Arizona Personal Injury Laws

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

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

Qualifications

Personal injury actions require, by their very nature, that someone be injured. The injury can be physical or in some cases, emotional. The general goal of a personal injury action is to place the blame for the injury on the party who caused it, and to require them to compensate the injured person for the losses they have sustained. So if you have been injured either intentionally or negligently, you may be able to bring a personal injury claim. If you have questions or would like to know more about personal injury, contact me at (602) 385-6818 or email me.

For more information about what qualifies as a personal injury case in Arizona, please fill out an attorney’s contact form.

By: Jess Lorona

My name is Mack Jones and I’m an attorney at Jones Raczkowski PC, a personal injury firm here in Phoenix. What is fault? Fault is how we determine responsibility for a serious personal injury. Many people think that simply because you fall on somebody else’s property that they are responsible because you got hurt. That’s not the case. You have to prove fault. Fault is negligence on the part of the property owner. In Arizona, both parties can be at fault. Meaning that you, the injured person, defendant may assert that you bear some responsibility as well. It’s up to your attorney to try to get as much fault assessed as against the defendant, and as little fault assessed as against you. Which will increase and maximize your monetary recovery for the injuries sustained. If you have questions about a serious personal injury, please contact me at Jones Raczkowski PC, (602) 840-8787.

By: Mack Jones

Property Damages in Phoenix

I don’t understand why law firms don’t help injured victims out with their property damages. We at Wattel and York have a property damage division dedicated to serving our clients, whether that be getting your vehicle repaired properly, or getting a fair market value on the total loss. You know, if your vehicle needs to be repaired, it needs to be repaired properly and safely.

Insurance Companies

Insurance companies cut corners these days and they make money by having you go to their shops. Why, because they control the labor costs, because they can put the parts that they want on your vehicle. We recommend you get it repaired at an independent body shop, not one that’s contracted with an insurance company through a direct repair program. We recommend you have OEM parts utilized in the repair, not after market parts. Those after market parts may not fit. In addition, they may nullify your manufacturer warranty.

Wattel & York

Let us help you with the property damage portion of your claim. We do it without cost to you if we’re handling your personal injury claim.

By: David Wattel

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

Bad Surgical Outcome Litigation in Orlando

A lot of clients call and ask us if they can bring a case after a bad surgical result. A lot of times early on we don’t know if the bad result was the result of negligence or just a bad outcome. A lot of things can happen; infections, injuries, nerves can get cut even if the doctor doesn’t do anything wrong, but there are cases where the doctors or nurses are negligent and cause harm. So until we get the records and have them reviewed by experts, we really don’t know if you have a case. So if you have a question about whether or not you have a malpractice case, call me, Nathan Carter at Calling, Gilbert, Wright, and Carter at 1-800-49-LEGAL.

By: Nathan Carter

Medical Malpractice Claims in Phoenix

We handle medical malpractice claims. A lot of lawyers don’t. They’re very time consuming, they’re very expensive often times. We have an obligation to establish that your physician has breached the standard of care, fell below the standard of care, and that that breach has caused you injury. You may have been harmed by your physician, and you may have a viable malpractice claim, but it may not be economically worth pursuing.

Pursuing Malpractice Claims

Often times these days, medical malpractice claims take tens of thousands and we’ve had some, as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars in client costs to pursue them to conclusion. It’s gotta be a good injury, it’s gotta be significant, because otherwise, it may not be cost-effective to pursue it.

Wattel & York

If you’ve been injured, give us a call. We’ll tell you if we think we can help you out. Call is free, consultation is free. We represent you. We work on a contingency basis. That means no money up front. We get paid at the end of the case. And if we don’t collect money for you, there’s no fee.

By: David Wattel

Phoenix Car Accident Claim Process

So, you’re involved in an accident, your vehicle has been damaged, is it repairable, is it a total? We’re going to help you out with that. If it’s repairable, you got a diminished value claim. We’ll help you pursue that as well. You need some medical treatment? We’ll make sure you get to the appropriate providers.

Once you’ve got yourself well, then it’s time to try and settle your claim. We’ll present a demand to the insurance company, document all your losses, medical expenses, your out of pocket expenses, your lost wages, value for pain and suffering, and we’ll give them an opportunity to pay you fair value.

And, if they choose to do so, great. If on the other hand, the insurance company wants to be stingy, we’ll litigate and we’ll force them to pay you fair value. Come to us and that’s what you can expect.

By: David Wattel