Utah Tort Laws
A tort is a civil wrong that infringes on an individual’s legally protected private rights and results in damage to an individual’s life or well-being. Tort law allows the harmed individual to claim damages.
The majority of people may think tort only involves personal injury. But tort encompasses a broad range of civil wrongs, including reputational damage, invasion of privacy, and trespass on property.
An example of a tort case that does not involve personal injury is the class action pursued by the Attorney General against Inmediata for a consumer data breach. Due to a coding issue, Inmediata’s system laid bare the protected health information of over one million individuals. The affected citizens were not physically injured, but their privacy had been infringed upon.
It is important to be able to recognize if you have become a victim of a tort under the law. The following article contains information regarding basic concepts of Utah tort laws, including tort categories, statute of limitations, damages, mass tort, and class action.
Basic Tort Categories in Utah
Tort law recognizes three general types of tort: intentional, negligent, and strict liability.
Intentional Torts
An intentional tort is committed by someone with the intention of causing harm or with the knowledge that their action would cause harm to another person. Examples of intentional torts include trespassing, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, defamation, fraud, and false imprisonment.
Negligent Torts
A negligent tort happens when the defendant fails to act with reasonable care, resulting in harm to another individual. Unlike the previous tort type, negligent torts do not need to involve intentional harm. These are usually committed through mistakes.
For example, a commercial establishment did not clean up a spill quickly enough, which led to a customer slipping on the floor. Or, a physician forgot to order a particular diagnostic test normally required for a patient’s condition, which led to a misdiagnosis.
In both cases, there was no intention to harm, but both situations resulted in injury to others. Common examples of negligent tort include slips and falls, motor vehicle accidents, and medical malpractice.
A negligent tort plaintiff needs to prove four points:
Duty - The plaintiff must prove that the defendant had a duty of care, like a doctor-patient relationship, or a motorist being bound by law to observe traffic rules to avoid accidents. In general, each individual has a duty of care to avoid harming or creating a risk of harm to others.
Breach - The plaintiff must prove that the defendant breached their duty of care. For example, a motorist was texting while driving, therefore causing a risk of harm.
Causation - The plaintiff must prove that the breach was the cause of the harm. The cause may be direct or proximate. For example, the driver running the stop sign and the resulting collision were the direct causes of the injury. But it would not have happened without the proximate cause of driving while ignoring the traffic light.
Damage - The plaintiff must have suffered harm/injury that resulted in medical expenses and lost income.
Strict Liability Torts
In strict liability tort cases, the defendant is held accountable for harm even if they did not commit a negligent or intentionally harmful act. The plaintiff only needs to establish that the defendant’s act resulted in harm.
Examples of liability torts include cases of defective products, animal attacks, and abnormally dangerous activities. Utah has a strict liability dog bite law, making the owner liable for the injury, regardless of why or how the bite happened.
Other Tort Categories in Utah
When a tort harms a business entity or its assets, it is commonly referred to as a business tort. This tort usually results in financial and reputational damages.
Business torts include:
Breach of contract.
Breach of fiduciary duty.
Theft of trade secrets or corporate opportunity.
Fraudulent misrepresentation.
Restraint of trade.
Unfair competition.
Tortious interference.
Intentional interference with economic relations.
Fraudulent non-disclosure.
Fraudulent omission.
Utah citizens can also file nuisance tort cases. According to Utah Code Section 78B-6-1101, a nuisance interferes with an individual’s right to comfortably enjoy their life and property.
A nuisance is harmful to health, offensive to the senses, indecent, or an obstruction to the free use of property. It can be a public or private nuisance. A public nuisance impacts a community, like smoke pollution from a factory. On the other hand, a private nuisance impacts an individual, like a neighbor's loud Friday night party that lasts till the morning.
Other examples of nuisance tort cases are the following:
Foul odor.
Loud sounds.
Unsightly aesthetics.
Drug houses.
Prostitution and gambling operations.
Tort vs. Crime in Utah
The primary difference between a tort and a crime is in the aggrieved party. A tort is a wrong committed against an individual. A crime is a wrongdoing against state or federal laws and society as a whole. Other ways a tort can be distinguished from a criminal act are below:
Note that some wrongdoings break the law and also infringe on an individual’s private rights, such as assault (personal injury) and homicide (wrongful death). In these situations, the defendant may face criminal charges and also be sued by the victim for damage compensation.
