Arizona Personal Injury Laws

Diminished Value in Phoenix

We hold ourselves out as some of the leading attorneys anywhere on diminished value. Diminished value is the depreciation that your vehicle suffers following an accident once your vehicle is properly repaired. It’s not that your vehicle is totaled, but it’s repaired and now has less value in the market place than it did before the accident.

Diminished Value Claims & Appraisers

To pursue a diminished value claim, we hire an appraiser. An appraiser is someone who has the ability to evaluate the value of the vehicle before the accident and the value of the vehicle now. Often times, it may be in the value of (20) twenty, (30) thirty, and even (40) forty percent of the fair market value of your vehicle. Why, because now you can’t sell that vehicle in the open market place. You can’t get a retail value. You try to go trade it in, the dealership knows that it’s been involved in a wreck. As a result, they don’t want to take it in, because they can’t make a profit on it. So, you’re likely only going to get a wholesale value.

Wattel & York

Why do most attorneys not pursue the claims? Because, it doesn’t benefit them. We’re looking out for your best interests, whether it be something as simple as a diminished value claim, or as extensive as a significant injury claim. We’re there to do everything that it takes to get you fully documented on all of your claims.

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

My name is Mack Jones and I’m a personal injury attorney at Jones Raczkowski, PC here in Phoenix, Arizona. You’ve received a notice of lien in the mail. It could have come from any of a number of sources – a hospital, an insurance company, Medicare, Medicare Advantage plan, even your employer. Just because they have sent you a lien form does not mean that they actually have lien rights. Lien rights are where a third party – insurance company, hospital, Medicare – is entitled to recover what they have paid out in the event you make a personal injury recovery. If you don’t make a recovery, they’re not entitled to be repaid.

So the first thing is, don’t worry about it. You only have to worry about it if you get money on your personal injury claim. Second, equally important, is just because they’re asserted does not mean that they’re all legitimate. That’s why you need a competent and reputable personal injury attorney to navigate through and deal with these liens, because just because people assert that they have them doesn’t mean that they’re legitimate. If you have questions about a personal injury case or a lien, please contact us at Jones Raczkowski, (602) 840-8787.

By: Mack Jones

My name’s Mark Raczkowski. I’m an attorney at Jones Raczkowski PC in Phoenix, Arizona. I’ve been practicing for over (11) years here in Arizona. We’ve been focusing our efforts on cases involving slip and falls and trip in falls for more than (25) years. The attorneys at my firm are passionate about what they do. We focus on our clients. We want to make sure that our clients have their questions answered. That they’re educated about the process. And that they get the compensation that they deserve.

We’re a smaller firm so we have a more personal touch with our clients. It’s easy for clients to get in touch with myself, with my partner, with staff inside the office. If somebody contacts us, we try to get back to them within (24) hours. Certainly, they should be able to speak with a staff person when they contact the office. And attorneys – if they’re not immediately available – will try to get in touch with the clients within a day or so.

We focus on slip and fall and trip and fall cases. As a result, we sue a lot of the same types of defendants around town. We know the attorneys that are going to be defending certain entities here in Phoenix, and so we know what to expect in litigation, and we know what we need to do in order to achieve a successful result.

A lot of the clients that we talk with have been rejected by other attorneys who think their case might be too hard and they don’t want to take it to trial. We’re different, and we will talk to those clients, and a lot of times we’ll take those cases, and we’ll prosecute them. If you’ve been turned down by other attorneys, and they’ve told you that your case is just too difficult, and they don’t want to handle it for you, or maybe they did a little work on it but they decided that they didn’t want to move forward with it into litigation, contact us, www.azpremiseslaw.com.

By: Mark Raczkowski

Contingent Fee Basis

In Arizona, personal injury cases are handled on a contingent fee basis, which means that we agree not to charge you for any attorney’s fees, until we settle your personal injury case or win it at trial or arbitration. We are counting on our abilities just like you, our clients do. If we recover nothing, you pay no attorney’s fees. Certain costs may remain the responsibility of the client. Costs in personal injury case include expenses such as the filing fee, service of process, expert witnesses, medical records, copying and mailing charges and other expenses deemed necessary to pursue your personal injury lawsuit.

Personal Injury Cases

Personal Injury cases include any and all vehicle accidents, wrongful death, slip and fall, dog bite and many others. Our firm handles all of these cases on a contingent fee basis. If you have any questions or would like to know more about your personal injury, contact me at (602) 385-6818 or email me.

By: Jess Lorona

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

Case Value in Phoenix

This is an extremely difficult question to answer. It is also the most common question asked. In general, personal injury cases have five categories of recovery:

1. Pain and suffering
2. Past lost wages or salary
3. Loss of future earning capacity
4. Past medical bills
5. Future medical bills

Insurance Companies

Insurance companies and insurance defense lawyers have become very skilled at attacking claims in a personal injury case. There is no guarantee that a particular party will receive a particular damage amount. This is why it is so important to hire an attorney who is familiar with these types of cases and handles them regularly. If you have questions or would like to know more about personal injury, contact me at (602) 385-6818 or email me.

If you would like get a better understanding about how much your particular personal injury case may be worth, please visit an attorney’s profile and complete a contact form today.

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