How Arizona’s statute of limitations affects your Phoenix truck accident lawsuit

A commercial truck slams into your car during the morning rush on I-10, and the next thing you register is airbags and sirens. A month later you're still going to physical therapy and sorting through hospital bills. Six months out, an insurance adjuster calls with a “final offer” that won't cover a quarter of what you've spent. And in the background, a clock you didn't know about keeps running.

Arizona gives you exactly two years to file a lawsuit after a truck accident. Miss that deadline, and the court will dismiss your case. It doesn't matter how clear the trucker's fault was. It doesn't matter how much you spent on treatment.

This article breaks down how the statute of limitations works in Arizona truck accident cases, what exceptions apply in Phoenix (some give you less than six months), and why waiting until the last day is riskier than you think.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for a Truck Accident in Arizona

Arizona's statute of limitations for personal injury claims is two years from the date of the accident (A.R.S. § 12-542). That covers medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and whatever you spent fixing or replacing your car. File one day late and the defendant moves to dismiss. The court grants it. There's no extension, no grace period.

When the victim dies from their injuries, the two-year clock starts on the date of death, not the date of the crash (A.R.S. § 12-542). So an accident in January 2024 followed by a death in March 2025 pushes the wrongful death filing deadline to March 2027.

There's also the discovery rule. Not every injury shows up right away. Spinal damage and internal bleeding can show up weeks later, and the delayed effects of a traumatic brain injury sometimes take even longer to surface. Arizona courts may start the two-year window from the moment the victim knew, or reasonably should have known, about the injury. Courts apply this narrowly. You'll need to prove that earlier detection wasn't realistically possible. To be fair, that's a high bar. You'll typically need medical documentation showing the injury wasn't diagnosable at the time of the crash.

Exceptions That Can Change Your Filing Deadline in Phoenix

Shortened Deadlines for Claims Against Government Vehicles

When the crash involves a city vehicle, a road defect on an ADOT-maintained highway, or a malfunctioning traffic signal, the timeline shrinks fast. A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires a written notice of claim within 180 calendar days of the accident. That notice must include a specific dollar amount and the factual basis for the claim.

Miss this deadline and you're locked out of court entirely. Even if the general two-year window is still open, it won't save you. And it doesn't matter how obvious the government's fault is. This is, honestly, the most dangerous deadline in Arizona truck accident law.

Once the notice is filed, you have one year to bring the actual lawsuit (A.R.S. § 12-821). In Phoenix, this applies to claims against the City of Phoenix, Maricopa County, ADOT, and local school districts.

Tolling the Statute of Limitations if the Victim Is a Minor

For victims under 18, the two-year clock pauses until they reach adulthood (A.R.S. § 12-502). A ten-year-old injured today can file a lawsuit until age 20.

Government claims follow a tighter rule. The notice of claim must go out within 180 days of the victim's 18th birthday (A.R.S. § 12-821.01(D)). Families who don't know about this requirement miss it. And once it's gone, it's gone.

Why You Shouldn't Wait Until the Deadline to File Your Claim

In 2023, 155 people died in large-truck crashes on Arizona roads. Of those, 116 were in passenger vehicles (NHTSA, DOT HS 813,717). Nationally, 40% more people died in truck crashes in 2023 than in 2014 (NHTSA FARS). Behind every one of those numbers is a case that required proving fault, collecting physical evidence before it disappeared, and identifying every responsible party. Two years sounds like enough time. But trucking companies don't wait. They send their own teams to the crash scene within hours. Those teams download the black box data, talk to witnesses and photograph the scene. While the injured person is still in the hospital, the other side already controls the key evidence.

Surveillance camera footage gets overwritten every 30 to 90 days. Witness memories lose detail within a couple of months. And the records that matter most in truck cases have a short shelf life:

• Maintenance logs
• Event data recorder files
• ELD records
• GPS data

Without a timely spoliation letter, the carrier has no obligation to preserve any of it beyond FMCSA minimums. From what we've seen, carriers rarely hold onto this data any longer than they're required to.

This is where cases get lost.

Insurance companies won't volunteer this, but negotiating with them doesn't pause the statute of limitations. You can spend six months exchanging paperwork and hearing “we're still reviewing your claim.” The clock keeps running. If the deadline hits during negotiations, your right to file is gone. We've seen it happen. People with strong claims who spent months going back and forth with an adjuster, only to realize they'd let the clock run out.

Truth be told, most truck crashes aren't simple. NHTSA's 2023 data shows that 80% of fatal large-truck crashes involved multiple vehicles. Liability can fall on the driver, the trucking company, whoever loaded the cargo, even the parts manufacturer. Sorting out each party's share takes expert analysis and crash reconstruction, plus months of digging through the truck's electronic records. Starting that process eighteen months after the crash means working with whatever evidence survived, not the full picture.

Contact a Phoenix Truck Accident Attorney Before Time Runs Out

Kermani LLP starts every truck accident case by locking down evidence: a spoliation letter to the carrier, requests for black box and ELD data and preservation of camera footage before it gets overwritten. We work on a contingency fee basis, so you pay nothing unless we win. Free consultation, 24/7.