Arizona Personal Injury Laws

Phoenix Motorcycle Accident Settlements

Often times, if you’ve been involved in a motorcycle accident, you sustain a pretty good injury. Why, because you’re going to lose versus that other vehicle. When dealing with a motorcycle accident, we recognize that you may have a sizable claim. We understand about motorcycle accidents very well, represented a number of people involved in motorcycle accidents in the past. Give us a call if you’ve had a motorcycle accident. We’ll do our best for you.

By: David Wattel

Important Questions

A court system is complex and personal injury cases demand an attorney with experience. A good personal injury attorney is familiar with the court system and how insurance companies play the game. Is your attorney willing to take your case to court? Do you want an attorney that just settles your cases or do you want an attorney that will fight for you and is not afraid to take your case to trial? Is your attorney responsive to you? Does your attorney respond to your telephone calls and emails? Does he answer your questions? Does he make you feel important and that any question you ask is important? Does your attorney respond to your concerns, fears, or the specific difficulties of your case? Is he humble, patient and caring with you? Is your attorney honest and forthright? Your attorney should explain to you exactly how he gets paid, your responsibilities and the strengths and weaknesses of your case. It is easy to talk about how great your case is, but is your attorney able to be honest with you about why your case isn’t so great? If you have any questions or would like to know more about personal injury, contact me at (602) 385-6818 or email me.

By: Jess Lorona

My name is Mark Raczkowski. I’m an attorney at Jones, Raczkowski PC in Phoenix, Arizona. One of the most frequent questions I get is, what is the value of my claim?  Honestly, it’s hard to know what the value of a person’s claim is until a lot of information is learned. The value of a claim is based primarily on the medical expenses that a person incurs as a result of treatment for their serious injury. But you can also claim damages for lost wages, lost future earnings, as well as the pain and suffering associated with that serious injury. Until you have all of that information, it’s hard to say what the value of a claim is. But once all that information is learned, you have a better idea based on our experience of these types cases to determine what the appropriate value of a claim is. If you have more questions about the value of your claim reach me at www.azpremiseslaw.com.

By: Mark Raczkowski

When you’ve been hurt in a car wreck there are a lot of people who want to give you advice, but if you want the right advice, there’s only one person you need to talk to you. I’m attorney Kevin Rowe. In a wreck? Need a check? Make one call, that’s all. 977-1900.

By: Kevin Rowe

About Jess Lorona

My name is Jess Lorona, I practice personal injury and civil litigation at the law firm of Lorona Mead PLC. I’ve been practicing law for 31 years. I am a native Arizonan and because of that, I have a lot of experience with all of Arizona.

Experience

I think that people hire me because of my experience and the training that I’ve had. I believe people hire me because of the fact that I’m a judge pro-tem. I serve as a judge in various courts. Having experience in all of these courts gives you the ability to, in any situation, know how to handle a case and I think that’s very valuable for any lawyer. I think my approach to law is based upon my experience, my experience in the courtroom, my experience outside of the courtroom.

Key Differences

I think that what makes me different from other attorneys is I have compassion, I’m a very caring person and I’m very humble. I believe I’m very concerned with a client’s needs. I always maintain contact with my clients. I make sure that they feel comfortable with me and with their case. You know, clients always have questions and concerns. A lot of times they don’t know the system and have never been involved with the system before and because of that, they’re very scared. They may have a million questions. They really don’t know what’s going on so it’s our job to make sure that they feel good. I think I can help my clients by understanding their needs. They need to feel it’s ok to call you on the phone everyday. They need to feel it’s ok to send you an email to ask you questions. They need to feel like their questions are important. We need to treat all of our clients like they’re important and their questions are important. I make sure that they know that I care about their case and I care about them more particularly. And I think that the client needs to know at that first meeting that hey, Jess is going work really hard for me, no matter what he’s going to work hard for me.

Lorona Mead

In today’s day in age, less and less cases settle, so a lawyer has to be ready to fight a case. I will fight to the end. I will take the case to trial and do whatever is necessary to make sure that my client achieves a result that is beneficial to him or her. If you want an attorney that’s honest and dedicated, then you should call me, Jess Lorona, at (602) 385-6818 or email me.

