Call For A Free Consultation(602) 345-1818
Call For A Free Consultation(602) 345-1818
Jared | November 13, 2025 | Personal Injury, Phoenix
Updated January 2026, reviewed by Jared J. Pehrson
By Jared J. Pehrson | Impact Legal Car Accident Attorneys
If you’ve been hurt in Phoenix because of someone else’s negligence, you need straight answers, not a sales pitch. This page explains how Arizona personal injury law actually works, what factors drive the value of your claim, the deadlines that can end your case, and how our firm approaches injury work.
We handle car wrecks on I-10, motorcycle crashes on Loop 101, slip-and-falls at Phoenix-area properties, dog bites, construction injuries, and wrongful death cases. Jared J. Pehrson takes the calls himself. You’ll know your attorney’s voice when he calls.
A good personal injury lawyer in Phoenix does four things that are hard to do effectively on your own:
Much of the value of legal representation is invisible to the client. By the time we send a demand package, we’ve already lined up the medical records, the wage-loss documentation, the liability proof, and the legal arguments that respond to the adjuster’s standard discount theories.
Our practice covers the full range of Arizona personal injury law. Each category has its own evidence patterns, insurance dynamics, and case-value drivers.
If your situation doesn’t fit cleanly into one of these categories, call us anyway. Most cases involve more than one.
This is the single most misunderstood part of Arizona injury law, and getting it wrong costs people money.
Arizona follows pure comparative negligence under A.R.S. § 12-2505. Your damages get reduced by your percentage of fault, but you can still recover something even if you were mostly at fault for what happened. There is no 50% or 51% cutoff like in some other states. You can be 99% at fault and still legally recover 1% of your damages.
Here’s how this works in practice. Say your total damages add up to $100,000: $30,000 in medical bills, $20,000 in lost wages, and $50,000 in pain and suffering. If the jury finds you 30% at fault for the crash (maybe you were speeding slightly, or you didn’t see the other car as soon as you should have), your recovery is reduced by 30%. You take home $70,000 instead of $100,000.
Why does this matter? Because the adjuster’s job is to push your share of fault higher. Every percentage point they assign to you is a percentage point off your check. We’ve seen claim files argue that a rear-ended driver was “comparatively at fault” for tapping the brakes. That argument doesn’t survive in court, but it lives all day long in the file unless you push back with evidence.
Our job in every case is to build the record that supports the lowest defensible fault share. That means scene photos, witness statements, the police report, vehicle damage analysis, and (in serious cases) accident reconstruction. For a deeper breakdown, see our explainer on Arizona’s pure comparative negligence rule.
Arizona divides recoverable damages into three categories. Understanding which ones apply to your case tells you a lot about the value at stake.
These are the out-of-pocket and provable financial losses caused by the injury. They include:
Economic damages are usually documented with bills, paystubs, and (for future care) expert testimony. See our economic damages page for a deeper breakdown.
These compensate for the human cost of the injury that doesn’t show up on an invoice:
Arizona has a constitutional protection against caps on these damages. Article II, Section 31 of the Arizona Constitution bars the legislature from limiting the amount of damages recoverable for causing death or injury. That’s a meaningful protection for catastrophic injury claims. See our non-economic damages resource for more.
These are reserved for conduct that goes beyond ordinary negligence. Under Arizona case law, the plaintiff has to show by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with an “evil mind.” Drunk driving cases, intentional misconduct, and certain corporate-defendant cases sometimes qualify. Most personal injury cases do not include a punitive component. When they do, the value analysis can change. More detail on our punitive damages page.
Arizona’s mandatory minimum auto liability limits, set by the state’s financial responsibility statutes, are:
That’s the floor. It’s also often inadequate for any serious-injury case. A single ER visit and one MRI can move you well past $25,000 before you’ve started physical therapy. If the at-fault driver carries minimum limits and your injuries are serious, the at-fault policy alone often won’t cover what happened to you.
This is where uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) becomes critical. Arizona law requires every auto insurer to offer UM and UIM coverage on every policy. The named insured can reject it in writing, but the insurer has to offer it. We routinely see clients who didn’t know they had UIM until we pulled the declarations page. Whether that policy meaningfully changes the recovery picture depends on the coverage limits, the injuries, and what the at-fault policy looks like, but it’s always worth checking before any settlement is signed.
The other layer most people miss: bad faith. Arizona recognizes a first-party bad faith claim against an insurer that unreasonably delays, denies, or underpays a legitimate claim. When an adjuster knows a claim is well-supported and stalls or lowballs without a reasonable basis, that conduct can expose the insurer to extra-contractual damages. We watch for those patterns in every claim.
A note on our fee structure: we work on contingency, so there are no attorney’s fees unless we recover for you. Case costs and the specific fee percentage are set out in the written agreement we go over at the start.
