Accidents and misfortunes happen everywhere. If you’ve suffered a personal injury in Arizona and are dealing with the financial and emotional aftermath of your accident, you may be looking to file a lawsuit to receive the compensation you deserve, especially if dealing with the responsible party’s insurance company has gotten you nowhere.

Although there are a lot of similarities in personal injury laws in different states, all have their own unique statutes and procedures on how liability is determined and damages are awarded.

What Constitutes a Personal Injury in Arizona?

Before diving into the different personal injury laws, it’s important to know what is considered a personal injury. In Arizona, examples of personal injuries include:

• Auto accidents
• Motorcycle crashes
• Medical malpractice
• Dog bites
• Wrongful death
• Pedestrian accidents
• Workplace accidents
• Premises liability (unsafe residential or commercial buildings)
• Product liability (defective products)
• Any other injury caused by another person or business’s negligence

Laws and Rules Governing Personal Injury Cases in Arizona

Negligence

Many personal injury cases, like medical malpractice, wrongful death or product and premises liability, are based on the idea of negligence. The law is specific about how it defines negligence. Generally, to prove and win a negligence case the plaintiff must prove the defendant owed the plaintiff some type of duty of care (to keep them safe, provide medical care, etc.) but breached that duty by engaging in irresponsible and negligent behavior.

The plaintiff must also prove that this breach of duty caused their injuries and that by awarding adequate damages, the court can appropriately compensate the plaintiff for their injuries.

Comparative Negligence

While many personal injury accidents are the direct result of a specific person or entity being negligent, some victims of accidents are partially responsible for their own injuries. In the world of law, this is referred to as comparative negligence and usually means the victim will not receive the full amount of compensation they’d receive if they didn’t share in the blame. Specifically, the plaintiff’s damages will be reduced based on their own percentage of fault.

Let’s say you slipped on a puddle of spilled shampoo at a drug store and suffered a concussion and a sprained ankle from the slip and fall. You’re now suing the store for damages due to their failure to clean up the spill or mark the area as hazardous.

Typically, these circumstances would imply the store employees are at fault for the injuries you suffered. However, if they come back and prove that you were talking on the phone and were inattentive at the time of the accident, you may now be partially responsible for your own injuries.

If it’s determined you were 30 percent at fault, you will only receive 70 percent of the damages. Arizona allows injured parties to recover damages even if they were 99 percent at fault. In this aspect of personal injury law Arizona is different from many other states that don’t award any damages to a party that is more than 50 percent at fault.

Auto Insurance Law

Arizona is one of several states that use the “at fault” principle for insurance claims. This means that for a claim to be processed successfully, a driver must show the other party was at fault for the injuries and losses they suffered. Only then can compensation be granted.

Interestingly, thanks to the comparative negligence rule, even a driver who is mostly at fault for their accident can recover some amount of damages from the other driver’s insurance company.

Dog Bites and Dog Attacks

While laws like comparative negligence may seem more relaxed in Arizona than in other states, when it comes to dog bites and dog attacks, Arizona is not so lenient.

Several states, including neighboring states of Nevada and New Mexico, apply the one-bite rule, meaning the dog owner is typically not liable for their dog’s first bite if the owner had no previous knowledge of their dog’s potential viciousness.

However, Arizona makes dog owners strictly liable for the injuries their dog caused, even if the animal had no prior history of biting or troublesome behavior.

How Much Time Do I Have to File an Injury Lawsuit in Arizona?

According to Arizona’s statute of limitations, which sets a time limit on taking your claim to court, plaintiffs are given two years from the date of their accident to file a personal injury lawsuit.

If it takes you several months or even years to discover your injuries, the court may grant you additional time to file a lawsuit. Conversely, lawsuits against a city or county in Arizona or the state itself must be filed within a year of the accident.

A Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyer May Be Able to Help with Your Injury Claim

If you’ve suffered a personal injury and are now fighting for the damages you deserve, consider getting legal help to increase your chances of a successful outcome.



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