Hit-and-Run Accident Lawyer Utah
Table of Contents
A driver who hits you and takes off doesn’t take your claim with them. If police find the driver, their insurance pays. If they don’t, your own uninsured motorist coverage usually steps in.
Either way, the insurer will want proof, and proof starts with a police report. So ask the officer for the report number before you leave the scene.
Your insurance policy may also set a deadline for telling them about the crash. If the car is still in sight, note what you can, such as a partial plate, a color, and a dent.
At Cockayne Law, our hit-and-run accident attorneys work out which coverage applies and go after it.
Call For a Free Consultation: (801) 268-2491
What Should You Do After a Hit-and-Run Accident in Utah?
Getting injured in a hit-and-run accident leaves you helpless. If you’re seriously injured, you can’t chase the driver to hold them responsible for your losses. But don’t panic or put yourself in more danger. Here are some post-accident steps that you can take immediately.
Get to Safety and Seek Medical Attention
Go to a safe place even if your car still runs. Check yourself even if you feel perfectly fine, as some injuries show up days later.
Report the Hit-and-Run to Police
Once you feel stable, call 911 or the police to report the accident. Have an officer come to the scene. Describe the scene and the direction the car went, and get a report number before you leave the scene.
Document the Accident Scene
Take photographs of your car, debris, and skid marks. Write down what happened while it was fresh.
Look for Witnesses and Surveillance Cameras
Collect the names and phone numbers from any witnesses who saw it. Check traffic poles and nearby shops for cameras. Security footage is often overwritten within days, so ask the owner to save the video.
Record the Hit-and-Run Driver and Vehicle Details
Write down the color, make, and any damage, and any part of the plate, even one letter. Note the direction it was headed.
Notify Your Insurance Company
Call the insurer and stick to the facts. Don’t guess about fault. Your own policy will cover the medical bills, and uninsured motorist coverage applies when the driver is not found.
Who Pays for a Hit-and-Run Accident in Utah?
It completely depends on whether the driver is found or not and what insurance they carry. Utah is a no-fault state. So your personal injury protection PIP pays first for your medical bills regardless of fault. Below is the situation apply after that.
If the Hit-and-Run Driver Is Never Found
Your main source of payment is your own uninsured motorist coverage. Insurers generally treat unidentified drivers as uninsured. You need UM coverage on your policy, and the insurer will want a report.
If the Driver Is Found and Has Insurance
If the driver is found, their liability coverage pays your injuries and damages up to their policy limit. You must have medical records, a police report, and footage ready before the first call.
If the Driver Is Found but Has No Insurance
If the found driver has no insurance, your UM coverage steps in. similar to as the driver had never been found. You can pursue the driver personally, but there is rarely much money to collect.
If the Driver Does Not Have Enough Insurance
If their limits don’t cover your bills, your uninsured motorist coverage will fill part of the gap after you collect from their policy.
Does Uninsured Motorist Insurance Cover a Hit-and-Run in Utah?
Yes, most UM policies treat hit-and-run as uninsured, since there is no policy to claim against. UM can pay for your lost income, medical bills, and pain and suffering up to your policy limit.
Utah law generally requires insurers to make uninsured-motorist coverage available, and a named insured may reject the coverage in writing as permitted by statute.
What If You Do Not Know Who Hit You?
You can still make a UM claim. The insurer demands more proof that the crash happened the way you say it did. That means the photos, witness names, police reports, and medical records.
Report the crash quickly because the more you delay, the more reasons your insurer will find to question your claims. Some policies have their own requirements for unidentified drivers. So read yours or have a lawyer review it.
What Evidence Can Help Identify a Hit-and-Run Driver?
For these types of cases, police start by chasing small clues. Big clues rarely come into view. So anything you can collect and point them to is worth it.
Dashcam and Traffic Camera Footage
Check your dashcam and ask any other drivers who stopped to check theirs. Also check all the traffic lights and red light cameras near the crash. There is a good chance they caught the car too. Ask the police to request or check the footage, since agencies often keep it only briefly.
Witness Statements
Witnesses can be some of the most important sources in a hit-and-run claim. These are the people who may remember the color, the direction the car headed, or part of the plate. Get the numbers and names of the witnesses at the scene, because people forget the details fast and are hard to find.
Partial License Plate Information
Even a few characters can help. Police can combine a partial plate with a car’s color to narrow the list of vehicles. Write down whatever you saw, even if you are unsure.
Vehicle Damage and Physical Evidence
Look at your car for paint transfer, and look at the road for broken headlights and bits of bumper. These can point to a specific make and model. Take photos before traffic runs over them or someone sweeps them up, and show the officer what you found.
Surveillance and Security Footage
Gas stations, apartments, buildings, and even private homes along the driver’s likely route may have the car on video. Most of it gets overwritten within days. That’s why our firm sends a preservation request right away.
What Compensation Can You Recover After a Utah Hit-and-Run?
You can seek money for both what you have lost and the way the crash has affected your life. So what you actually collect completely depends on who is paying. Whether that’s the driver’s insurance or your own uninsured motorist coverage, and on the policy limit.
Medical Expenses
Medical expenses include ambulance rides, ER visits, medication, hospital stays, and therapy. Your PIP coverage pays the first portion of your medical bills. The rest can be claimed from the driver’s insurance or your UM coverage. Keep every record and bill.
Lost Wages and Lost Earning Capacity
If the injuries kept you off work, you can claim the pay you missed. If injury limits what you can do for work going forward. You can also claim the loss of future earning power. Pay stubs and a note from your doctor go a long way here.
Property Damage
The cost of repairing your car or its value is covered, along with things that were damaged inside it, like a phone, a car seat, a laptop, or anything else. Photos and repair estimates back this up.
