J. Bradford DeBry

The Same Attorney from Day One to Settlement Day

I've practiced personal injury law in Utah since 1996. In thirty years I have personally handled or supervised every major case this firm has tried, settled, or arbitrated. That is not a marketing line — it is how the firm is built. When you call LawyerUp, the lawyer who answers the phone is the same lawyer who will sit across from the insurance adjuster, the same lawyer who will take the depositions, and if your case goes to trial, the same lawyer who will stand in front of the jury. That model is rare in modern personal injury practice. Most firms run an intake floor, hand the file to a paralegal, then assign a junior associate by the time the demand letter goes out. By the time you get to mediation you are working with someone you have never met. We do not do that here.

This page is a short summary of who I am, how I practice, and why LawyerUp exists. If you want to talk about your case directly, I take every intake call myself: (866) 264-2638, 24 hours a day. There is no gatekeeper.

Bar Admissions and Licensure

I am admitted to practice in Utah (since 1996) and Idaho. I am in good standing with both state bars. I am admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Personal injury law is what I do — it is the only thing this firm does. I do not handle criminal defense, family law, real estate, or business litigation. Specialization is how a lawyer gets results. When you go up against a State Farm or Allstate adjuster who has tried thirty Utah PIP cases this year alone, you do not want a generalist on your side.

Practice Areas — What I Actually Handle

Every case at LawyerUp passes through me. Here is the breakdown of what we take:

• Car accidents — every variant. Rear-end, T-bone, head-on, rollover, multi-vehicle. We layer your PIP, your medical-pay, the at-fault driver's liability, and your own UM/UIM if needed.
• Truck and 18-wheeler accidents — FMCSA Parts 392/393/395, hours-of-service violations, ELD/ECM data preservation, MCS-90 federal endorsement, multi-defendant work. Trucking cases are different and they require a different playbook.
• Motorcycle accidents — Utah § 41-6a-1505 helmet rules, § 41-6a-704 lane-filtering, the PIP-doesn't-apply-to-motorcycles gotcha that catches Utah riders off guard.
• Wrongful death — Utah's 2-year SOL under § 78B-2-304, heir/personal representative procedural framework, separate damages categories.
• Slip and fall / premises liability — invitee, licensee, trespasser distinctions; notice requirements; constructive vs. actual notice of dangerous conditions.
• Dog bites — Utah § 18-1-1 strict liability (no first-bite defense in Utah).
• Medical malpractice — DOPL prelitigation panel under § 78B-3-416, expert witness affidavit requirement, statute-of-care evidence.
• Property damage and diminished value — handled in-house through Property Damage Pros, the group's USPAP-certified appraisal division. One file, both claims.

How I Practice — Three Things I Do Differently

1. I take every intake call.

If you call (866) 264-2638 during business hours, you are talking to me. If you call after hours, the firm's after-hours intake reaches me directly within five minutes. There is no triage, no junior associate "screening" calls. I learned years ago that the cases I personally heard about at intake settled for more than the cases that came to me through a paralegal's notes. So I stopped using the paralegal system. The number on this site is my number.

2. I keep the file from intake to verdict.

Most personal injury firms in Utah run a relay race: an intake lawyer hands off to a litigation associate who hands off to a trial lawyer. Information gets lost between handoffs. Insurance adjusters notice — and price the case accordingly. I run a different model. The lawyer who took the call takes the deposition takes the trial. I have other lawyers and paralegals supporting the file, but the relationship is direct, and the courtroom person is the same person you met on day one.

3. We pursue the property damage and the injury together — in one coordinated file.

This is the part that makes LawyerUp different from every other Utah PI firm. When a Utah driver is hit, they typically have two claims: a bodily injury claim (medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering) and a property damage claim (vehicle repair, diminished value, total loss shortfall, rental, loss of use). Most PI firms either ignore the property damage claim or refer it out — usually because the lawyer doesn't understand vehicle valuation and because the dollar amounts are smaller. The result is that the client leaves $3,800 to $14,200 on the table per case, on average. We do not. Through Property Damage Pros — part of the LawyerUp Injury Group — I have USPAP-certified vehicle appraisers on the same team, working the same file. The diminished value report becomes part of the demand. The total-loss appraisal anchors the negotiation. The rental coverage gets billed directly to the carrier. Read the dual-claim explainer →

The $58.5 Million Verdict — and What It Taught Me

In a Utah personal injury case I tried, the jury returned a verdict of $58.5 million — at the time, the largest single personal injury verdict in Utah history. I do not lead with this number because it is the answer to "how much is my case worth" — it absolutely is not. Most Utah personal injury cases settle in the high-five-figure to low-six-figure range, and a small number reach seven figures. The catastrophic cases that reach eight figures are rare.

