Tempe Brain Injury Lawyer

(480) 800-4878

Brain injury claims fail for reasons unrelated to how badly someone was hurt. A scan comes back clean and the insurer treats the file as soft tissue. Nobody appoints a conservator, so the person who cannot manage their affairs also cannot pursue their claim. A settlement arrives and quietly disqualifies the client from the benefits paying for their care. A Tempe brain injury attorney’s job is largely to prevent those specific failures.

Why Do Brain Injury Claims Get Disputed When the Scans Look Normal?

Because CT and MRI are built to find bleeding and structural damage, not the diffuse axonal injury behind most mild TBI. A normal scan does not rule out a traumatic brain injury. It rules out the findings that scan was designed to detect.

That gap is where insurers live. The file gets valued as a concussion that is resolved, while the client cannot hold a shift or loses words mid-sentence.

Building the record generally means going past emergency imaging to:

Neuropsychological testing, which measures memory, processing speed, attention, and executive function against baseline expectations
Vestibular and oculomotor assessment, which documents the balance and visual-tracking deficits that follow many head impacts
Advanced imaging where clinically indicated, which can show white matter changes conventional sequences miss
Contemporaneous lay evidence accounts from family, roommates, supervisors, or instructors describing function before and after

That last category is often the most persuasive and the most neglected. A professor’s observation that a student’s work collapsed after a specific date is evidence a defense expert must answer.

Does Arizona's Two-Year Deadline Still Apply After a Severe Brain Injury?

Not necessarily, and this is the most consequential thing on this page. A.R.S. § 12-502 provides that where a person entitled to bring an action is, when the cause of action accrues, either under eighteen or of unsound mind, the period of that disability is not counted toward the limitations period. The person has the same time after the disability is removed that anyone else would have.

For a survivor whose cognitive capacity is genuinely compromised, the two-year clock under A.R.S. § 12-542 may not have been running at all. Arizona courts apply a demanding standard generally an inability to manage one’s own affairs or to understand one’s legal rights and liabilities and it is intensely fact-specific rather than automatic. But claims written off as time-barred sometimes are not.

Arizona also follows the discovery rule, under which a claim accrues when the injured person knows, or with reasonable diligence should know, the facts underlying it which can matter where a brain injury was misattributed to stress or missed at the emergency department.

Two cautions. A.R.S. § 12-503 prohibits tacking successive disabilities together. And none of this should be relied on as extra time where a public entity is involved, the notice requirement discussed below runs on a far shorter track.

Who Can Bring the Claim If the Injured Person Cannot?

A conservator or guardian appointed by the court, and in Maricopa County that means the Superior Court’s probate division. An adult who lacks capacity cannot retain counsel, sign a fee agreement, respond to discovery, or accept a settlement. Someone has to be appointed first.

Two consequences follow that families rarely anticipate. Appointment takes time, and it runs in parallel with not instead of the claim deadlines. And once a conservator is in place, a settlement for a protected person generally requires court approval rather than a signature, with the court reviewing whether the amount and terms are appropriate.

A tbi injury lawyer in Tempe should be raising this in the first meeting, not the month before a mediation.

How Are Lifetime Costs Calculated?

Through a life care plan, not an estimate. Arizona’s constitution prohibits statutory caps on compensatory damages in personal injury cases, so recovery is bounded by evidence and available coverage rather than a legislative ceiling. That makes the future-damages proof the controlling variable in a catastrophic case.

A properly built claim typically includes a life care planner itemizing decades of anticipated needs attendant care, cognitive rehabilitation, medications, assistive technology, home modification, case management and an economist reducing those figures to present value while accounting for medical inflation and lost earning capacity.

The insurer will also point at what your health plan already covers. Arizona generally excludes collateral source evidence in personal injury cases, so the defense usually cannot reduce damages by showing insurance paid the bills. A provider lien under A.R.S. § 33-931 and any plan reimbursement right do come out of the recovery, so the gross and net figures differ.

Could a Settlement Cost You AHCCCS or Disability Benefits?

Yes, if it is paid out wrong. A lump sum landing in a survivor’s name can push them over the resource limits for AHCCCS, SSI, and other needs-based programs cutting off the coverage funding their care at the exact moment care becomes permanent.

The usual answer is structuring the recovery, often through a special needs trust and sometimes a structured settlement, so funds supplement rather than replace benefits. Any AHCCCS reimbursement claim also has to be identified and resolved before disbursement.

This is planning that has to happen before settlement, not after. It is also the most common way a technically good recovery turns into a bad outcome for the family.

What Causes Brain Injuries in Tempe?

Freeway speeds on US 60, the Loop 101 Price Freeway, and Loop 202 produce the mechanisms most associated with severe head trauma, including rollovers and side impacts, the reason so many car accident and truck files become brain injury files.

