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If you’re a Utah motorcyclist who has been injured in a crash, you can file a motorcycle accident claim to seek out financial compensation for your losses. Your decision to ride without a helmet doesn’t take away that right.

Given the circumstances, however, recovering the amount of money to which you are legally entitled may be a challenge on your own. To understand why, take a look at the following.

Motorcycle injury lawyer Utah

Utah’s Motorcycle Helmet Laws

Riding without a helmet is permitted for some motorcyclists in Utah. Helmet use is only mandated for those under the age of 21.

In addition, the Utah motorcycle helmet statute maintains that the choice to not wear protective headgear isn’t considered to be contributory or comparative negligence on the part of a motorcyclist seeking damages. The law also asserts that the failure to wear a helmet isn’t valid evidence in a civil case.

All of the above seems to suggest that helmet use won’t be a factor in a Utah motorcycle accident claim. However, the situation isn’t really that simple.

Why Injured Motorcyclists May Need a Motorcycle Accident Attorney

Insurance adjusters know that only motorcyclists under the age of 21 are required to wear a helmet in Utah. They are also well aware that they aren’t legally allowed to use failure to wear protective headgear against a rider in an accident claim. Despite this, injured motorcyclists typically receive low settlement offers.

Why is this? Motorcyclists are less likely to win large verdicts in court, as many people have the false impression that riders are less careful than drivers of passenger cars and other vehicles. Most motorcycle accident claims don’t end up going to court, but insurance adjusters know about the stigma against motorcyclists and are therefore comfortable in offering smaller settlements.

A skilled motorcycle accident attorney can negotiate a fair settlement or, if necessary, bring the case to court. And since most Utah lawyers who specialize in this area of the law work on a contingency fee basis – providing legal representation at no upfront cost – accident attorneys fight hard to get their clients the maximum in financial compensation.

Turn to the Legal Team at William R. Rawlings & Associates

At William R. Rawlings & Associates, we offer full-service legal counsel to injured motorcyclists in Utah, Idaho and California. Our clients benefit from our 35 years of experience, and we’re proud to have a long history of successful case results.

As former insurance adjusters and insurance lawyers, we understand the tactics they use in cases involving riders not wearing helmets – and we’re ready to make the most of your motorcycle accident claim. To learn more about our law firm, or to schedule a free consultation with an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer in Utah, contact us today.

If you're filing a motorcycle accident lawsuit, any misstep you make could have serious consequences on the outcome. Even a small mistake could damage your credibility, reducing the amount of compensation awarded or causing your case to be dismissed.

Fortunately, by working with an experienced personal injury attorney, you can avoid blunders during the legal process. To help, we're sharing some of the ways you could inadvertently derail your case.

Motorcycle accident attorney in Utah

Discussing Your Injuries or the Lawsuit

You should provide your personal injury attorney with all of the details relevant to your case. They need that information to boost your chances of obtaining the maximum amount of compensation in your motorcycle accident lawsuit.

To be on the safe side, however, don't talk about your case with anyone other than your lawyer. Speaking with others about your injuries or discussing the lawsuit with someone else could end up costing you.

Posting on Social Media Networks

Investigators and attorneys working for the insurance company will use whatever strategies they can to make you seem less credible and to limit the amount of compensation you receive. This includes searching your social media accounts for information.

Posting on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or any other network after your motorcycle accident can be a mistake. Even pictures and posts that have nothing to do with your case could be used against you, so you may want to stay away from social media until your lawsuit is resolved.

Not Complying with Medical Advice

Personal injury attorneys recommend that anyone injured in a motorcycle accident seek medical treatment immediately. Seeing a doctor right away is important, but following their advice is just as crucial.

If you fail to attend your follow-up appointments or don't comply with your doctor's recommendations on treatment, others may question whether or not your injuries really warrant compensation. As such, not getting the necessary medical care could seriously impact the outcome of your motorcycle accident lawsuit.

Have You Been Injured in a Motorcycle Accident?

Finding a personal injury attorney you can trust is one of the first steps to ensuring you're fairly compensated for the injuries you sustained. In Utah, California and Idaho, the legal team at William R. Rawlings & Associates has over 35 years of experience helping injured victims – and you can count on us to fight for every dollar you deserve.

We'll put all of our efforts into maximizing your compensation, and we won't charge you a dime if we don't win your motorcycle accident lawsuit. For a free personal injury attorney consultation, contact William R. Rawlings & Associates online or give us a call today.

If you’ve been involved in a vehicle accident where you believe another party was at fault, there are multiple types of damages you could be seeking. These could be to pay for medical bills and other results of your pain and suffering, they could relate to emotional distress, or they might speak to paying for repairs to damage to your vehicle.

At the offices of William Rawlings & Associates, our auto accident injury attorneys are here to help you get your just compensation if this has happened to you. We’ll help you understand all the ins and outs of a car accident case, including vital information on how repairs will be covered and handled depending on the fault in the case. Here are some basics you might need to know about this area moving forward.

vehicle repairs accident liability cases

No-Fault Insurance and Collision Coverage

For starters, it’s important to know that Utah is a no-fault state when it comes to auto accidents and resulting damages. This means that your own vehicle insurance covers your economic damages all the way up to its policy limits – in cases where you believe someone else is at fault, however, you file a lawsuit against that driver.

