Davis County
Hit by a semi on I-15 or Legacy Parkway in Bountiful? Free consultation, and no attorney fees unless we win.
Bountiful is squeezed between the Wasatch and the Great Salt Lake marshes, so freight moving between Salt Lake City and northern Davis County has little choice but to pass through. Two parallel highways carry most of it, and the streets in town carry the deliveries.
Commuter peaks and steady freight in both directions produce sudden backups. A loaded truck arriving at the end of a queue needs far more distance than a car to stop, which puts brake condition at the center of the case when it does not.
Since January 2020 the posted limit has been 65 mph and semis are allowed, ending the old no-trucks arrangement. Long stretches without exits and little lighting beside the wetlands leave little room to react to a truck that drifts or stops.
The two main connectors between I-15 and town. Trucks leaving the freeway still carry speed into signals and turning traffic, and rear-end and angle crashes follow.
Shops and restaurants along Main Street take deliveries from trucks that stop, back and turn on a two-lane street lined with parked cars and people crossing. Backing and wide-turn crashes are the usual claim.
Moving vans, concrete trucks and landscaping haulers climb and descend the steep residential streets above town. On a downgrade, brakes that fade or pull to one side can leave a driver unable to stop for a curve or an intersection.
Agency and road owner
Bountiful Police, at 805 South Main Street, handle city streets, and the Utah Highway Patrol usually handles I-15 and Legacy Parkway. Both highways are UDOT roads, so a claim involving a work zone or the road itself may need a notice of claim within one year (Utah Code § 63G-7-402).
Utah requires your own policy to pay first through personal injury protection. Under Utah Code § 31A-22-307 that means at least $3,000 in medical benefits and 85% of lost gross income, no more than $250 weekly, for up to 52 weeks. Our PIP explainer.
Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful is a Level III trauma center with a 24-hour emergency department, and the most severe injuries are often sent on to a Level I or II center in Salt Lake City. Bills from both add up quickly. A claim against the trucking company for non-economic losses opens under Utah Code § 31A-22-309 when there is:
After that, the carrier's liability insurer owes the full value of the claim. Underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy can add to a policy that runs out (our UIM guide), and the threshold is not a barrier to an uninsured motorist claim.
Under Utah Code § 78B-5-818 your recovery shrinks by your percentage of fault, and you recover nothing from defendants whose combined fault does not exceed yours. Ten percent at fault leaves 90%; half leaves nothing.
In a Bountiful truck case the insurer tends to argue that you braked hard in front of the rig on I-15 or changed lanes into its blind spot on Legacy. A brake inspection after the crash, and the truck's own speed and braking data, often answer whether a properly maintained truck could have stopped.
Three deadlines
Four years for most injury claims under Utah Code § 78B-2-307, two years for wrongful death under § 78B-2-304, and one year for a notice of claim to UDOT, UTA, Davis County or Bountiful City. More on deadlines.
Every commercial motor vehicle must have brakes adequate to stop and hold it, meeting service, parking and emergency brake requirements (49 CFR 393.40(a)), and every brake it is equipped with must be capable of operating at all times, with narrow exceptions (49 CFR 393.48(a)).
Brake components must be built and maintained to prevent excessive fading and grabbing, and linings or pads may not wear below set minimums, such as 1/4 inch on air drum brakes of non-steering axles (49 CFR 393.47(a), (d)). A truck that pulled or faded before impact points to maintenance.
Federal rules set maximum pushrod stroke limits for air brake chambers (49 CFR 393.47(e)). A chamber past its readjustment limit delivers less braking force, and measurements taken before the truck is repaired can prove it.
Once a truck is repaired or back in service, the brake evidence is gone. An early letter asking the carrier to hold the tractor and trailer for a joint inspection matters as much as a demand for records. Our Utah truck accident guide explains the process.
A trucker may not notice a clipped mirror at freeway speed. Your uninsured motorist coverage may pay for an unidentified vehicle, and if there was no contact, Utah Code § 31A-22-305(6) requires clear and convincing evidence beyond your own testimony that it existed. Report it that day.
A Bountiful truck lawsuit is filed in the Second Judicial District Court for Davis County at 800 West State Street in Farmington. Most claims settle, but the request to preserve the truck itself and its brake records should go out within days. Call (801) 921-5134 or request a free case review. Free consultation. No attorney fees unless we win. Hablamos Español. See our Bountiful car accident page and Bountiful personal injury page.
This is general information about Utah law, not legal advice about any particular claim. Outcomes turn on specific facts, and past results offer no guarantee.