You are driving home from work on Interstate 15 (I-15), you are driving at a normal speed, but you suddenly see a slowdown of traffic, so you begin to hit the brakes on your car to slow down. Unfortunately, the driver right behind you must answer his girlfriend’s text about what type of food they should go out for next weekend. The driver behind you is focused on his phone, and not the traffic, therefore by the time he finds out he needs to brake and slow down, he has rear ended your car badly and potentially caused injuries to you.
Before you are able to file a lawsuit after an automobile accident in Utah, the injured party must have incurred at least $3,000.00 in medical expenses or met a threshold of a permanent disability or injury. This is because Utah is a no-fault insurance state. In a nutshell, this means that when you are involved in an automobile accident you must turn to your own insurance coverage first, filing as a “first-party” claim. By Utah law, the insurance must pay at least $3,000 in Personal Injury Protection, short-handed as PIP. This is irrespective of who is at fault. If it is a minor accident, that could well be the end of the process.
For you, this was not the end of the process. Your car was totaled, you injured your back and glass fell in your right eye. Your medical bills exceed $60,000, and you have been unable to work for several months. This means you have easily met the threshold to file a lawsuit after an automobile accident in Utah.You would like to seek an attorney to help you resolve your claim. You have been out of work and incurred large medical bills. You are thinking to yourself, “How could I afford attorney’s fees?” This is where contingency fee’s come in. In many cases, attorney’s bill by the hour, with fees often exceed $400.00 per hour of attorney work time. However, in personal injury and workman’s compensation claims, attorney’s often have contingency agreements.Contingency fee agreements allow the client to hire an attorney with little to no upfront cost, and the attorney will only get paid upon a successful settlement of your claim. Typically contingency fee agreements require a percentage between 33.3% to 40.0% of the recovery to be paid to the attorney along with other costs involved with the lawsuit, such as filing fees, medical record fees, etc.
