Slip, Trip and Fall Injuries in Utah

Utah's model civil jury instructions describe the owner's duty by the visitor's status. For an invitee (a business customer or someone on property held open to the public), the injured person must prove the owner knew or should have known of the condition or activity, knew or should have known it presented an unreasonable risk of harm, and knew or should have known the visitor would not discover it or protect themselves; the owner must use reasonable care to discover the danger and repair, replace or adequately warn. A licensee (someone present with permission) must prove the owner knew or had reason to know of the condition and its unreasonable risk, and that the licensee would not discover it. Separate instructions cover trespassers.

Utah waives governmental immunity for injuries caused by a defective, unsafe or dangerous condition of a highway, road, street, alley, crosswalk, sidewalk, culvert, tunnel, bridge or other structure on them (subject to the exceptions in 63G-7-201(3)), so a city can be sued for a sidewalk defect under the Governmental Immunity Act's notice rules and damage limits. Utah's model jury instruction on persons on a public way addresses a defendant who created a condition affecting a public way (or allowed it), failed to use reasonable care to make it safe after knowing or when it should have known of it.

Claims against any Utah governmental entity, including cities, towns, counties, school districts and special districts, go under the Governmental Immunity Act, which covers state and local government alike. A written notice of claim must be filed within one year after the claim arises, delivered to the city or town clerk, the county clerk, the school district superintendent or business administrator, or the special district's board officer as applicable. The entity must acknowledge the notice within 60 days; the claimant may not sue until 60 days after filing the notice and must sue within two years after the claim arises. Judgments for personal injury are capped at the statutory amount ($583,900 per person, $233,600 for property damage, and $3,000,000 aggregate per occurrence as written in the statute), adjusted under a statutory formula.

Modified comparative fault (50% bar). An injured person can recover from defendants whose combined fault (together with immune persons and nonparties to whom fault is assigned) exceeds the injured person's own fault. If the injured person is 50% or more at fault, they recover nothing. Each defendant pays only its own share of fault.

Utah's statutes do not list a specific deadline for ordinary negligence personal injury claims. They fall under the four-year limit for relief "not otherwise provided for by law." Claims against the state, a political subdivision, or their employees for injury to personal rights have a two-year limit.