Truck Accident Laws in Utah (2026): Deadlines & Liability

A truck accident in Utah combines two bodies of law: Utah's own injury rules (the filing deadline, the fault rule, and the state's no-fault auto system) and a thick layer of federal trucking regulation that governs how commercial carriers and their drivers must operate. Because Utah is a no-fault state, the path to a lawsuit against an at-fault trucker for pain and suffering runs through a statutory injury threshold, and because the truck is a commercial vehicle, federal safety rules often supply the evidence of who was negligent.

This page explains the Utah deadlines and liability rules that apply after a crash with a semi, box truck, or other commercial vehicle, then the uniform federal rules that shape every interstate trucking case. It is general legal information, not legal advice.

What is the deadline to sue after a Utah truck accident?

Utah gives injured people a relatively long window for personal injury. Under Utah Code 78B-2-307, an action for personal injury, including injuries from a truck crash, must be brought within four years of the date of the injury.

Wrongful death is different and shorter. Under Utah Code 78B-2-304, a claim for the death of a person caused by another's wrongful act must be filed within two years of the death. So if a truck crash is fatal, the family has only two years, not four. Because the deadlines diverge and trucking evidence (discussed below) can disappear within weeks, do not rely on the longer personal-injury period in a case that involves a death.

Utah's fault rule: modified comparative negligence

Utah follows modified comparative negligence under Utah Code 78B-5-818. The fault of a person seeking recovery does not by itself bar recovery, but a claimant may recover only from defendants whose combined fault exceeds the claimant's own fault.

The practical effect is a 50% bar. If you are less than 50% at fault, you can recover, but your damages are reduced in proportion to your share of fault, so a plaintiff who is 30% at fault recovers 70% of the damages. If your fault equals or exceeds the defendants' combined fault (50% or more in a typical two-party case), you recover nothing, because the statute requires the defense's fault to exceed yours. Apportioning fault is therefore often the central fight in a Utah truck case, since the defense tries to push the injured person to or past that line.

No-fault and the threshold to sue in Utah

Utah is a no-fault auto state. After a crash, your own auto policy pays personal injury protection (PIP) benefits for medical care and certain other losses regardless of who caused the wreck, and Utah law requires a minimum of $3,000 in PIP medical coverage.

Because PIP is the first source of payment, you cannot automatically sue the at-fault trucker for general (pain-and-suffering) damages after any crash. Under Utah Code 31A-22-309, a person covered by PIP may not maintain a cause of action for general damages from an automobile accident unless the person has sustained at least one of the following: death; dismemberment; permanent disability or permanent impairment based on objective findings; permanent disfigurement; a bone fracture; or medical expenses in excess of $3,000.

Most people seriously hurt by an 80,000-pound truck clear this threshold without difficulty, often through the medical-expense or bone-fracture prongs, since emergency treatment, imaging, and follow-up care commonly exceed $3,000. But the threshold is a genuine gate, which is one reason objective medical documentation matters so much in a Utah truck case. You can still recover your economic losses, and once the threshold is met you can pursue the full range of damages, including pain and suffering, from the at-fault party.

Damage caps in Utah

Utah does not cap ordinary compensatory damages in a standard truck-collision case. Economic damages (medical bills and lost earnings) and noneconomic damages (pain and suffering) in a routine motor-vehicle injury claim are not subject to a statutory ceiling, subject to the comparative-fault and no-fault rules above. Utah's notable statutory caps apply mainly to specific contexts such as the noneconomic-damage cap in medical-malpractice cases, which is not the framework for a typical truck collision. Punitive damages are not capped by a fixed dollar amount, though Utah law directs that a portion of any large punitive award be shared with the state.

Minimum insurance in Utah

Utah requires drivers to carry minimum liability coverage of 30/65/25 ($30,000 for bodily injury per person, $65,000 per accident, $25,000 for property damage), limits that increased on January 1, 2025, along with the mandatory $3,000 in PIP. These are the floors for ordinary passenger vehicles. Commercial trucks operating in interstate commerce are subject to far higher federal requirements, covered next.

Federal FMCSA rules that govern trucking

Interstate commercial trucking is regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) under Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. These rules apply nationwide and frequently supply the proof of negligence in a truck case:

• Hours of service (49 CFR Part 395): A property-carrying driver may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, may not drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on duty, must take a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving, and may not drive after 60 hours on duty in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days.
• Electronic logging devices (ELDs): Most drivers must record their hours with an ELD that automatically captures driving time, making falsified-logbook fatigue easier to prove.
• Driver qualification and CDL: Drivers must hold a valid commercial driver's license and meet the medical and qualification standards in the driver-qualification rules.
• Drug and alcohol testing (49 CFR Part 382): Carriers must conduct pre-employment, random, post-accident, and reasonable-suspicion testing and check the federal Clearinghouse.
• Vehicle maintenance and inspection (49 CFR Part 396): Carriers must systematically inspect, repair, and maintain their vehicles and keep records.

A logbook showing too many hours behind the wheel, a skipped inspection, or a missed drug test can become central evidence that the driver or carrier was negligent.

Who can be held liable after a truck accident

A truck crash routinely produces several defendants, often corporate, which is a key difference from a typical car accident. Depending on the facts, the responsible parties can include the truck driver; the motor carrier (both vicariously for the driver's on-the-job conduct and directly for negligent hiring, training, supervision, or retention); a freight broker or shipper; the company that loaded or secured the cargo; and the manufacturer of a defective part such as a brake or tire.

Identifying every potential defendant matters because each may carry separate insurance, and because a carrier's own safety failures (pushing drivers past their hours, ignoring maintenance) can be independent grounds for liability beyond the driver's mistake.

Federal minimum insurance for trucks

Under 49 CFR 387.9, an interstate for-hire motor carrier hauling general (nonhazardous) freight in a vehicle of 10,001 pounds or more must maintain at least $750,000 in public-liability coverage. Carriers hauling certain hazardous materials must carry far more, up to $5,000,000. These federal minimums dwarf typical car-insurance limits and are one reason serious truck claims are valued differently from ordinary car-crash claims.

Preserving evidence after a truck crash

Trucking evidence is perishable. A truck's engine control module (its onboard "black box") can record speed, braking, and throttle data; the driver's ELD and logbooks record hours; and the carrier's maintenance and inspection records can show neglect. Much of this data can be overwritten or lawfully discarded on a routine retention schedule within weeks. A prompt written preservation (spoliation) letter to the carrier, asking it to retain the ECM data, ELD records, dispatch records, and maintenance files, helps keep that evidence intact.

Also preserve the basics on your side: the police crash report, photographs of the vehicles and scene, the names of witnesses, and complete medical records documenting your injuries.

How to evaluate a Utah truck-accident claim

Most personal-injury attorneys handle truck cases on a contingency-fee basis (the fee is a percentage of any recovery) and offer a free initial consultation, so an early conversation usually costs nothing. No lawyer can promise a particular outcome or dollar amount; the value of any claim depends on the facts, the injuries, the available insurance, and the apportionment of fault.

The practical priorities after a Utah truck crash are to get medical care and document your injuries, report the crash and obtain the police report, open your PIP claim with your own insurer, preserve evidence quickly, and keep the filing deadlines (four years for injury, two years for a death) firmly in view.