If you’ve been involved in a tractor trailer or commercial truck accident in Utah, you may feel overwhelmed by the steps needed to make a claim for your injuries, medical bills and other “incidental” damages. One thing you definitely need to keep an eye on is Utah’s statute of limitations for bringing a claim. The statute of limitations defines how much time you have to file your lawsuit. Missing this deadline will usually be fatal to your truck accident case and keep you from being able to get justice for the wrong that occurred and getting fully and fairly compensated for your harms and losses. This blog will explore the details of why staying within Utah’s statute of limitations is so important to the success of your case.
What Is the Statute of Limitations?
The statute of limitations is a law that sets how much time you have to make a legal claim under the law. There are statutes of limitations for all sorts of legal claims, such as making a breach of contract claim, sexual assault, products liability (2 years), wrongful death claim (2 years) and more. Utah’s statute for bringing general negligence claims against a Utah resident or company are relatively long at 4 years. Most other states cap it at 2 years. These statute of limitations laws exist to make sure claims are made within a certain time period and the claims don’t grow too stale. Practically speaking, the limitations period encourages more prompt resolution of your legal case before the trail goes cold, witnesses disappear and evidence is lost. Many cases get worse with time because of gradually-disappearing evidence. Plus, in my experience, my clients would rather resolve their case sooner rather than later.
Why Is the Statute of Limitations So Important?
Not filing your case by the statute of limitations deadline will usually prevent you from being able to get money for your commercial case. In other words, if you try filing after the deadline, the court will likely dismiss your case under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure. It’s a harsh penalty, so you’ll want to make sure the deadline is calendared so you don’t miss it! And even if you never planned on filing your claim in court, don’t plan on being able to negotiate with the insurance company after the statute of limitations expires. Insurance companies will tell you they no longer have any legal obligation to pay on a case that may have been in the process of negotiation when it expired. Absent proving fraudulent concealment or trickery on the part of the wrongdoer or insurance company, you will probably be at the end of the road when that statute expires without a complaint being filed.
Calculating the Statute of Limitations in Truck Accident Cases
- Identify the correct date of the accident. Make sure you get this right as being off on this could destroy your claim. Get a copy of the police report (you did call the police, didn’t you?) and make sure the date matches your records. The police report can usually be depended on to have the correct date on it. If you didn’t call the police, look at other documentation to confirm the date, such as an emergency room record. The statute of limitations clock will start running from the date the crash occurs and will expire four years later. For example, if the wreck happened on October 10, 2024, you have until October 9 to file. (Play it safe and give yourself an extra day!)
- Are there any unique circumstances in your case? There are certain things that will give you extra time, or will “toll” or pause the statute of limitations. Tolling can apply if
- The injured person is under the age of 18, or is a minor, or has been declared legally incapacitated;
- There has been fraud or concealment to hide the ball from who may actually be responsible. One example of this is Amazon who has a policy of blaming the local last-mile courier even though they’re the ones who encouraged these independent contractor drivers to get their routes handled as quickly as possible.
- Keep a record of all relevant dates. Along with the date of the crash, keep track of other important dates in your case, such as dates of medical treatment or complaints of injuries.
Why You Should Act Quickly After a Truck Accident
Don’t be misled in thinking you can wait years to file your claim just because Utah has a 4-year statute of limitations. Waiting longer will usually mean your case will start to spoil on the vine. Here’s why it’s important to move quickly:
- Preserving evidence. Crucial evidence will fade or disappear over time. For example, skid marks on the road, debris from the wreck and road conditions will change and disappear. Witnesses’ memories will fade, assuming you can still locate them, and other critical data from the truck’s black box recorder can be erased, be destroyed, or overwritten if you don’t act quickly to preserve this evidence.
- Medical documentation. It’s crucial to get treatment, not just to treat your injuries but to prove up that you were actually injured! If you’re not getting the proper or appropriate medical treatment, you’re selling yourself short. The medical file must show a strong correlation between the crash and your injuries. It needs to match up and you need to get the injuries diagnosed and hopefully treated. And you want to do this early so you don’t have “gaps” in treatment that the crafty insurance company will give you grief over.
- Identify available insurance. A key component to all cases that we work up is “collectability,” or the ability to actually get paid on your claim. Trucking companies can close down and insurance companies can go out of business. You (or your attorney) need to reach out promptly to lock down your claim and make sure it’s filed with the insurance company. The money that will pay your claim will generally come from the insurance company, NOT from the company truck that hit you.
Important Exceptions to the Four-Year Statute of Limitations
Even though Utah’s 4-year statute of limitations will usually apply to your case, there are other important exceptions to this general rule that you need to be aware of:
- Government claims. Utah, like most states, has rules on bringing claims against a government agency. That agency could be the police department that controlled the police truck that rear-ended you, it could be UTA that controlled the bus that slid on an icy road into you, it could be the University of Utah MRI tractor trailer that cut you off on the I-15. Be aware that if the truck or commercial vehicle was government owned, your time for filing will be only 1 year. In addition, you will have to process your claim a certain way in order for it to be accepted. This is definitely an area where expert legal advice will come in handy.
- Wrongful death claims. If a loved one passed away due to the negligence of a truck driver, the statute of limitations is reduced to two years. The clock starts ticking at the time of death, so if the deceased passed days or weeks after the accident, you look at the time of death, not the accident date.
Steps to Take to Protect Your Right to File a Claim
Some steps you can take to help protect your case from a statute of limitations expiring include:
- Get medical attention right away. The sooner you get medical treatment the better. If you could take an ambulance to the emergency room, you should. If that wasn’t you, the next best treatment is the treatment that happens today or as soon as possible. This is important not just to help get you back to your medical baseline but to create a medical record linking your personal injuries to the wreck. Delayed treatment will be flagged by the trucker’s insurance company and they’ll call it a “gap in treatment.” Delayed treatment will be ammunition for the insurance company to argue your case is not significant or caused by the crash. Don’t let that happen to you.
- Consult a truck accident lawyer early. When you consult an experienced truck accident attorney early, they can get started on your case right away and start to lock down the important evidence in the case. They’ll send letters asking the company to preserve their records, the black box data from the commercial vehicle, driver logs, maintenance records, driver testimony, personnel files, etc. There’s a lot that needs to be collected in a trucking case to maximize your recovery. The trucking company would love for you to wait years to bring a claim as this will usually mean it’ll be a weak claim without a lot of evidence to back it up. Hiring a truck wreck lawyer early will also lower your stress level as you won’t have to be worried you’re messing up your case. Most truck accident lawyers offer a free consultation, so there’s no money out of pocket to see if you have a case.
- Document everything. Make sure you keep and protect all evidence related to the case, from doctor notes or bills to police documentation and insurance communication you may have received. Keep track of when you go to the doctor or go in for therapy. This will help your lawyer later on when they review and start to build your case (assuming you hire a lawyer).
Final Thoughts: Don’t Let Your Case Slip Through Your Fingers
The statute of limitations can work for you or against you. In Utah, the generous four-year statute of limitations can give victims the time they need to make their claims against trucking companies and their insurance companies. Wait too long though, and the statue will cut you off from making your claim. If you or a loved one have been involved in a truck accident in Utah, do yourself a favor and collect evidence, get medical treatment and talk to a lawyer. Acting quickly can make all the difference in world between full and fair justice and walking away with nothing.