Mass Torts in Utah
A mass tort is a consolidation of multiple tort cases where the plaintiffs suffered similar damages due to the action of the same defendant.
Mass torts start as individual cases. The court combines cases that are similar enough to expedite the litigation process. Mass torts commonly undergo multidistrict litigation, or MDL. This type of litigation will be touched on in another section.
The majority of mass tort cases are product liability and personal injury involving:
Defective consumer products (e.g., 3M earplugs, Johnson & Johnson talcum powder).
Defective medical devices (e.g., Atrium hernia mesh, Stryker hip replacements).
Dangerous drugs (e.g., Tylenol/acetaminophen, Zoloft).
Environmental/Toxic exposures (e.g., Camp Lejeune contaminated water).
Mass tort litigation follows a different procedure than mainstream tort cases. It is important to consult with a Utah litigation attorney if you think you have a mass tort case.
Joining a mass tort may offer the following benefits versus pursuing a stand-alone personal injury lawsuit:
Multiple plaintiffs coming together show extensive damage, which maximizes the chance of securing compensation from large companies.
Mass tort plaintiffs usually obtain bigger settlements/awards.
Attorneys can share information and evidence to support each plaintiff’s claim.
Legal expenses are minimized.
Litigation timeline is reduced due to the streamlined process.
Mass Torts vs. Class Actions
It is understandable that mass tort and class action are sometimes confused as the same civil action. Both consist of multiple plaintiffs who have suffered similar damages and are suing the same defendant or the same group of defendants.
However, they have the following key differences:
The Mass Tort Process
Most mass torts involve a large number of plaintiffs from different districts. To prevent the courts from being overloaded and minimize litigation costs and timelines, mass torts undergo the streamlined process of multidistrict litigation. MDL typically follows the steps below:
Consolidation - Court judges identify cases with commonalities and, if there are enough cases, consolidate them into a mass tort.
Petition for multidistrict litigation - An involved party (plaintiff, defendant, etc.) petitions the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to centralize the cases for efficiency. After the petition is approved, the cases are moved to a single federal court for litigation.
Pretrial proceedings - The federal court and judge appointed by JPML facilitate pretrial proceedings, including the discovery phase. Attorneys share and coordinate investigations and witness interviews. This minimizes expenses as the attorneys’ efforts to find evidence are not duplicated.
Settlements, dismissals, and judgments - During the pretrial stage, the judge can already dismiss cases and issue judgments based on available evidence. Some plaintiffs may also agree on a settlement with the defendant.
Bellwether trials - From the cases that were not resolved, the judge selects several cases to go to trial. These trials give all parties involved an idea of how certain cases will be judged by a jury. The results help the parties decide whether to push for a trial or settle their case.
Trials - Cases that did not settle are sent back to their original courts for individual trials.
Utah Tort Liability Insurance Requirements
Liability insurance helps protect the insured’s finances when they are found accountable in a tort case. The insurance pays for the plaintiff’s damages and the insured’s legal expenses.
Businesses in the state that use motor vehicles in their operations are required to carry auto insurance. Utah Code Section 31A-22-304 mandates the following minimum coverages:
$25,000 for bodily injury per person per incident.
$65,000 for two or more persons per incident.
$15,000 for property damage per incident.
While Utah does not require any professional liability insurance, some professionals are advised to have coverage for their own protection or to fulfill an employment requirement.
Most medical facilities require physicians to have medical malpractice insurance, typically amounting to $1 million coverage per claim and $3 million annual aggregate.
Attorneys are recommended to carry legal malpractice insurance. They are required to report to the Utah Bar if they have insurance or none annually.
Real estate agents also choose to carry errors and omissions insurance, as some banks and clients ask for it.
Statute of Limitations for Tort Cases in Utah
Tort plaintiffs have a limited amount of time or deadline to file their case in court. This is called the statute of limitations. Depending on the tort, Utah prescribes the filing deadlines below. Mass tort plaintiffs must also follow the same deadlines when filing their individual cases.