Because there is not necessarily a guarantee of winning such a lawsuit, however, we highly recommend purchasing collision coverage in addition to your own basic car insurance policy. In situations where your claim is not successful, your basic no-fault insurance does not apply to vehicle damages, rather only to economic ones.

If you do not have collision insurance in this case, you could be on the hook for the entire cost of the repairs. And on the flip side, if you happen to be at fault in an accident at any point, collision coverage will also pay for your repairs in this case.

At-Fault Drivers and Liability

In cases where fault can be proven in another party, the at-fault driver will be responsible for paying for the repairs of any innocent party’s vehicle. This is generally done using the insurance of the at-fault driver, which can range up the policy limits. If this policy comes up short, a claim will be filed against the driver’s insurance company to help cover the difference.

Total Loss Situations

If the estimate for repairs needed on your damaged vehicle exceeds the Blue Book value of the vehicle itself, it’s likely the vehicle will be declared a total loss. In these cases, rather than insurance covering repairs, it will pay you out the Blue Book value on your vehicle from the time of the accident.

For more on how to handle vehicle repairs in auto accident liability cases, or to learn about any of our personal injury attorney services, speak to the staff at William Rawlings & Associates today.

At the offices of William Rawlings & Associates LLC, one of the most common needs for our attorney services is in the realm of car and truck accidents. Sadly, there are tens of thousands of vehicle accidents, injuries and even deaths per year, many of which are caused by negligence or other factors that necessitate a personal injury claim.

One area here that’s on a major rise over the last several years is incidents that take place involving a ride-sharing company such as Uber or Lyft. More and more Americans are utilizing these services every year, but the legal field is still catching up in terms of liability when accidents take place involving ride-sharing drivers. Let’s go over some basic numbers here, the role insurance plays and the limited likelihood of successfully bringing suit against these companies directly.

liability ride-sharing vehicle accidents

Ride-Sharing Usage and Increasing Accident Deaths

While there is not necessarily direct proof to link these two trends, traffic incidents and fatalities have gone up over the last few years – at a similar rate to the increase in ride-sharing services, per several area of research. This has led some to speculate that more ride-sharing drivers are clogging the roads and helping contribute to a greater number of traffic incidents. And whether or not this is the case, the fact remains that many people utilize these services and need to be prepared in case an incident takes place during such a ride.

Which Insurance Applies?

In cases where you’re injured as the passenger of a ride-sharing service and your driver is at fault, the insurance coverage of the individual driver is the first place to check. If this person has a commercial insurance policy or a personal policy that includes a ride-sharing provision, you’ll be covered. The problem: Most Uber and Lyft drivers do not have this kind of insurance.

Luckily, Uber and Lyft carry third-party liability insurance coverage up to $1 million for personal and property injuries. These kick in after the driver’s own policy is used up, if applicable, so you’re covered in these cases regardless.

What about situations where your driver is not at fault and the incident was caused by another motorist? In these circumstances, you’d seek coverage from the at-fault driver’s insurance via an insurance claim or a personal injury lawsuit. In rare cases where this third party does not have car insurance that will cover your injuries, ride-sharing companies also offer a $1 million policy for uninsured or underinsured cases.

Suits Against Ride-Sharing Companies

Uber and Lyft list their drivers as independent contractors, not employees, in large part so they don’t have to be legally responsible for driver negligence. For this reason, it’s generally very difficult to bring and win a personal injury suit directly against these companies. While you’ll generally be able to take advantage of their $1 million policies for negligence issues, suing them directly usually isn’t a viable option.

For more on who is responsible for damages in a ride-sharing vehicle accident, or to learn about any of our auto accident attorney services, speak to the staff at the offices of William Rawlings & Associates LLC today.

For those who ride motorcycles as a primary form of transportation, safety is vital. Motorcycle riders are eight times more likely to be injured in an accident than passengers in a vehicle, and these injuries are often severe due to limited protection for those riding them.

At the Law Offices of William Rawlings & Associates, LLC, we’re here to help if you have a motorcycle accident injury and believe you may have a case for damages against a liable party. Unfortunately, there are a few strange misconceptions out there that may impact the way your case goes – let’s clear these up and look at some common statistics and case values for motorcycle accidents, plus how you can get your just compensation.

just compensation motorcycle accidents

Motorcycle Injury Statistics

There are a high number of motorcycle accidents in the United States each year, and while precise figures vary based on the source, there’s no question that over 5,000 drivers die each year due to motorcycle collisions. Nearly another 90,000 will be injured in such accidents.

As we noted above, these accidents often come with major injury risks. Even minor motorcycle collisions pose significant such risks to those riding them, especially if any safety equipment is lacking at the time.

