Arizona · Injured in a crash

Partly at Fault in an Arizona Crash? You Can Still Recover

You were going a little over the limit when the other driver pulled out in front of you. Or you glanced at your phone right before the light changed. Now your back is killing you, the adjuster keeps saying the word "shared," and you are wondering whether being even a little bit at fault means you get nothing. In Arizona, it does not. This article explains how it actually works.

What "comparative negligence" means in Arizona

Arizona uses a rule called pure comparative negligence. It is in the state statutes at A.R.S. 12-2505. In plain words: the people involved in a crash are each assigned a percentage of the blame, and whatever you recover is reduced by your percentage.

That is the whole rule. There is no cutoff. If you were 10 percent at fault, you recover 90 percent of your damages. If you were 50 percent at fault, you recover half. If you were 90 percent at fault, you can still recover 10 percent. It is one of the most forgiving fault rules in the country.

Damages means your medical bills, lost wages, future care, and pain and suffering, all added together before the reduction is applied.

The one exception

There is one situation where Arizona gives you nothing: if you intentionally, wilfully, or wantonly caused the injury. That is not a driver who was speeding or distracted. That is a driver who meant to cause harm or acted with complete disregard for whether anyone got injured. For an ordinary crash, even a bad one, this exception almost never comes up.

How Arizona compares to Florida

Many people who call us have family in Florida or moved from there, and Florida's rule is different in a way that matters. Florida uses a modified rule. If you are found more than 50 percent at fault, you recover nothing at all.

So in Florida, the fight is over one line: are you above or below half. In Arizona there is no line. Every percentage point the insurer pushes onto you costs you money, but it never zeroes you out. That changes how insurers negotiate, and it means an Arizona claim can be worth pursuing even when you know you made a mistake.

Who decides the percentages

On paper, a jury decides. In practice, most car crash claims never see a courtroom. The percentages get negotiated between your side and the insurance adjuster, and the adjuster works from what is in the file:

• The police report and any citations
• Photos of the cars, the road, and the intersection
• Witness statements
• What each driver said at the scene and to the insurers afterward
• Phone records, dash cam or traffic camera footage, and vehicle data when someone bothers to get them

Nobody in that negotiation is neutral. The adjuster's job is to make your percentage as high as they can defend. Your job, or your lawyer's job, is to make it as low as the evidence supports.

Why "I'm sorry" at the scene costs money

Because fault is a percentage and not a yes or no, small things move the number. "I'm sorry" or "I didn't see you" said at the scene tends to land in the other driver's insurance file as an admission. It is not proof of anything, but it gives the adjuster something to point at when they argue you were 30 percent at fault instead of 10.

The same goes for a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer. You are not required to give one. If they call, you can say you are still getting treatment and are not ready to discuss it.

When more than one person caused the crash

Arizona handles multiple defendants differently than many states. In most cases, each person who caused the crash pays only their own share. If a driver was 70 percent at fault and a trucking company was 30 percent, each pays their own percentage, and you cannot collect the trucking company's share from the driver, or the other way around.

That matters when one of the at-fault parties is uninsured or has very little coverage. Arizona's minimum liability limits are 25/50/15, meaning $25,000 per person for injury, $50,000 per crash, and $15,000 for property damage. Those numbers do not go far after a hospital visit. This is where your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, if you carry it, comes in.

What the rest of Arizona's system looks like

A few other pieces fit together with the fault rule:

• Arizona is an at-fault state. There is no personal injury protection like Florida has. The at-fault driver's insurer pays, reduced by your share, and your own medical payments coverage can fill in early bills if you have it.
• You generally have two years from the crash to file a lawsuit for an injury.
• If a city, county, or state vehicle was involved, you have 180 days to file a formal notice of claim with the government, or the claim is gone. That deadline arrives fast.

Does a lawyer help when you were partly at fault?

This is the situation where a lawyer often makes the most difference. When fault is clear, the argument is about how injured you are. When fault is shared, the argument is about both, and the percentage is where an adjuster can quietly take the most off your claim.

A lawyer pulls the crash report, gets the camera footage before it is erased, talks to witnesses while they still remember, and pushes back on a percentage that is not supported by the evidence. Personal injury lawyers in Arizona work on contingency, meaning no fee unless money is recovered, and the first conversation is free. Being partly at fault is not a reason to skip that call. It is the reason to make it.

Call Clyne is a lawyer referral service, not a law firm. Stephen Clyne is not an attorney. This article is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. Talk to a licensed Arizona attorney about your situation.