Can I Still Recover if I Was Partly at Fault in Utah?

Short answer: Yes, as long as your share of the fault is less than the combined fault of the people you are claiming against. Utah reduces what you can recover by your own percentage of fault, and cuts it off entirely at 50% or more. The percentages are where much of the negotiating happens.

Plenty of crashes are not one driver’s fault alone. Maybe you were a few miles over the limit, glanced at your phone, or pulled out when you thought there was room. People in that spot often assume they have no claim. Under Utah law, that assumption is frequently wrong.

Utah’s Modified Comparative Fault Rule

Utah’s rule starts from a simple idea: your fault alone does not bar you from recovering (Utah Code 78B-5-818(1)). You can recover from any defendant or group of defendants whose fault, combined with the fault of certain others the law counts, is greater than yours (78B-5-818(2)).

Two consequences follow:

• Your recovery shrinks by your percentage. No defendant has to pay more than the share of damages that matches its own share of fault (Utah Code 78B-5-820(1)). If you are found 20% at fault and the other driver 80%, you can recover 80% of your damages.
• At 50%, the claim ends. The other side’s fault has to exceed yours. A 50/50 split means you recover nothing from that defendant. At 49%, you can still recover 51%.

Fault is decided by the fact finder, usually a jury if the case is tried. It must assign a percentage to each person seeking recovery, each defendant, and certain others when a party asks it to (Utah Code 78B-5-819(1)). Before trial, those percentages exist only as each side’s argument.

When More Than One Party Is at Fault

Crashes involving several drivers, a vehicle owner, a trucking company, or a business with a dangerous property condition raise two practical questions.

Whose fault is compared to yours? The statute looks at a defendant or group of defendants together. You compare your fault to the combined fault of the defendants you are claiming against, not to each one separately. If you are 30% at fault and two other drivers are 35% each, you can recover from both.

Who pays what? Each defendant pays only its own percentage, and a defendant is not entitled to contribution from anyone else (78B-5-820). That has a real cost: if one at-fault driver has no insurance and no assets, the others do not cover that driver’s share. This is one reason your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage matters so much; see underinsured motorist claims in Utah.

The “Empty Chair” and Immune Parties

Defendants sometimes try to blame someone who is not in the lawsuit. Utah allows that only with notice. A party that wants fault assigned to a nonparty has to file a description of the factual and legal basis for it, with identifying information, no later than 90 days before trial (Utah Code 78B-5-821(4)).

Fault can also be assigned to someone who is immune from suit, which the statute defines as an employer protected by the workers’ compensation laws or a government entity or employee immune under the Governmental Immunity Act (Utah Code 78B-5-817(3)). If the total fault given to immune persons is under 40%, the court reallocates it to the others in proportion; at 40% or more, it stays where the jury put it (78B-5-819(2)). These rules are technical, but they can change who ends up paying and how much.

What Is Not Counted Against You: Seat Belts

One argument insurers cannot use in Utah: that you were not wearing a seat belt. Failing to wear a seat belt, or to use a child restraint, is not comparative negligence and may not be introduced as evidence in civil litigation on negligence, injuries, or mitigation of damages (Utah Code 41-6a-1806). If an adjuster raises it to lower an offer, that is worth pushing back on.

How Insurers Use Fault Arguments

Long before any jury, the fault percentage is a negotiating number. An adjuster may say the company “accepts 60% liability” or that you were “equally responsible.” That is a position, not a finding. It is often built from:

• Your own words in a recorded statement, such as “I didn’t see him until the last second”
• A citation or a line in the police report
• Estimates of speed from photos of the damage
• Gaps in the record, where no witness or video contradicts their driver’s version

Every 10% the adjuster shifts onto you comes straight off the value of the claim, and pushing you to 50% ends it. That is why the evidence behind fault deserves as much attention as the medical bills. See what evidence helps a car accident case for what to preserve.

Your Own PIP Still Pays

Being partly at fault does not affect your personal injury protection benefits. PIP pays your first medical bills, at least $3,000, plus part of your lost wages, regardless of who caused the crash (Utah Code 31A-22-307). The exclusions an insurer may apply to PIP are limited by statute and do not include ordinary carelessness (Utah Code 31A-22-309(2)). There is more in is Utah a no-fault state.

What to Do If You Think You Share Some Blame

1. Do not argue fault with the other driver or apologize at the scene. Stick to facts when you speak with police.
2. Be careful what you say to the other driver’s insurer. You are not required to give it a recorded statement.
3. Preserve your own evidence: photos, dashcam footage, and the names of witnesses.
4. Get treated and keep your records, since the fault argument and the injury argument are usually made together.
5. Watch the deadlines. Most Utah injury claims must be filed within four years (Utah Code 78B-2-307(4)), and some are much shorter; see Utah’s statute of limitations.

Talk to a Utah Personal Injury Attorney

A claim where you share some of the fault is still a claim. The question is how much, and that is decided by evidence and argument, not by the first number an adjuster names. A free consultation can help you see where your case really stands.

Hurt in Utah? Call (801) 921-5134 or send us your case for a free consultation. No attorney fees unless we win. Hablamos Español.