Skip to content A spinal cord injury claim is two claims at once: proving who caused it, and proving what the next forty or fifty years will cost. The second is where these cases are won or lost, because the insurer’s number assumes your needs will be modest and your life shorter than it will be. A Tempe spine injury lawyer’s work is dismantling both assumptions with evidence.
This is the deadline that catches injured workers, and it is easy to miss. Spinal cord injuries happen disproportionately at work falls from height, warehouse and forklift incidents, machinery, and construction site collapses. A.R.S. § 23-1022 makes workers’ compensation your exclusive remedy against your own employer. But A.R.S. § 23-1023 preserves a separate claim against anyone else who caused the injury: a general contractor who is not your employer, another subcontractor’s crew, a property owner, an equipment manufacturer, a negligent driver.
Here is the trap. If you are receiving workers’ compensation and do not institute that third-party action within one year after the cause of action accrues, the claim is deemed assigned to the compensation carrier. The carrier may then prosecute it, compromise it, or reassign it to you but nothing obligates it to hand it back on your timetable.
So while Arizona’s general injury deadline is two years, an injured worker who wants to control their own case has roughly half that. The statute also requires written notice to the carrier of an intention to sue, plus periodic notice of pleadings and rulings.
The carrier’s lien then attaches to whatever you recover, and settling for less than the benefits already paid generally requires the carrier’s written approval see how the two claims run on separate tracks.
Because level and completeness determine the care required for the rest of a life. Clinicians classify these injuries by the neurological level involved cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral and by whether the injury is complete or incomplete, meaning whether any motor or sensory function persists below it.
Those distinctions drive everything downstream. A high cervical injury may involve ventilator dependence and around-the-clock attendant care. A thoracic injury may preserve upper-body function while requiring lifelong wheelchair mobility, bladder and bowel management, and transfer assistance. An incomplete injury may mean years of rehabilitation with an uncertain endpoint, which insurers read as a reason to delay valuing the claim.
None of this is guesswork in a properly built file. It comes from treating physicians, rehabilitation specialists, and a life care planner translating a diagnosis into itemized decades.
The secondary complications, which often exceed the initial hospitalization. An opening offer typically covers acute care and rehabilitation and stops there. The lifetime reality includes recurring, expensive problems that follow from the injury itself:
Pressure injuries requiring wound care, and sometimes surgery and long hospital readmissions
Recurrent urinary tract infections and urological complications
Autonomic dysreflexia in higher-level injuries, a medical emergency requiring ongoing management
Respiratory complications, a leading cause of readmission in cervical injuries
Chronic neuropathic pain, spasticity, and progressive shoulder deterioration from years of manual wheelchair use
Then there is the infrastructure nobody budgets for: a wheelchair-accessible residence or the cost of modifying an existing one, a converted vehicle with a lift and hand controls, and replacement of durable medical equipment on a cycle rather than once. Tempe’s older apartment and rental stock near campus is largely not accessible, so relocation is frequently a real and quantifiable cost rather than a theoretical one.
Almost always, and it is the single largest lever they have. Future damages are calculated over a life expectancy. Shorten that assumption by fifteen years and the future-care figure collapses without anyone conceding a thing about liability.
Defense experts typically rely on older survival literature. The counter is current evidence and the individual clinical picture level of injury, ventilator status, complication history, and available quality of care. This is a contest between qualified experts, not a fixed number, and treating it as settled is how families accept far less than a case is worth.
Arizona’s constitution prohibits statutory caps on compensatory damages in personal injury cases, so what limits recovery is the strength of this proof and the insurance available, not a legislative ceiling.
Through vocational and economic evidence rather than pay stubs. This comes up constantly in Tempe, where a badly injured 20-year-old ASU student may have almost no earnings record.
A vocational expert establishes the trajectory the person was on, degree program, coursework, credentials in progress and an economist projects the earnings that path would have produced, reduced to present value. The claim is for diminished capacity, not wages already lost, and no earnings history is required to prove it. Insurers argue otherwise anyway.
Where a spouse or children are affected, loss of consortium claims may also belong to them in their own right.
