Pleasant Grove Wrongful Death Lawyer

Families in Pleasant Grove usually hear the details first from a police officer. On city streets that is the Pleasant Grove Police Department at 108 South 100 East; on I-15 it is generally the Utah Highway Patrol. The crash report, the medical examiner's findings and any criminal case all take time, and none of them is the family's civil claim. That claim belongs to the family and runs on its own statutes and its own deadline.

Our count of UDOT crash records found that 5 people died in crashes on Pleasant Grove's streets from January 2018 through August 4, 2025, 2 of them on State Street and 1 on Pleasant Grove Boulevard, as reported on our Pleasant Grove's most dangerous roads page. Each of those deaths left a family with the questions below.

The Utah Statute Behind the Claim

Utah Code § 78B-3-106 allows the heirs, or a personal representative acting for them, to sue the person whose wrongful act or neglect caused the death, and that person's employer when the employer is responsible for the conduct. A death on the job generally goes through workers' compensation instead. The local crash records show where serious crashes concentrate: side impacts on State Street, rear-end collisions on Pleasant Grove Boulevard, and pedestrians struck near the signals where State Street, Main Street and 700 South meet. Deaths can also follow a fall or another incident on unsafe property.

If the driver is charged, the prosecutor represents the State of Utah, not the family. A conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt, while the civil claim needs only a preponderance of the evidence, so a family can recover even when no charge is filed or the prosecution fails.

Who May Bring the Claim

Section 78B-3-105 defines the heirs: the surviving spouse, the children, and the natural or adoptive parents; stepchildren under 18 who were supported by the person who died or lived with them at least part-time; and, only if none of the first three groups survives, other blood relatives under the intestacy rules. Our Utah wrongful death guide explains how heirs and a personal representative work together.

The Deadlines

The general rule is two years from the death (§ 78B-2-304). When a public body may share the blame, such as UDOT on a state route like State Street (US-89), UTA on a bus route, Utah County, or Pleasant Grove City on a street it maintains, a written notice of claim is due within one year (§ 63G-7-402), and for the city it goes to the city clerk (§ 63G-7-401). Our statute of limitations page lists the rest.

What a Family Can Recover

The statute does not list categories. It says damages may be given as under all the circumstances of the case may be just (§ 78B-3-106(4)). Claims usually seek:

• The financial support, benefits and earnings the person would have provided.
• Medical bills from the final injury, and funeral and burial costs.
• The loss of love, companionship, comfort and guidance, including a child's loss of a parent.
• Household services the person performed, such as childcare, cooking, driving and repairs.
• In rare cases, punitive damages, which ordinarily require clear and convincing proof of willful and malicious conduct or knowing and reckless indifference; the statute relaxes those limits for harm caused by an impaired driver (§ 78B-8-201).

Personal injury protection pays something early, whoever was at fault: Utah PIP includes a $3,000 death benefit for the heirs and up to $1,500 toward funeral, burial or cremation (§ 31A-22-307(1)(c)-(d)). It is modest, but it does not wait for the liability claim.

Where Fatal Crashes Happen in Pleasant Grove

State Street (US-89) carries the largest share of the city's serious crashes: 697 crashes from January 2018 through August 4, 2025, 23 of them serious or fatal, with side impacts behind 15 of those 23. Pleasant Grove Boulevard recorded 585 crashes, 6 of them serious or fatal. At the city's traffic signals, 3 of 11 pedestrian crashes were serious or fatal, and all 3 happened in the late afternoon or evening. Those figures come from UDOT records summarized on our roads page and our Pleasant Grove intersections page. Families of people struck on foot can also read our Pleasant Grove pedestrian accident page, and our Pleasant Grove car accident page explains how crash evidence is gathered here.

What Happens First

In the first weeks the priorities are evidence and insurance. Vehicles get sold or scrapped once an insurer totals them, so they need to be held and inspected; vehicle data and phone records need preservation requests; and video from State Street businesses and neighborhood doorbells has to be collected before it is overwritten. At the same time, the liability policy, any umbrella policy and the family's own underinsured motorist coverage need to be identified, because the at-fault driver's limits may be far below the loss. The family should not have to talk to an adjuster during any of it. For how a Utah case proceeds, read our guide to the steps in a Utah personal injury case; for the courts and agencies in town, see our Pleasant Grove personal injury page.