Tempe Catastrophic Injury Lawyer
Catastrophic Injury Lawyer in Tempe, Arizona: Help After a Life-Changing Injury
A catastrophic injury lawyer in Tempe can explain your legal rights after an injury that changes the rest of your life, such as a severe brain or spinal injury, a major burn or an amputation. Most Arizona injury claims must be filed within two years (A.R.S. 12-542), and Arizona has no caps on personal injury damages, so the claim should reflect your whole future, not only the first bills.
- Filing deadline
- Generally 2 years from the injury
- A.R.S. 12-542(1)
- Damage caps
- None on personal injury or death damages
- Ariz. Const. art. 2 sec. 31; art. 18 sec. 6
- Punitive damages
- Only for an evil mind, proven by clear and convincing evidence
- Linthicum v. Nationwide (Ariz. 1986)
What Makes an Injury Catastrophic
There is no single legal test. In practice, a catastrophic injury is one that is permanent or lasting, that changes how a person can work, move, think or care for themselves, and that brings costs over many years. A broken leg that heals is serious, but it is not usually described this way. A traumatic brain injury, a spinal cord injury, a severe burn or the loss of a limb usually is.
That difference changes how a claim is handled. A routine claim looks backward at what has been paid. A catastrophic injury claim has to look forward, often by decades, and it has to withstand an insurer's argument at every step. Valley Accident Law is a Scottsdale firm, not a Tempe office. We start by phone, and the first call is a free case review.
Arizona
Tempe and Arizona Crash Numbers That Frame the Risk
These are public figures reported by named sources. They are context, not predictions, and they say nothing about your case.
| Figure | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | Traffic fatalities in Tempe in 2023 | azfamily.com, February 2024 |
| 18 | Of those crashes were attributed to excessive speeding | azfamily.com, February 2024 |
| 1,307 | Traffic fatalities in Arizona in 2023, out of 122,247 total crashes | ADOT, 2023 data |
| 446 | Arizona fatalities in 2023 where speed contributed | ADOT, 2023 data |
| 332 | Arizona fatalities in alcohol-related crashes in 2023 | ADOT, 2023 data |
| 258 | Motorcyclist deaths in Arizona in 2023, a 20 year high | ADOT, 2023 data |
| 2018 | The year Tempe became the first Arizona city recognized as a Vision Zero city | ABC15, 2024 |
Source: azfamily.com (Feb 2024); ADOT bulletin (2023 data); ABC15 (2024)
Life-Changing Injuries a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer in Tempe Sees
This is not an exhaustive list, and you do not need to fit a category to call.
- Traumatic brain injury
See our Tempe brain injury page for how those claims are built on early records.
- Spinal cord injury and paralysis
Lifetime care and equipment are the heart of the claim. See our Tempe spinal cord injury page.
- Burn injuries
A burn injury lawyer in Tempe looks at how the burn happened: a vehicle fire after a crash, scalding water, an electrical or chemical source, or a defective product. Treatment is for your doctors to decide; our part is the cause and the future costs.
- Amputation and crush injuries
Often from high-speed crashes, machinery or falls, with prosthetics and adaptation as ongoing costs.
- Severe orthopedic and internal injuries
Multiple surgeries and long recoveries, sometimes with permanent loss of function.
- Wrongful death
When a catastrophic event costs a life, the family's claim has its own rules. See wrongful death in Tempe.
Arizona
Where Serious Accidents Happen in and Around Tempe
Tempe's own crash work gives a useful picture. The city chooses its safety corridors from three years of serious and fatal crash data. That is information we can use when we look at where and why an accident happened.
Baseline Road
A 3.9 mile corridor getting a $12 million U.S. DOT grant. A 2024 news report counted 35 serious or fatal crashes in recent years, 7 of them involving pedestrians, and the city engineer said three lanes each way encourages speeding.
McClintock Drive, Rural Road, University Drive and Elliot Road
All named in Tempe's 2024 safety corridor program, with strict enforcement and yellow banners.
Loop 101, Loop 202, US 60 and I-10
Four freeways serve Tempe. The Broadway Curve on I-10 carried an estimated 294,000 vehicles a day in a 2006 estimate.
The city's Vision Zero dashboard
Tempe publishes fatal and serious injury crash data from 2012, last updated August 27, 2025, sorted by violation, crash type, alcohol or drug involvement, lighting and more.
Nearby trauma care
No designated trauma center on the state's December 2025 list has a Tempe address. The nearest Level I centers are Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa and Chandler Regional Medical Center, with Phoenix centers including Valleywise Health and Banner University Medical Center Phoenix.