Freeway speeds on US 60, the Loop 101 Price Freeway, and Loop 202 produce the rollover and high-energy impacts most associated with spinal trauma, which is why so many car accident and truck files become spine files. Motorcycle riders and struck bicyclists and pedestrians absorb impact with no vehicle structure around them.
Two Tempe-specific mechanisms deserve mention. Shallow-water diving remains a classic cause of cervical injury, and apartment pool incidents raise premises questions about depth markings, signage, and barriers. Falls from height on East Valley construction sites are the mechanism most likely to trigger the workers’ compensation overlap above. Where the injury proves fatal, the claim becomes a wrongful death action.
Fault is still 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.
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, delivered to the official authorized to accept service and stating a specific settlement amount with supporting facts 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. Valley Metro operates the light rail. The City maintains roads, signals, and public facilities. Families focused on an ICU rarely learn about this deadline in time.
Jason A. Harris practices in both personal injury and workers’ compensation the combination that matters most in these cases, because a workplace injury with a third-party defendant requires both claims managed together, with the one-year window and the carrier’s lien handled deliberately rather than discovered late. 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.
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, life care planning, vocational and economic experts, medical records, accident reconstruction are separate and set out in writing before you sign. Consultations are free. Full breakdown: what a personal injury lawyer costs in Arizona.
Can I sue if my spinal cord injury happened at work in Tempe? Not your own employer in most cases workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy there. But A.R.S. § 23-1023 preserves a claim against a third party such as a general contractor who is not your employer, another subcontractor, a property owner, or an equipment manufacturer. If you are receiving compensation benefits, filing that third-party action within one year of accrual is what keeps the claim under your control.
What’s the difference between a complete and incomplete spinal cord injury? A complete injury means no motor or sensory function persists below the neurological level. An incomplete injury means some function remains. The classification is made clinically and can change during early recovery, which is one reason settling before the medical picture stabilizes is risky. You would be valuing a prognosis nobody has established yet.
Who pays for home modifications and an accessible vehicle? These are recoverable future damages, but they have to be documented and quantified rather than mentioned. A life care planner itemizes ramps, doorway widening, roll-in shower, lift and hand controls, and equipment replacement cycles. Health insurance typically covers little of this, which is why omitting it from the claim is so costly.
What if I was hurt diving at a pool or at Tempe Town Lake? Shallow-water diving is a recognized cause of cervical injury, and a claim may turn on premises liability whether depth was marked, whether warnings were posted and adequate, or whether access was controlled. Where the location is city-owned or operated by a public entity, the 180-day notice of claim requirement may apply instead of the two-year deadline.
Can my spouse or family bring their own claim? Potentially. Loss of consortium claims belong to the affected family member rather than to the injured person, and they are evaluated separately. They are also frequently overlooked when a case is settled quickly.
How long does a spinal cord injury case take in Arizona? Longer than most claims, and usually for a good reason. Valuing lifetime care requires the medical picture to stabilize and expert work to be completed. A case resolved in a few months is generally one settled before anyone knew what it was worth.
If workers’ compensation is involved, the one-year window to control your own third-party claim is already running. If a public entity may share responsibility, so is the 180 days.
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 traumatic brain 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 diagnosis.
Reviewed by Jason A. Harris, Harris Injury Law.
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““After my severe back accident in Tempe, my life changed. Jason Harris and his team helped me understand the endless medical bills, assistive devices, and lost wages I was facing. I’m grateful for their dedication and compassion.”
- M.T., Tempe, AZ
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“When the accident happened I didn’t know how I’d pay for rehabilitation and home modifications. Harris Injury Law took over all the settlement negotiations so I could focus on healing. I genuinely felt like they treated me like family.”
- S.R., Tempe, AZ
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“Our father suffered a spinal cord injury on a construction site in Tempe and the negligent contractor tried to deny responsibility. The lawyers at Harris Injury Law held the at-fault party accountable and we got the settlement our dad needed for long-term care.”
- K.P., Tempe, AZ
Testimonials reflect individual experiences and do not guarantee similar results. Each case is different and must be evaluated on its own merits.
Located at 1136 E Campbell Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85014. Harris Injury Law, PLLC specializes in auto and truck accidents and workers’ compensation. Speak directly with your lawyer from the beginning. Same-day and emergency consultations are available. You never pay out of pocket. Call us at any time – 24/7.
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