Common Prejudice Against Motorcyclists

Unfortunately, there’s a common prejudice that may make its way into certain folks’ opinion of motorcycle-related accidents. Like it or not, some people view motorcycles as inherently dangerous or flashy, and thus will attempt to pin the blame for any accident involving them on the motorcycle driver – even if the incident clearly was not their fault in reality.

Speaking of reality, it doesn’t line up with this perception. A high percentage of motorcyclists are at least 40 years old, not the daredevil youths some are imagining, and well over half of all collisions involving motorcycles are actually caused by drivers of other vehicles. An experienced personal injury attorney will be able to highlight these important realities to all necessary parties during your case.

Case Value Potential

Per information form Jury Verdict Research, motorcycle injury verdicts are often quite high, with a median approaching $75,000 per case for years in the early 2000s (amounts that have gone up since due to inflation and other factors). Know that if you’ve been injured in such a situation, you could potentially have a claim for a high dollar value.

Dealing With Insurance Companies

Unfortunately, like with other car accident formats, your insurance company is not actually always trying to help you here. Rather, they’re trying to find reasons not to pay out compensation for an accident, such as attempting to prove you were at fault when this isn’t the case. Luckily, our attorneys are here to represent your interests to these bodies and get you the compensation you deserve, whether through a fair settlement or even a trial process.

For more on motorcycle accidents and liability, or to learn about any of our personal injury lawyer services, speak to the staff at the Law Offices of William Rawlings & Associates, LLC today.

There are several potential causes to vehicle accidents on the road, and one of the most common and dangerous is distracted driving. Distracted driving is a broad category that can refer to several specific types of distraction, from visual ones to manual or even cognitive issues.

At the offices of William Rawlings & Associates, LLC, we’re here to tell you that regardless of which type of distraction was the cause, you could be owed damages if you were injured in a car accident caused by a distracted driver. Here are some basics on defining this term, how an auto accident injury attorney can help, plus an investigation into a few specific examples of distracted driving – including a couple that some people mistakenly think don’t put them at risk for liability if they cause an accident.

common forms distracted driving

Defining Distracted Driving

Simply put, the law defines distracted driving as any behavior or activity that turns the driver’s attention away from the task of driving. Many of the basics here come back to simple science: Even a single second spent looking away from the road in front of you will cause you to be unaware for a huge amount of ground covered, particularly if your vehicle is traveling at a high rate of speed.

For this reason, anything that causes this sort of diversion of attention could be considered a distraction. While we’re about to lay out a few specific examples of the most common forms of distracted driving, know that a far greater number of potential actions or distractions could also fit the bill, and you should be aware of them at all times when operating a vehicle.

Cell Phones and Texting

In today’s modern day, texting on cell phones is considered the single most dangerous type of distracted driving facing US drivers. It is responsible for literally thousands of deaths on the road every year, plus untold additional thousands of injuries. This is extremely straightforward: Not only does texting require a driver to move their eyes from the road to a phone, it takes at least one hand off the wheel and uses it for another purpose.
In addition, several other phone behaviors outside texting may cause distraction. Talking on the phone can apply if you aren’t using fully hands-free devices, and even voice commands may distract the brain. Those looking to fully avoid distractions will not use their phones at all while driving.

Daydreaming or Preoccupation

This is a bit more of a nebulous category, but distraction can also be easily caused by our own mental picture. Daydreaming or distraction are particularly common for tired drivers, part of the reason you often see reminders to pull over and rest if you feel tired while driving.

Rubbernecking

It’s often used as the butt of jokes due to it’s silly-sounding name, but rubbernecking – or slowing down and losing focus on driving so as to view accidents or other things happening on the side of the road – is extremely dangerous. It’s the cause of numerous additional accidents, in fact, and is a form of distracted driving that is not viewed favorably by courts.

For more on the common types of distracted driving, or to learn about any of our car accident or personal injury attorney services, speak to the staff at the offices of William Rawlings & Associates today.

pic-catastrophic2

In a previous post we began the discussion of how to ensure your medical record helps you following a catastrophic injury.  When presented to a judge or jury, your medical record should “tell the story” of how your injury was inflicted and what steps you undertook to obtain restoration and healing.

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pic-catastrophic

Following a catastrophic personal injury, it is so important that your medical record tells the story of your injury accident.  Your catastrophic injury medical record begins to be created the moment you first seek treatment following an accident. (If you have a preexisting condition that is exacerbated by the injury accident, then your medical record should encompass all treatment you received for this preexisting condition, as well.) One of the tasks of the injury victim is to build as thorough of a record as possible. The more complete the medical record, the greater the likelihood is that the victim will be able to recover compensation.

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pic mc crash

Every year, millions of motorcycle drivers ride every day without being involved in an accident. While you can ride your whole life and never be in a motorcycle crash, the reality is that operating a motorcycle is much more dangerous when compared to driving a car.  Despite some claims by motorcycle enthusiasts that a skilled and properly trained motorcycle operator is less likely to be injured than the average car driver, driving or riding on a motorcycle is an inherently dangerous activity.

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