A Catastrophic Injury Claim Differs From a Routine One
Insurance companies and attorneys often negotiate the percentage of fault, and in a large claim the stakes of that argument are higher. Arizona uses pure comparative fault (A.R.S. 12-2505), so a share of blame lowers a recovery but does not bar it.
What changes in a large claim
- Future care, equipment and lost earning power are valued, often with outside experts.
- More than one party and more than one insurer may be involved.
- Hospital, provider and health plan liens can be large.
- The insurer's policy limit may matter, and we look at every coverage source, including your own.
What stays the same
- The filing deadline is generally two years (A.R.S. 12-542(1)).
- You should be careful about agreeing to a recorded statement.
- Early records and photographs matter.
- You pay no attorney fee unless we recover money for you.
Step by step
First Steps for a Family After a Life-Changing Injury
A family in the hospital cannot do everything. These steps can be done by a relative or a friend.
- 1
Write down the report number.
Whoever responded created a record. Our guide to getting a police report in Arizona tells you where to ask.
- 2
Gather the insurance information.
Yours and everyone else's, including health insurance, auto insurance and any employer coverage.
- 3
Keep a folder of everything.
Bills, notices, letters from insurers and notes of calls. Medical liens often arrive quickly; our guide to medical liens explains them.
- 4
Hold off on signing and on recorded statements.
Early offers rarely account for a lifetime of needs. Signing can injure your legal rights.
- 5
Call us when you are able.
We can start by phone, so nobody has to leave a hospital room. The earlier you call, the better, but it's never too late.
Deadlines Do Not Pause for a Hospital Stay
The general deadline is two years from the injury (A.R.S. 12-542(1)), and in a death case two years from the date of death (A.R.S. 12-542(2)). If a city, school district or other public entity may be involved, a written notice of claim is generally due within 180 days and a lawsuit within one year (A.R.S. 12-821.01 and 12-821). A child's deadlines are paused until age 18, but a parent's claim for medical bills is not paused for a public entity. These rules have exceptions, so call us and we will explain how they apply to you.
Related Tempe Pages
A catastrophic injury usually starts with a specific kind of accident.
How a Serious Accident Lawyer in Tempe Spends the First Weeks
A serious accident lawyer in Tempe will often spend the first weeks on tasks the family never sees: preservation letters so that video, vehicle data and maintenance records are not lost; a list of every insurance policy that could respond; and a plan for medical bills while the claim develops. A catastrophic accident lawyer in Tempe also begins the slow work of finding out what your doctors expect the future to hold, because that drives the largest part of the claim.
If you are looking for a serious personal injury lawyer in Tempe, you can expect honest answers, not promises. We do not give medical advice, and we cannot promise any result. Claims of $10,000 or more go to Maricopa County Superior Court, assigned by the court's rules to a location such as the Central Court Building at 201 W. Jefferson in Phoenix or the Southeast location at 222 E. Javelina Avenue in Mesa. Our office is about 8 miles from downtown Tempe by road.
We also serve Phoenix, Mesa and Scottsdale, and our statewide page for an Arizona catastrophic injury lawyer covers the rules across the state. For other claims, see our personal injury lawyer in Tempe page. To understand how values are reached, read what a personal injury case is worth.
Related pages
Other practice areas in Tempe
Questions
Questions about Tempe catastrophic injury cases
What counts as a catastrophic injury in Arizona?
There is no single definition. We use the term for injuries that are permanent or long-lasting and that change how a person can work, move or live, such as severe brain and spinal injuries, major burns and amputations.
Is there a limit on what a catastrophic injury claim can recover?
Arizona has no caps on personal injury or death damages. What a claim recovers depends on the proof of your losses and on fault, which insurers and attorneys often negotiate.
Does Tempe publish crash data that could help my case?
Tempe publishes a Vision Zero dashboard of fatal and serious injury crashes from 2012 onward. It is one of the sources we may look at when the location of a crash matters. It does not decide a case.
Where is the closest trauma center to Tempe?
The state's December 2025 trauma center list shows no designated center with a Tempe address. The nearest Level I centers are Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa and Chandler Regional Medical Center in Chandler. Our trauma center guide lists the others.
I am a student hurt on campus. Does a different rule apply?
It may. If a public entity is involved, a written notice of claim is generally due within 180 days. We ask who owned the place or vehicle, then explain the deadline that fits.
Do I need a catastrophic injury attorney in Tempe if my insurer is already paying some bills?
Early payments do not mean a fair resolution. Be careful about signing releases or agreeing to a recorded statement before you understand your legal rights. A free case review costs nothing.
Free case review
When Everything Has Changed, Start With One Call
Call (602) 584-8054 or request a free case review. Our experienced and friendly attorney will explain your legal rights and what comes next. The earlier you call, the better, but it's never too late to find out your legal rights.
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