A reasonableness-only state for fees, on firmer ground than most
Compare Utah to a state like New York, which applies a hard statutory sliding scale to medical malpractice attorney fees specifically. Utah has no equivalent figure anywhere in its rules — the fee simply must be reasonable under Rule 1.5, assessed case by case. What sets Utah apart is why: a 2016 ruling held that the legislature constitutionally cannot regulate attorney fees at all, a stronger footing than simply never having legislated a cap.
A real damages cap, but no fee cap to match
Utah does cap medical malpractice noneconomic damages at $450,000 — but only where the patient survived; the cap doesn't apply in a wrongful death claim. Either way, that damages question says nothing about what the attorney can charge on whatever is actually recovered. The two questions are governed by entirely separate rules, one statutory and outcome-dependent, the other constitutional and judicially controlled.
Two separate things that sound related but aren't
It's worth being clear that Utah's malpractice damages cap, where it applies, limits what a plaintiff can recover from the provider. The attorney's own percentage fee remains governed entirely by Rule 1.5's reasonableness standard, untouched by whichever outcome of the damages cap question applies in a specific case.
A distinctive combination among the states
Many states that leave personal injury fees uncapped still allow some form of damages cap, at least for medical malpractice. Utah's combination — a genuinely split damages cap paired with a constitutionally uncapped fee standard — fits that broader national pattern while standing on a notably firmer legal foundation on the fee side.