What that verdict taught me is that juries reward thorough preparation. The opposing carrier had offered a fraction of the eventual verdict in pre-trial mediation. They were betting that the cost of trial would force a discount. They were wrong. Every Utah personal injury case I take after that one is built on the same principle: prepare every case as if it is going to a jury. When the carrier sees that, the settlements come in at fair-value numbers because the alternative is sitting in a Utah courtroom losing.

Insurance Carrier Track Record

I have personally negotiated, mediated, or tried cases against every major insurance carrier operating in Utah:

• State Farm — Utah's largest market-share PI insurer. I have a thirty-year track record against State Farm adjusters at every level.
• Progressive — including bad-faith and 17c-formula diminished-value disputes.
• Allstate — the McKinsey "boxing-gloves" playbook is well-documented; we counter with thoroughly prepared demand packages and a documented willingness to try the case.
• Geico — known for aggressive minor-impact-soft-tissue (MIST) denials that Utah law does not actually support.
• USAA — generally the most reasonable major carrier, but member status does not exempt them from cost-containment software that requires correction.
• Farmers, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, American Family, Travelers — full-spectrum experience.

The key to negotiating with any of these carriers is the same: present a documented, statute-anchored case file that makes the cost of going to trial clearly higher than the cost of fair settlement. We do not negotiate from emotion; we negotiate from a binder.

Utah Statutes and Case Law I Work With Every Day

Personal injury practice in Utah is statutory and case-law specific. The handful of provisions below come up in nearly every case I open. If you want to know whether your situation is workable, these are the framework I am applying:

• Utah Code § 31A-22-307 — Personal Injury Protection (PIP). Every Utah auto policy carries a minimum $3,000 PIP benefit covering medical bills regardless of fault. Most clients do not know it exists.
• Utah Code § 31A-22-304(2)(a)(iii) — Minimum auto liability. As of HB 113 (effective 2024), Utah's minimum property damage liability is $25,000, not $15,000.
• Utah Code § 31A-22-305 — Uninsured/underinsured motorist. UM/UIM is required by carriers as an offer; declination must be in writing. Many Utah drivers carry UM/UIM and do not realize it stacks against an underinsured at-fault driver.
• Utah Code § 31A-26-303 — Unfair Claims Practices Act. The framework for bad-faith claims in Utah.
• Utah Code § 78B-2-307 — 4-year statute of limitations on personal injury actions.
• Utah Code § 78B-2-304 — 2-year statute of limitations on wrongful death.
• Utah Code § 78B-5-818 — Modified comparative negligence with 50% bar. If you are 50% or more at fault, you recover nothing.
• Utah Administrative Rule R590-190 — Unfair claims settlement practices regulations governing how carriers must handle claims (timing, communication, documentation).
• Beck v. Farmers Insurance Exchange — Utah's foundational bad-faith case. Establishes the duty of an insurer to act as a reasonable party to its own insurance contract.

Who I Don't Take

I am direct about this because it saves us both time. LawyerUp does not handle:

• Workers' compensation claims (different statutory regime — refer to workers' comp specialists).
• Criminal defense, family law, or business litigation.
• Cases where you are 50% or more at fault under Utah's modified comparative negligence (you cannot recover under § 78B-5-818).
• Cases past the relevant Utah statute of limitations.
• Property damage-only cases with no injury — those go directly to Property Damage Pros — part of the LawyerUp Injury Group. Same firm, same building; its dedicated appraisal practice handles PD-only files.

If your situation does not fit, I will tell you on the intake call and refer you to the right place. I do not bill for a consultation, and I do not waste your time pretending a case is workable when it is not.

Office Locations and How to Reach Me

The firm has two Utah offices, both staffed and both available for in-person meetings by appointment:

• Sandy office — 45 W Sego Lily Drive, Suite 315, Sandy, UT 84070. The Sego Lily Park exit off I-15.
• Clearfield office — 1436 S Legend Hills Drive, Suite 322, Clearfield, UT 84015. Same building as Property Damage Pros (part of the LawyerUp Injury Group).

I serve clients statewide — every Utah county. We handle remote intake by phone, video, or in-person at either office. For any Utah personal injury question, the fastest answer is a phone call: (866) 264-2638, 24 hours a day. The intake desk hands off to me within five minutes during business hours.