By: Jess Lorona

Attorney Thomas M. Richardson

I’ve been practicing law here in the Phoenix area and in Greater Arizona area for the last 15 years. I do mainly trial work and a lot of the cases that I have – are able to settle before they go to trial.

A personal injury attorney is a moniker, really, attached to trial lawyers. What I always wanted to do is trial law. I do a lot of jury psychology studies, a lot of jury strategy studies, in an effort to be a good trial lawyer. So when I am a personal injury attorney, it’s actually being a trial lawyer.

By: Thomas Richardson

My name is Mark Raczkowski, and I’m an attorney at Jones Raczkowski PC in Phoenix, Arizona. Under most circumstances, if you slip and fall on somebody else’s property, they will not cover your medical expenses. Depends on what type of insurance coverage, if any, that they have as well as what assets they might have. But if you slip and fall and been seriously injured on someone’s property, the first thing you need to do is speak with an attorney that is familiar with the types of issues that come up in slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall cases. My office has focused on slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall cases for more than 25 years, and we know what to expect with regards to defendants that own property where people have been hurt. If you have questions about a serious injury that you’ve suffered as a result of a slip-and-fall on someone else’s property contact me through my website at www.azpremiseslaw.com.

By: Mark Raczkowski

Personal Injury Case Process in Phoenix

A personal injury case can take anywhere from six months to two, or several years or more to resolve. Different factors can affect his time period. Most important is the medical treatment you receive for your injuries. Many people have to undergo physical therapy, chiropractic or other treatment following an injury. More serious injuries may begin with a period of conservative care and move to other types of treatment including surgery. Neither our firm or the insurance company can place a value on your injuries until you have finished your course of treatment. When your treatment has completed, we will obtain all necessary reports and forward them to the insurance carrier for the negligent party. Settlement negotiations then may begin. If the case cannot settle, a lawsuit may need to be filed. Most cases resolve without trial, although there may be cases that because of the nature of the accident, the case may proceed to trial.

If you would like to know how long your personal injury case might last, please contact my law firm.

By: Jess Lorona

Hi, my name is Nathan Meyer. I’m a partner at Jaburg Wilk. My practice areas include insurance coverage, insurance bad faith, insurance UM and UIM litigation, as well as commercial litigation, professional liability litigation, and general liability litigation. There’s actually been some very favorable rulings for insurance companies regarding punitive damages. It started with a United States Supreme Court case in 2003 in Campbell. There is also recently been some Court of Appeals cases that has significantly reduced punitive damages award amounts to much more reasonable amounts in Arizona.

Reducing Punitive Damage Awards

In the United States Supreme court case “Campbell”, the court actually reduced a $145 million punitive damages award all the way down to a million dollars, or at least they said – they told the Utah Supreme Court, “We’re sending this back to you, and you need to reduce this award to something around a million dollars.”

In a recent Arizona Court of Appeals case, there was a $54 million punitive damages award. And the Court of Appeals initially reduced that from $54 million down to $620,000. Then the Arizona Supreme Court actually reduced it from $620,000 all the way down to $155,000. So it’s a substantial reduction.

Also you have another recent case called “Orellana the Prime Life Insurance Company”, and they reduced a punitive damage award from about $1.3 million all the way down to $320,000. So courts are really reducing some of these egregious punitive damages awards amounts down to something much more reasonable.

3 Factors Courts Consider When Reducing Punitive Damage Awards

In “Campbell V. State Farm”, that 2003 United States Supreme Court case, the court established three guide post a court should look at when they’re reviewing these large punitive damages awards.

One is reprehensibility, the degree of reprehensibility of the defendant’s conduct. Two is the disparity, and that’s where you get the ratio of the punitive damages to the compensatory damages. And the third is comparability to civil authorized fines, and those are usually fines authorized by statutes.

For example, in Arizona there is a maximum $50,000 fine per six month period when you violate the unfair claim settlement practices act. So those are the three things that courts look at when considering whether to reduce punitive damages.

By: Nathan D. Meyer