PERSONAL INJURY - LIEN REDUCTIONS = MORE MONEY AT SETTLEMENT

One benefit that people who have been involved in an accident often don't think about is that attorneys can help them reduce down their liens. There are lots of situations where we're able to come in and help these people get a settlement, but then they have these big liens, outstanding balances and people who try to come in and subrogate the claim and we're able to go in and help negotiate those things. 

We've had a number of claims just over the last year where we've been able to get, for example, $100,000 settlement but the liens against that have been $40,000-$60,000. In one of those situations we were able to work with the hospital and get them to completely waive their lien so all of that money was able to go to the client instead of just being eaten up in medical care costs.

So, a great benefit to having an attorney is not just being able to negotiate the upfront settlement amount, but also being able to keep more money in your pocket at the end of the day.

PERSONAL INJURY - WHAT IS PIP (NO-FAULT COVERAGE)?

People who have been involved in an accident have often heard about no-fault coverage and it's often called PIP (Personal Injury Protection) in Utah. If you're involved in an accident, regardless of who's at fault, there's some amount of money there that's available to take care of your medical care up to that specified amount of money. What people often don't realize is that there are other no-fault provisions that run with their insurance, which can allow for additional money, time off of work and for some additional funds to come to the person. We help them get all of those different benefits that are available under their coverage.

BUSINESS LAW - COVENANT OF GOOD FAITH AND FAIR DEALING

Sometimes, people have questions about what it means to have a breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. What that means is that someone has violated the idea that parties are going to come in and they're going to operate fairly and justly with one another when they enter into a contract.

Now, the covenant of good faith and fair dealing runs with every contract in the state of Utah. So, if someone is not honoring their contract or they're entering into the contract and doing something in a way that is fraudulent or is not on the up and up then there may be an opportunity to make a claim for the breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing

The place where you see this more often in our practice is in situations where an insurer has not honored one of the covenants they've made with their insureds. That can be, often what's referred to as, bad faith.

BUSINESS LAW - NON-COMPETE AGREEMENTS

Folks often have questions about non-competes and whether they're still valid in Utah. The short answer is yes. A few years ago the legislature came in and limited the scope of what are going to be enforceable non-compete agreements, but non-competes are still part of lots of provisions and contracts.

They prevent one party from getting a lot of information from a company or employer that they're working for and then taking that information and using it against that employer to be in a competitive industry, typically. Certainly, while the legislature wants the best players to play, we also want to enforce contracts and make sure that businesses feel comfortable hiring good talent. Then, having that good talent come in, learn information that may be used against them, but at least won't be used against them for some period of time and in some geographic location.