Disputing an Insurer's Subrogation Demand in a Hit-and-Run Claim

Attorney Answer

You owe this insurer nothing unless it files a lawsuit and proves your side-by-side caused the damage — and before you argue the merits with it, hand the demand to your own liability insurer, because most policies make prompt notice a condition of the defense they would otherwise owe you. The absence of matching damage on your ATV is real evidence, but it belongs in front of an adjuster who is defending you, not in a phone call you make alone.

Subrogation generally allows an insurance company that paid its policyholder's claim to pursue whoever it believes caused the loss. It does not lower what has to be proved. The insurer still has to establish that your vehicle caused the damage to the other car. If your side-by-side has no damage consistent with the impact being claimed, that goes directly to causation, and it is worth documenting properly rather than just stating it in a phone call.

Two things the demand letter will not tell you. First, it is a claim, not a judgment. Utah Code § 31A-21-108 provides that subrogation actions may be brought by the insurer in the name of its insured — an action, meaning the insurer's only route to make you pay is to file a lawsuit in Utah and prove the same negligence case its policyholder would have had to prove. Until it does that and wins, you owe it nothing, and nothing can be garnished or levied on the strength of a letter. Second, the claim runs on a clock. Utah Code § 78B-2-305(1)(a)(ii) sets three years for injuring personal property, but § 78B-2-305(1)(c)(ii) routes a claim for property damage from an accident involving a motor vehicle to the four-year period in § 78B-2-307(3). The insurer has four years from the date of the accident to sue. The deadline that should worry you in the meantime is not theirs but your own policy's notice requirement, below.

The first step is one no demand letter will suggest: tender this to your own insurer, in writing, now. If you carry liability coverage on the side-by-side, send that carrier a copy of the letter; do the same with your homeowners or renters policy, since some cover off-premises liability that an auto policy excludes. Ask each one, in writing, whether it will defend you. A liability policy typically owes both a defense and indemnity, and answering a liability demand yourself is the most common way that coverage gets forfeited. Utah Code § 31A-22-203 applies the notice rules of Section 31A-21-312 to liability policies, and § 31A-21-312(2) says late notice does not bar recovery unless the insurer shows it was prejudiced by the delay — but that is a fight you would have to win after the fact, not a reason to wait.

As a practical matter, subrogation demands are often built on limited information — a police report, a description from the insured, sometimes a partial plate or a vehicle description. If the identification of your vehicle rests on weak or circumstantial information, that is a separate line of challenge from the damage-matching argument, and both can be raised together.

Because this arose alongside your husband's August 9, 2025 DUI and hit-and-run charges, be aware that anything you write or submit to the insurer can surface in the criminal case. What you say to the insurer, and when, should be coordinated with what is happening on the criminal side rather than handled in isolation — which is another reason to let a carrier's claims counsel do the writing if one accepts the tender.

What you can do 1. Tender the demand to your own insurers today, in writing — the carrier on the side-by-side, and your homeowners or renters carrier — enclosing the demand letter and asking each whether it will defend you. 2. Photograph the ATV thoroughly from every angle and, if you can, get a written inspection documenting the absence of damage consistent with the claimed impact. 3. Ask the demanding insurer in writing for the basis of the demand — how the vehicle was identified and what evidence supports it. 4. If no carrier accepts the tender, respond to the demand in writing within any stated response window, disputing both causation and identification, rather than ignoring it — but do not pay and do not sign anything that concedes responsibility. 5. Preserve repair records, maintenance history, and any earlier photos showing the ATV's condition before and after the date at issue. 6. Coordinate your response with your husband's criminal defense attorney, if he has one, since the two matters share facts.