Tempe’s density adds its own pattern. Riders and pedestrians struck along Rural Road, University Drive, and Apache Boulevard take head-first impacts with no vehicle structure between them and the road, which is why bicycle and pedestrian claims skew toward serious neurological injury. Motorcycle collisions, light rail and bus incidents, impaired driving crashes, and falls in the Mill Avenue district round out the pattern. Where the injury proves fatal, the claim becomes a wrongful death action brought by statutory beneficiaries.

Fault still gets contested. Arizona applies pure comparative fault under A.R.S. § 12-2505, so an award drops by the injured person’s assigned share with no percentage cutoff see Arizona comparative negligence laws.

What If ASU, Valley Metro, or the City of Tempe Is Involved?

The deadline compresses to 180 days. A claim against a public entity generally requires a formal notice of claim served within 180 days under A.R.S. § 12-821.01, on the official authorized to accept service, stating a specific settlement amount with the facts supporting it then a one-year filing deadline under A.R.S. § 12-821.

Arizona State University is governed by the Arizona Board of Regents, which handles service separately from the campus itself. Valley Metro operates the light rail through Tempe. The City maintains roads and signals. In a brain injury case, where families are focused on the ICU rather than on service requirements, this deadline is the one most often missed.

Who Handles Your Case?

Jason A. Harris practices in both personal injury and workers’ compensation, which matters when a head injury occurs on the job and the two claims run on separate tracks with different deadlines and lienholders. He has been recognized by The National Trial Lawyers as one of its Top 100 in Arizona. Clients speak with their attorney directly rather than only with a case manager, and the firm is reachable outside standard business hours.

What Does a Tempe TBI Lawyer Cost?

Nothing upfront. Cases are handled on a contingency fee, meaning attorney fees are a percentage of any recovery obtained; if there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fee. Case costs neuropsychological evaluation, life care planning, economist work, records are separate and set out in writing before you sign. Consultations are free. Full breakdown: what a personal injury lawyer costs in Arizona.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you have a TBI with a normal CT scan? Yes. CT is designed to detect bleeding, skull fracture, and gross structural damage. Most mild traumatic brain injury involves diffuse microscopic damage that conventional emergency imaging does not resolve. A clean scan is meaningful for ruling out an emergency, not for ruling out a brain injury.

How long do TBI symptoms have to last before it’s considered serious? There is no legal threshold. What matters in a claim is documented functional change, cognitive testing results, treatment records, and accounts from people who knew the person before. Symptoms persisting beyond the expected recovery window are typically evaluated as persistent post-concussive symptoms, which is a medical question for treating providers rather than a legal one.

What if the injury happened on the ASU Tempe campus? Then two separate issues arise immediately. Campus street collisions are frequently investigated by ASU Police rather than Tempe PD, so the report lives with a different agency. And because ASU is governed by the Arizona Board of Regents, a public entity, a notice of claim may be required within 180 days and must be served on the office authorized to receive it, not on a campus department.

Who signs the settlement if my family member can’t make decisions? A conservator or guardian appointed through the probate division of Maricopa County Superior Court. Settlements for a protected person generally require court approval as well, so the process takes longer than a standard claim and should be started early.

Does a brain injury settlement affect AHCCCS eligibility? It can. A lump sum received directly may exceed resource limits for AHCCCS and other needs-based programs. Structuring the recovery commonly through a special needs trust is intended to preserve eligibility, but it has to be arranged before the money is disbursed.

Is there a cap on brain injury damages in Arizona? No. Arizona’s constitution prohibits statutory caps on compensatory damages in personal injury cases. The practical limits are the strength of the future-care evidence and the amount of insurance coverage available.

Contact a Traumatic Brain Injury Attorney in Tempe

Brain injury cases are decided by evidence assembled early cognitive testing before symptoms are attributed to something else, witness accounts of functional change, and a conservatorship in place before deadlines matter.

Harris Injury Law 1136 E Campbell Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85014 (480) 800-HURT

Serving Tempe and all of Arizona. Request a free consultation, or read more about our Tempe personal injury and spinal cord injury practice. Every case is different and depends on its own facts; no outcome can be promised or predicted.

This page provides general information about Arizona law and is not legal advice, and nothing here is medical advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Arizona law changes, and outcomes depend on the specific facts of a claim. Consult a licensed Arizona attorney about your situation and a qualified physician about your symptoms.

Reviewed by Jason A. Harris, Harris Injury Law.

Available 24/7

to assist you with your brain injury case.
Call or text now for a free consultation.

(480) 863-5467

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“After my motor vehicle accident in Tempe left me with a traumatic brain injury, Harris Injury Law stepped in and helped me understand each step. They handled the insurance negotiations while I focused on recovery. I finally felt someone was on my side.”
- M.K., Tempe, AZ

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“The team at Harris was there when the doctors told me I had post-concussive syndrome and I didn’t know where to turn. They looked at the long-term medical treatment costs and helped me seek compensation for medical expenses and lost wages. I couldn’t have done it alone.”
- R.S., Tempe, AZ

These real-world experiences illustrate how a dedicated Tempe injury lawyer can make a difference when brain injuries change lives.