When someone is injured in a truck accident in Tucson, it can result in significant expenses due to medical care and lost work time. When the system is working as intended, these costs are covered by the insurance company of the responsible party.
However, that system doesn’t always work as intended. The insurance company or the trucking company may make it difficult for the accident victim to get the compensation they need. In this situation, the injured party can hire a lawyer to help them file a truck accident lawsuit to get appropriate damages to cover their costs.
Arizona Statute of Limitations for Truck Accident Cases
The civil justice system in the U.S. is designed to be fair for all parties involved. One of the ways that it protects defendants is by implementing a statute of limitations for all civil lawsuits.
The statute of limitations limits how long after an incident a litigant can file a lawsuit. That time is two years in Arizona. Any lawsuit filed more than two years after a truck accident will be dismissed by the court hearing the case.
Arizona Laws for Truck Drivers
Like most states, Arizona enforces strict regulations on truck drivers. Truck drivers who violate these laws will almost certainly lose their commercial driver’s license and may also face criminal charges in some circumstances. Anyone involved in a truck accident may need to be aware of the following laws.
- Weight and size limits. Truck drivers must obey weight and size limits when driving in Arizona. They can obtain permits to violate those limits in some cases.
- Hours-of-service logs. Truck drivers must maintain a logbook of their driving time and breaks to ensure they are obeying federal guidelines.
- Accident reporting requirements. If an accident results in an injury, death or over $2,000 of property damage total, Arizona law enforcement must file a written report.
Identifying Fault for Truck Accidents in Arizona
Arizona is not one of the handful of states that have no-fault insurance rules. Instead, all accidents in Arizona follow at-fault rules. In an at-fault accident, the driver who is responsible for the accident is liable for compensating anyone injured in that accident. Typically, their insurance company will cover those costs, assuming they have the appropriate insurance policy.
Identifying fault, however, is complicated by another Arizona regulation. Awards granted from a jury verdict are limited by pure comparative negligence. This means that if the litigant is partially responsible for their injuries, any award they receive is reduced by a percentage equal to the amount they are responsible for that injury. A litigant can even receive compensation if the defendant is only 1% responsible. However, they would receive only 1% of their damages.
Because identifying fault can have such a large effect on the outcome of an injury claim, insurance companies and lawyers will often expend significant effort to identify who was at fault. Determining that one of the drivers was wearing headphones and couldn’t hear the other driver blow their horn, for example, could have a large effect on the claim.