage may help establish whether someone ran a light, failed to yield, or made an unsafe turn.
Winter conditions can complicate either type of case. Snow or ice does not automatically excuse a collision. Drivers are still expected to operate appropriately for existing conditions.
How Does Utah's No-Fault PIP System Work?
Utah requires qualifying automobile policies to provide Personal Injury Protection benefits. Minimum PIP coverage includes at least $3,000 per person for qualifying necessary medical expenses, regardless of who caused the accident.
Utah law also provides specified PIP benefits for lost income when an injury prevents someone from working, subject to statutory limits and conditions. This first-party coverage is one reason Utah is described as a no-fault state. But "no-fault" does not mean fault is irrelevant to the entire case.
When Can You Pursue the At-Fault Driver?
Utah Code § 31A-22-309 limits when a person subject to PIP requirements can pursue general damages arising from an automobile accident. The statutory threshold can be satisfied by qualifying injuries such as death, dismemberment, permanent disability or impairment based on objective findings, permanent disfigurement, a bone fracture, or medical expenses exceeding $3,000.
This is different from saying PIP simply pays the first $3,000, and the other driver's insurer automatically becomes responsible for everything after that. Our attorneys examine the applicable coverage, medical evidence, and statutory threshold to determine what claims and damages can be pursued.
What Compensation Can You Recover After a Salt Lake City Car Accident?
The value of your car accident claim depends on your injuries, financial losses, the available insurance coverage, liability evidence, and how the collision affects your future.
| Effect of the Crash | Losses a Claim May Address |
| Medical treatment | Emergency care, surgery, rehabilitation, medication, and future treatment |
| Time away from work | Lost wages and other qualifying income losses |
| Long-term work limitations | Reduced earning capacity when injuries affect future employment |
| Physical and personal consequences | Pain, disability, scarring, emotional effects, and diminished quality of life |
| Vehicle and property losses | Qualifying repair or replacement expenses |
Serious claims should be based on more than the bills already received. If doctors anticipate surgery, continuing rehabilitation, permanent restrictions, or other future consequences, those losses are an important part of the claim.
What If the Other Driver's Insurance Is Not Enough?
For Utah automobile liability policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, the Utah statutory minimum limits generally include $30,000 for bodily injury or death to one person, $65,000 for bodily injury or death to two or more people in one accident, and $25,000 for property damage, subject to the statute's provisions.
A $30,000 bodily injury policy can be exhausted quickly when hospitalization, surgery, or other serious injury expenses are involved. Our attorneys do not stop the insurance investigation after identifying the at-fault driver's liability policy.
Depending on the circumstances, we may examine applicable uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, additional responsible parties, employer coverage when a driver was working, or other potential sources of recovery.
We help everyday people stand up for What's Right.
The Insurer Can Accept Fault and Still Try to Undervalue Your Case
Clear liability does not necessarily produce a fair settlement. An insurer might concede that its driver was at fault, but argue that your injuries should have healed sooner. It might claim a herniated disc existed before the collision, challenge the necessity of treatment, dispute time away from work, or question whether future care is likely.
Property damage is another common battleground. An insurer may point to modest-looking vehicle damage as a reason to question the extent of your injuries, even though the medical claim ultimately depends on evidence concerning the accident victim, not simply photographs of the bumper.
Our attorneys gather medical records, diagnostic evidence, employment information, and other documentation needed to connect the collision to its actual consequences. Before accepting an offer that would permanently resolve your injury claim, our team can help you evaluate whether it accounts for both your current and reasonably anticipated future losses.
What If Several Drivers Caused the Crash?
Multi-vehicle collisions often involve more than one negligent driver. One driver might make an unsafe lane change, causing another vehicle to brake abruptly, before a third driver follows too closely, causing an additional impact. Determining responsibility requires reconstructing the sequence rather than automatically blaming the vehicle that made the final contact.
When more than one party may be at fault, Utah Code § 78B-5-818 addresses comparative fault. Compensation can be reduced by the percentage of fault allocated to the injured person, and recovery is barred when the claimant's fault reaches 50% or more relative to the fault allocated to applicable defendants.
Because fault allocation affects recovery, insurers have an incentive to shift blame back onto the accident victim to reduce the amount they will pay. Our attorneys use physical evidence, witness accounts, video, vehicle information, and other available evidence to challenge blame-shifting arguments that are not supported by the facts.
How Long Do You Have to File a Salt Lake City Car Accident Lawsuit?
Utah’s statute of limitations generally provides four years to file most negligence-based personal injury lawsuits under Utah Code § 78B-2-307. Different rules can apply when the case involves a government entity or another claim subject to a special deadline. A collision involving a government-owned vehicle, for example, can trigger notice requirements under the Utah Governmental Immunity Act well before the ordinary four-year period expires.
The statute of limitations also should not be confused with the practical deadline for starting an investigation and gathering evidence. Video footage can disappear within weeks. Vehicles are repaired or sold. Witnesses become harder to find, and memories fade. This is why our lawyers begin evidence preservation as soon as possible and long before a lawsuit must be filed.
Frequently Asked Questions About Salt Lake City Car Accidents
Should I give the other driver's insurer a recorded statement?
You should be cautious. The insurer may ask questions about the collision, your medical history, symptoms, and recovery, and those answers can later become evidence in the claim. After you partner with our attorneys, we can handle communications with the liability insurer and advise you about statements or information requests.
Can I recover compensation if I had back or neck problems before the crash?
A pre-existing condition does not automatically prevent a claim. The important question is whether the collision caused a new injury or aggravated your previous condition. Prior and post-accident medical records can help establish what changed.
Can a passenger bring a claim after a Salt Lake City car accident?
Potentially. An injured passenger may have a claim against the driver who caused the crash, and, depending on the facts, more than one driver could share responsibility. Applicable PIP and other insurance coverage should also be evaluated.
What happens after a hit-and-run accident?
Report the collision promptly and preserve whatever information you have about the fleeing vehicle. Police investigation, witnesses, surveillance footage, or vehicle debris may help identify the driver. If the driver cannot be identified or lacks coverage, your own uninsured motorist coverage may become important.
How long will my Salt Lake City car accident case take?
There is no standard timeline. The duration depends on factors such as the severity of your injuries, how long medical treatment continues, whether fault is disputed, available insurance, and whether litigation becomes necessary. Resolving a serious claim too early can be risky when your long-term medical outcome is still uncertain.
Talk With Our Salt Lake City Car Accident Lawyers Today
After a serious collision, you should be able to focus on your medical recovery rather than trying to determine which insurer should pay, whether you have crossed Utah's injury threshold, or whether an adjuster's offer reflects your future losses.
Our Salt Lake City car accident lawyers can investigate the crash, preserve evidence, handle insurance communications, identify available coverage, document your damages, and pursue a fair resolution. When an insurer refuses to resolve a valid claim fairly, our attorneys can take the case to trial.
Consultations are free, and you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you.
Call our Salt Lake City office at (801) 845-0440 or contact us online to discuss your accident with a Salt Lake City car accident attorney.
Our office is located at 466 S. 500 E., Suite 100, Salt Lake City, UT 84102.