Pain and Suffering
This is a payment for physical pain, trouble sleeping, stress, and not being able to do what you used to do. There is no bill for it, so it is usually the hardest piece to put a number on and the one insurers push back on.
Future Medical and Related Expenses
Some injuries keep costing money long after the claim starts. That can mean more home care, physical therapy, more surgeries, or medical equipment. A doctor’s opinion on what you likely need is what supports this part of the claim.
Call For a Free Consultation: (801) 268-2491
How Much Is a Utah Hit-and-Run Accident Claim Worth?
We can’t put a number on your claim without seeing your records, and no honest lawyer will. A sprained ankle and a spinal injury are both hit-and-run claims, and they are worth very different amounts.
What counts most is how badly you were hurt and how long your recovery takes. Surgery, months of therapy, and a job you can’t go back to at all push the number up. A missed paycheck gets added in.
Then there’s something people don’t expect. A claim can be worth a lot on paper and still pay less because the money has to come from somewhere. That’s either the other driver’s policy or your own motorist coverage, and both stop at their limits.
Part of our job is to find every source of coverage that applies to you. If you want a realistic idea of what your case could be worth, call us for a free consultation.
What Affects the Value of a Utah Hit-and-Run Claim?
Factor | Why it matters |
Severity of injuries | More serious injuries can result in greater damages. |
Medical treatment | The type and duration of treatment can affect the value of a claim. |
Lost income | Time away from work can increase economic damages. |
Future care | Long-term treatment or ongoing medical needs can increase potential damages. |
Insurance limits | Available coverage can limit how much compensation can be recovered. |
Fault | Comparative fault can reduce the amount you recover. |
Evidence | Strong evidence can make it easier to establish what happened and support the claim. |
What If You Were Partily at Fault for the Accident?
You can still have a claim. Utah lets you recover compensation as long as you were less at fault than the other driver, but your payments get reduced by your share of the blame. If a jury finds you 20% at fault, you get 20% less.
Hit-and-run cases make this tricky. The other driver is not around to tell their side, so the insurer may point at anything you did, like speeding, drifting out of your lane, or looking at your phone.
Don’t guess about fault when you talk to an adjuster, and don’t admit to anything. If you think you may share some of the blame, talk to us before you give a recorded statement.
How Long Do You Have to File a Hit-and-Run Injury Claim in Utah?
The deadline for a Utah hit-and-run claim depends on the type of claim. A personal-injury lawsuit may be subject to a four-year limitations period, while wrongful-death claims can have a different deadline. Your insurance policy may also impose separate notice or claim requirements.
Don’t wait anywhere near that long, though. The lawsuit deadline is the only clock running. Your insurance policy may require you to report the crash and file a claim within a set time.
A late report gives the insurer a reason to push back. Evidence also disappears fast. Camera footage gets erased in days, and witnesses forget. The sooner we start, the better the odds of finding the driver.
When Should You Hire a Utah Hit-and-Run Accident Lawyer?
As soon as you can, and ideally before you speak with the insurance company, a recorded statement. Early on, a lawyer can send preservation requests for camera footage, work with police on finding the driver, and review your policy to see what coverage you have.
Call us if you were seriously hurt, if the driver has not been found, or if the driver has been found but has little or no insurance. The same goes if an insurer is questioning your story or offering a quick settlement that doesn’t cover your bills.
FAQs
You don’t need to write us a check to get started. We work on contingency, so our fee is a percentage of what we recover for you. If we don’t recover anything, you don’t owe us a fee. The exact percentage and how case costs are handled are spelled out in your written agreement, and we’ll go through it with you before you sign. Call us for a free consultation and ask whatever you want.
Yes, drivers are required to stop, give their information, and help anyone who’s hurt. If a driver takes off after hurting someone, they face criminal charges and a felony if the injuries are serious or someone dies. That’s the state’s case, though. Your claim for compensation doesn’t depend on whether the driver gets charged or convicted.
That’s really common. You’re full of adrenaline at the scene, and the neck pain and headache don’t show until the next day or the day after. Get seen as soon as you notice something and tell the doctor about the crash. You can still make a claim, but if you wait a few weeks, the insurance company will say you got hurt some other way.
It depends on how bad the injuries are. If you healed up fast and the coverage is clear, it can be done in a few months. If you are hurt badly or the driver is still out there, or the insurer is still fighting you, it goes longer. We won’t push you to settle while you are still recovering. Once you take the money, you can’t go back and ask for more.
If the driver was working when the crash occurred, the driver’s employer may also be liable depending on the circumstances and the driver’s relationship with the company. Did you see a logo on the door, a company name, or a uniform? Tell the police and tell us. Even a small detail like that can lead to another source of payment.
Injured in a Utah Hit-and-Run?
The driver left, but you still have options. Contact us, and we’ll go over what happened, check what coverage you have, and tell you where your claim stands. The first conversation is free, and you don’t owe us anything unless we recover money for you.
Call us today or fill out the form for a free consultation.
[Legal Disclaimer]
This page provides general information about hit and run injury accident claims in Utah, including Logan, West Jordan, Sandy, Provo, Magna, Layton, St. George, Millcreek, Orem, Herriman, Salt Lake City, American Fork, Ogden, Midvale, Saratoga Springs, West Valley City, Draper, Spanish Fork, South Jordan, Eagle Mountain, Holladay, Lehi, Murray, Taylorsville, Cottonwood Heights, and the Rose Park neighborhood of Salt Lake City. This content is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. Every hit and run injury accident case is unique. Consult a qualified Utah attorney for advice about your specific situation.
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