These are standard statutes of limitations. It is best to consult a litigation lawyer in Utah regarding the deadlines that apply to your specific case.
In some situations, the statute of limitations may be paused or even extended. Such situations include:
The plaintiff is a minor or has a mental disability - The statute of limitations is typically paused until their 18th birthday or until they regain mental competence.
Discovery rule in medical malpractice cases - The two-year deadline only starts from the date the plaintiff discovered or should have discovered their injury. For cases of objects left inside the patient's body, the deadline is one year from discovery. No case will be accepted beyond four years after the alleged malpractice. This is called a statute of repose, which is basically the maximum deadline.
How Much Can Someone Sue in a Tort Case in Utah?
Settlement amounts for tort cases, mostly personal injury, range from $2,500 to $75,000. Some settlements reach millions due to the extent of damages. The family of Esther Nakajjigo was awarded over $10 million for Esther’s wrongful death due to decapitation in a Utah national park.
There are also cases with minimal damage awards, such as the countersuit Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow won, for which she claimed only $1 in damages.
In the area of mass tort, one of the biggest settlements is for 3M earplugs. A $6 billion settlement was reached for around 260,000 plaintiffs.
Tort law compensates plaintiffs for their economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are calculable, such as medical bills, lost income, repair costs for damaged property, and future rehabilitation expenses. Non-economic damages refer to intangible damages like pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and emotional distress.
The state does not impose damage caps or limits on how much damages the plaintiff may be awarded, except in medical malpractice cases. Under Utah Code Section 78B-3-410, medical malpractice plaintiffs can only receive up to $450,000 in non-economic damages.
In rare cases where the defendant is found to have acted maliciously or with reckless disregard for others, the court may award punitive damages.
Comparative Negligence
Note that the plaintiff’s compensation may be reduced if they are partly at fault for their injuries. This is due to Utah’s modified comparative negligence rule. Under this guideline, the plaintiff’s compensation is reduced in proportion to their fault percentage.
For instance, if the plaintiff was 30% at fault for texting while driving when another car t-boned their vehicle, their compensation of $50,000 would be reduced to $35,000.
However, if the plaintiff’s fault percentage is 50% or more, they can no longer claim damages.
Other Legal Remedies in Tort Cases in Utah
Restitution
If a victim of a criminal case suffered financial damages due to the crime, they may be able to recover compensation through restitution. Restitution is an amount the criminal defendant is ordered to pay the victim for their pecuniary damages. Pecuniary damages exclude non-economic damages like pain and suffering. Restitution is a practical remedy for victims of a crime/tort who have only suffered financial loss and opt out of filing a separate tort case.
Injunction
In some tort cases, the plaintiff is not seeking monetary compensation but simply wants the defendant to stop the tortious action. A petition for an injunction may accomplish this goal.
An injunction order compels the defendant to immediately stop the harmful act or prohibits them from doing a harmful act in the first place. For example, an injunction order may be useful in stopping civil stalking.
Resources for Tort Victims in Utah
Virtual Legal Clinic by the Utah State Bar
The online legal clinic connects residents to volunteer lawyers for free legal advice. Utahns can have up to 30 minutes of over-the-phone consultation with a lawyer. You can sign up for this service online. It will take about three days for a lawyer to be assigned to your legal concern.
Modest Means Lawyer Referral Program
This program by the state bar matches low-income Utah citizens with lawyers who offer discounted rates. Member lawyers typically charge only $50–$75 per hour. You must meet the program’s income requirements to qualify for the service.
Self-Help Center by the Utah State Courts
For citizens who seek to resolve legal matters on their own, this resource provides answers regarding Utah laws, required court forms, and available legal aid. The center can be reached through its toll-free helpline at 888-683-0009, text line at 801-SHC-1TXT (801-742-1898), or email at selfhelp@utcourts.gov.
Mesothelioma Hope
This resource is dedicated to individuals who have suffered injuries, particularly mesothelioma cancer, due to asbestos exposure. You can find information regarding asbestos-related conditions, treatment options and centers, and steps on how to file a lawsuit. It also has live Patient Advocates that you can talk to by calling 855-938-1774.
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