If you’ve recently been injured in a car accident in or around Gilbert, you might be considering a lawsuit. While it might be a prudent idea, it also requires you to know your rights, filing deadlines and a number of laws surrounding vehicle use. Here is a brief overview of all these topics and how an attorney can help you through the entire process.
Arizona Statute of Limitations for Car Accident Cases
Even if you’ve been severely injured in a car accident, you have only a limited amount of time to file a claim. This time period is known as the statute of limitations. Any claims filed after this period ends could be null and void.
Under Arizona law, you have two years to file a personal injury lawsuit from the date of the accident. There are some cases where this may be extended. For example, if you were suing someone who left the state, the time they are out of the state does not reduce the time you have to file a claim. So, if the defendant left the state one year after the accident and came back to Arizona three years later, you would still have one more year to file a claim.
Arizona Laws for Car Drivers
The Grand Canyon State has a number of laws all vehicle owners should know. Here are a few of the most relevant to understand.
- Minimum insurance requirements. All vehicle operators must have certain coverage minimums. They need to have at least $25,000 of coverage for bodily injury or death for one person, $15,000 of coverage for property damage and $50,000 of coverage for bodily injury or death for two individuals or more.
- Damage thresholds. Arizona prohibits damage limits or caps for personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits under its constitution. You can recover as much as a judge or jury will award for your injuries.
- Accident report filing. Unlike other states, Arizona does not require that individuals involved in an accident report it. Only law enforcement officers and public employees are required to do so if the accident results in injury, death, damage to property in excess of $2,000 or a traffic ticket being issued.
Identifying Fault for Car Accidents in Arizona
As Arizona is an at-fault state, it must be shown that the other driver is at fault for the accident to submit an insurance claim and be compensated for any losses. This is typically done by reviewing police reports, accident records, eyewitness testimony and potentially camera records if the accident occurred at an intersection with surveillance. Generally speaking, the party who was less careful than the other—or did not act in a reasonable manner and wasn’t careful of other drivers—is at fault.
If you proceed with a lawsuit to be compensated for your injuries, Arizona uses a pure contributory negligence framework that limits how much you can recover. Your recovery is limited by the percentage of fault you carry for the accident. If you were awarded $100,000 in damages but were shown to be 30% liable for the accident, you can collect only $70,000—70% of the awarded damages.
Remember that this legal doctrine bars you from collecting any damages only if you are entirely at fault for the accident—theoretically, you could still claim damages if you were 99% at fault.