Miss the deadline, and the strongest case in Phoenix becomes worthless. These are the ones that matter most:
These deadlines run on actual calendar days. There is no extension because the insurance company “was still negotiating in good faith.” For a deeper explainer, see Arizona’s two-year statute of limitations.
When you bring a claim to us, here’s how the process moves.
Initial consultation. Free, confidential, no pressure. You’ll talk to Jared, not a screener. We’ll go through what happened, what injuries you have, what insurance is on the table, and whether the case is worth pursuing. Some cases aren’t. We’ll tell you that straight up.
Investigation and evidence collection. Police reports, 911 audio, medical records, witness statements, scene photos, surveillance footage requests (these have to go out fast, often within 30 days before businesses overwrite their systems), and crash reconstruction in serious cases. We identify every available insurance policy, including UM/UIM coverage clients often don’t realize they have.
Treatment and documentation. We don’t tell you how to medically recover, but we make sure your treatment is properly documented so the insurer can’t argue your injuries were trivial. Gaps in treatment are a commonly exploited weakness in personal injury claims.
Demand and negotiation. Once you’ve reached maximum medical improvement (or we have a clear picture of future care needs), we prepare a demand package. The insurer responds. We push back with the evidence file when the response doesn’t reflect the value of the claim.
Litigation when necessary. If the insurer won’t offer fair value, we file in Maricopa County Superior Court. Many cases still settle before trial, but filing changes the leverage. The adjuster’s incentive to lowball drops the moment a judge is involved.
Throughout the process, you’ll know where things stand. We don’t disappear between milestones.
Phoenix-area injury cases tend to cluster geographically. The Maricopa County crash patterns we see most often:
Cases filed in Maricopa County Superior Court follow the local civil rules and assignment practices. Knowing how individual judges and divisions tend to handle scheduling, settlement conferences, and motion practice matters when you’re deciding whether to file and how to litigate.
Here’s how we describe our approach, without making claims about anyone else:
Past results in any specific case depend on its specific facts. We’d rather earn your trust by being direct with you than by listing numbers without context.
If you’re reading this in the first few days after an injury, here’s the short version of what matters most:
As soon as your immediate medical needs are stabilized. Arizona’s two-year statute of limitations under A.R.S. § 12-542 is the outer boundary, but the practical deadlines are much shorter. Surveillance footage is often overwritten within 30 days. Witness memories degrade within weeks. Claims against government entities require notice within 180 days under A.R.S. § 12-821.01. Calling early protects evidence, preserves your right to UM/UIM benefits, and helps you avoid recorded statements that hurt the case later.
Arizona uses pure comparative negligence under A.R.S. § 12-2505. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, but you can recover something even if you were mostly at fault. For example, if your total damages are $100,000 and you’re found 30% at fault, your recovery is $70,000. Because the adjuster has every incentive to push your fault share higher, building strong liability evidence early matters.
You generally have two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit in Arizona under A.R.S. § 12-542. For wrongful death, the two years runs from the date of death. Claims against a government entity (City of Phoenix, ADOT, Maricopa County, etc.) require a written notice of claim within 180 days under A.R.S. § 12-821.01. Arizona generally tolls the SOL for injured minors until they reach the age of majority, but the specifics should be confirmed for any individual case.
Arizona’s mandatory minimum liability limits are $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $15,000 for property damage. These limits are often inadequate in serious-injury cases, which is why uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage matters. Arizona insurers are required to offer UM/UIM on every policy, though the named insured can reject it in writing. Specific limits and rejection requirements should be confirmed against current policy terms.
Arizona recognizes three categories of damages: economic (medical bills, lost wages, future medical care, lost earning capacity, property damage), non-economic (pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium), and punitive damages in cases of egregious conduct. Article II, Section 31 of the Arizona Constitution prohibits the legislature from capping damages for death or personal injury, which is a meaningful protection for catastrophic injury claims.
Claims against state, county, or city entities in Arizona have a much shorter timeline. Under A.R.S. § 12-821.01, a written notice of claim must be filed within 180 days of the incident. Miss that deadline and the claim against the government is generally barred, even if you’re still well within the two-year statute of limitations. The notice has to follow a specific format, identify the responsible employees, and state a sum certain. Don’t try this one without an attorney.
We work on a contingency basis, which means no attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation for you. The specific fee percentage and how case costs are handled are set out in the written fee agreement we review with you at the consultation. There are no upfront charges to talk to us or to have us evaluate the case.
If you’ve been injured in Phoenix and want a clear answer about where your claim stands, we’ll give you one. Free case review, no obligation, no pressure. We answer 24/7.
Call (602) 345-1818 to talk to a Phoenix personal injury lawyer today. Free consultation, no attorney’s fees unless we recover.
By Jared J. Pehrson | Impact Legal Car Accident Attorneys
