There is a difference between a mistake that costs you money and a mistake that ends the claim. Most articles cover the first kind: a treatment gap, a careless recorded statement, an early offer accepted too quickly. Those reduce what you recover.
The five below do something worse. Each one can extinguish a valid claim entirely, often without the injured person ever knowing a deadline passed or a piece of evidence disappeared. And each is avoidable in the first few weeks.
1. Assuming You Have Two Years
The two-year rule is the general rule, not your rule. A.R.S. § 12-542 gives most Arizona injury claims two years from the date of injury. Several situations run on far shorter clocks, and every one of them is a hard bar:
| Situation | Real deadline |
| A city, town, county, state entity, or public university involved | 180 days to serve a notice of claim, then 1 year to file |
| You are receiving workers’ compensation and a third party caused the injury | 1 year to institute the third-party action A.R.S. § 23-1023 |
| A strict liability dog bite | 1 year A.R.S. §§ 11-1025, 12-541 |
| An uninsured motorist claim | Governed by your policy, often far shorter than any statute |
The workers’ compensation one is the least known and the most punishing. If you are on comp benefits and do not bring the third-party claim within a year, A.R.S. § 23-1023 provides that it is deemed assigned to the compensation carrier which may then prosecute it, settle it, or hand it back, on its schedule rather than yours. More on how the two claims run on separate tracks.
Nothing pauses any of these, not ongoing treatment, not an open claim file, not an adjuster saying they are still reviewing the deadlines that apply to your claim.
2. Serving a Government Notice of Claim Incorrectly
Getting the 180 days right is not enough if the notice itself is defective. A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires the notice to be served on the person authorized to accept service for that entity, and to contain facts sufficient to permit the entity to understand the basis of liability plus a specific amount for which the claim can be settled and the facts supporting that amount.
Three ways people get this wrong:
- Wrong entity name. Gilbert is a town, not a city. Naming an entity that does not exist is not a clerical issue.
- Wrong office. A public university in Arizona is governed by the Arizona Board of Regents, which handles service for its universities centrally; a notice delivered to a campus department may not be effective.
- No sum is certain. A notice describing the injury but omitting a specific settlement figure supported by facts does not satisfy the statute.
Arizona courts enforce these requirements strictly. A defective notice can bar a claim that otherwise had two full years to run and by the time the defect surfaces, the 180 days are usually gone.
3. Letting the Physical Evidence Disappear
Most of what proves your case has a shelf life measured in days, not years. This is the quietest of the five, because nothing about it feels like a decision:
- Camera footage. Business, doorbell, parking structure, and transit cameras commonly overwrite within days. Once it is gone, no subpoena recovers it.
- The vehicle’s event data recorder. Speed, braking, throttle, and steering in the seconds before impact and it leaves with the car when the insurer takes it for salvage. Authorizing the total loss can mean authorising the destruction of your best evidence.
- Commercial carrier records. Federal rules require a motor carrier to retain hours-of-service and electronic logging records for only six months, against your two-year filing deadline.
- The damaged item itself. A bicycle, motorcycle, helmet, or piece of equipment carries impact geometry that establishes speed and direction. Repairing or discarding it destroys that record.
The fix is a written preservation demand sent early, which converts a retention schedule into a legal obligation. Sent late, it documents what has already been lost.
4. Signing Something That Closes the Claim
A release is a contract, and there is no reconsideration clause. Once signed and the payment accepted, the claim is closed even if you need surgery six months later.
Three documents do this, and two of them do not look like releases:
A settlement release. Read the scope. General release language can extinguish claims against parties beyond the one paying including defendants whose involvement has not yet been identified.
A property damage check endorsed “final settlement” or “payment in full.” Cashing it can be argued to close more than the vehicle claim. It is also how the market value your repaired car permanently lost gets abandoned, since diminished value is a separate recovery from repair cost.
A blanket medical authorization. A broad release opens your entire medical history rather than treatment related to this injury, handing the carrier material to argue your condition predates the crash.
If an offer arrives before treatment concludes, declining it costs nothing but time.
