Eagle Mountain Wrongful Death Lawyer

If an Eagle Mountain wrongful death case ever has to be filed, it will be heard in Utah County's Fourth Judicial District Court, at 137 North Freedom Boulevard in Provo. Most families never see that courthouse. What they face first is paperwork, insurance calls and a sheriff's investigation that can take weeks, all while grieving.

Our review of UDOT crash records for the city's roads found 7 fatal crashes, with 8 people killed, between the start of 2018 and August 4, 2025, and three of those deaths occurred on Cory B. Wride Memorial Highway. Every one of them left a family with the questions this page tries to answer.

When Utah Law Allows a Death Claim

The right to sue comes from Utah Code § 78B-3-106. It applies whenever someone's wrongful act or neglect causes a death, and it lets the heirs bring the case themselves or through a personal representative. The defendant can be the person responsible and, if that person was acting for an employer who answers for their conduct, the employer too. A workplace death is usually handled under the Workers' Compensation Act rather than through this statute.

If the at-fault driver is charged with a crime, prosecutors control that case and it moves on its own schedule. The family's civil claim does not wait for it and does not depend on a guilty verdict, because civil cases are decided by a preponderance of the evidence rather than proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Which Family Members Can Bring the Claim

Who counts as an heir is spelled out in Section 78B-3-105. The list starts with the spouse, the children and the parents, including adoptive parents if the person was adopted. It also covers stepchildren under 18 who lived with the person at least part of the time or relied on them financially. Other blood relatives come in only if there is no surviving spouse, child or parent. For more, read our Utah wrongful death guide and our post on wrongful death damages and who receives them.

The Two-Year Deadline and the One-Year Exception

Utah gives a family two years to file a death claim (§ 78B-2-304). When a government entity may share responsibility, such as the Utah County Sheriff's Office, Unified Fire Authority, Eagle Mountain City or UDOT on SR-73, the family has only one year to file a written notice of claim (§ 63G-7-402). UDOT's planned freeway conversion of SR-73 makes that question especially important for any crash in a construction zone. Every Utah deadline is collected on our statute of limitations page.

Damages a Family Can Seek

Section 78B-3-106 does not set a formula; it allows whatever damages are just given all the circumstances. Claims typically include:

• Lost earnings and benefits, plus the work around the home they would have kept doing.
• Hospital charges from the fatal injury, along with funeral and burial expenses.
• The relationship that was taken: companionship, affection, advice, and a parent's place in a child's life.
• The sorrow and emotional pain of those left behind.
• Punitive damages, which are uncommon and reserved for conduct showing a knowing and reckless indifference to others, such as some impaired-driving cases.

Separately, when the death came from a car crash, the auto policy's personal injury protection includes up to $1,500 for funeral, burial or cremation and a $3,000 death benefit payable to the heirs, regardless of fault (§ 31A-22-307).

Eagle Mountain Roads Where Fatal Crashes Occur

In the same UDOT records, Cory B. Wride Memorial Highway (SR-73) accounted for 21 of the city's 65 serious or fatal crashes, and 8 of those 21 were head-on collisions. Eagle Mountain Boulevard recorded 1 death, and Porters Crossing Parkway, with 45 crashes, had 1 death. Pedestrians were involved in 11 of the city's serious or fatal crashes and bicyclists in 5. There is no hospital in Eagle Mountain; Utah Valley Hospital in Provo is a Level II trauma center. Our Eagle Mountain car accident page describes how evidence from a local crash is preserved, and our pedestrian and motorcycle pages cover those crashes.

The First Steps We Take

Three things tend to disappear first after a fatal crash: the vehicles, which get released to tow yards and salvage buyers; video from homes and businesses, which records over itself; and witnesses, who are often commuters or contractors passing through. We move on all three early and obtain the crash report; the Utah County Sheriff's Office polices the city from City Hall at 1650 E. Stagecoach Run, and troopers may respond on SR-73. We also track down every policy that may respond and take over communication with the insurers. The usual sequence is laid out in our guide to how a Utah injury case unfolds, and our Eagle Mountain personal injury page has more on local courts and agencies.