Let’s be crystal clear. Dealing with an insurance company without an attorney will not get you the best results. When you represent yourself, the insurance company knows it. Even the smallest insurance company resolves thousands of claims per year and you will be outmatched. Without working through the maze of the insurance industry on a daily basis, you will not know the pitfalls you have already walked into, or are about to walk into.
In an Orem Car Accident? Call (801) 373-6345.
When you are in a Provo, Utah car accident and your insurance claim is denied you have the following options.
Eat it.
(1). Just accept your fate. Allow the insurance carrier to control the dispute resolution process.
Hire a Utah Car Accident Attorney.
(2). Hire a qualified Provo, Utah personal injury attorney who commonly handles car accident cases. Sometimes this is enough to turn the tide, prior to having to file a lawsuit. Don’t hire a dabbler. A dabbler is a lawyer where car accidents are a minority of their work. Hire a specialist.
File a Small Claims Case.
(3). Have your car accident attorney file a lawsuit in Small Claims, if your case is appropriate for that venue. Utah Small Claims Courts have a $10,000 limit, excluding costs and interest, but including attorneys fees. Small Claims is fast and cheap. Sometimes $10,000 now is better than $17,000 in two years. Your other option is District Court litigation, which can take a very, very long time.
File an Arbitration Case.
(4). Have your personal injury attorney file a District Court case with mandatory arbitration under Utah’s insurance code. Utah law has several arbitration provisions, but most commonly used in car accident cases is Utah Code 31A-22-321. Commonly called 321 arbitration. 321 arbitration has expedited discovery and case management schedules. It is not as fast as Small Claims, but still faster than a jury trial track.
File a District Court Jury Trial Track Case.
(5). Have your personal injury attorney file a jury trial track District Court case. This is the longest way to resolve a personal injury case, but it can be the most fruitful because the people, the jury, the community’s conscious, is allowed to speak justice. But it takes a long time, and many people cannot hold out. Plus it is difficult to determine or predict exactly what a jury will do, so there is great risk also.
Call Attorney Jacob S. Gunter.