5. Concluding There Is Nothing to Pursue
The most common way a claim dies is that nobody ever makes it. Four beliefs account for most of these, and all four are wrong:
“I was partly at fault, so I can’t recover.” Arizona applies pure comparative negligence under A.R.S. § 12-2505, with no percentage cutoff. A claimant found 70% responsible still recovers 30% of proven damages. In most states that instinct would be partly right, which is why how Arizona divides fault surprises people.
“I paid the ticket, so I admitted fault.” Under A.R.S. § 28-1599, an admission of a civil traffic complaint, or a judgment on it, is not evidence of negligence in a civil proceeding. It runs both directions.
“The other driver had no insurance, so there’s no money.” Your own uninsured motorist coverage often becomes the recovery route, and Arizona treats an unidentified hit-and-run driver as an uninsured motorist. Insurers must offer UM and UIM under A.R.S. § 20-259.01, though buying it is optional so check your declarations page rather than assuming.
“The scan was normal, so I wasn’t really hurt.” CT imaging is designed to find bleeding and structural damage. Soft tissue injuries and mild traumatic brain injury frequently do not appear on it, and symptoms that surface days later are common rather than suspicious.
A denial from one carrier is not a denial of coverage overall, either; it is often a personal policy declining under an exclusion while a commercial layer remains, which changes what to do about the denial.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the biggest mistake people make after an injury in Arizona? Assuming the two-year deadline under A.R.S. § 12-542 applies to them. Claims involving a public entity generally require a notice of claim within 180 days, a third-party claim while receiving workers’ compensation must be brought within one year, and uninsured motorist coverage is governed by policy conditions that can be shorter than any statute.
Can I still bring a claim if I was partly at fault? Yes. Arizona is a pure comparative negligence state under A.R.S. § 12-2505, so your award is reduced by your percentage of fault with no cutoff barring recovery. A claimant found even 70% responsible may still recover 30% of proven damages, which is different from most states.
Does paying a traffic ticket mean I admitted fault? No. A.R.S. § 28-1599 provides that an admission of the allegations in a civil traffic complaint, or a judgment on that complaint, is not evidence of negligence in a civil proceeding. Your paid citation cannot be used against you, and the other driver’s does not establish their liability.
What evidence disappears fastest after an accident? Camera footage from businesses and doorbell systems, which commonly overwrites within days; the vehicle’s event data recorder, which leaves with the car when it goes to salvage; and commercial carrier logs, which federal rules require to be retained for only six months. A written preservation demand sent early is what keeps them available.
Is it safe to cash the property damage check while my injury claim is open? Be careful with any check endorsed “final settlement” or “payment in full,” which can be argued to be more than the vehicle claim. Property damage and injury claims are usually resolved separately, and repair cost does not include the market value a repaired vehicle permanently loses.
My scan came back normal. Do I still have a claim? Possibly. CT imaging is built to detect bleeding and gross structural damage, and soft tissue injuries and mild traumatic brain injury frequently do not appear on it. A clean scan rules out a surgical emergency rather than an injury, and symptoms surfacing days later are common.
The Common Thread
Every one of these is a timing problem. The deadline that ran, the notice served late, the footage overwritten, the release signed before the medical picture was clear, the claim never made because an assumption went unchecked. None of them is about arguing the case well they all happen before anyone argues anything.
A Phoenix personal injury lawyer can flag these pitfalls early, often before they become irreversible problems in your case.
Harris Injury Law, PLLC 1136 E Campbell Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85014 (480) 800-4878
Consultations are free and cases run on a contingency fee, meaning no attorney fee unless compensation is recovered. Request a consultation or meet our attorneys. If the injury is recent, our guide to the first 24 hours after a crash covers the immediate steps. Every case depends on its own facts; no outcome can be promised or predicted.
This article provides general information about Arizona law and is not legal advice. Reading it creates no attorney-client relationship. Arizona statutes change, and deadlines depend on the specific facts of a claim. Consult a licensed Arizona attorney about your situation.
Reviewed by Jason A. Harris, Harris Injury Law, PLLC.
