Arizona Personal Injury Laws

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’s Mack Jones and I’m a personal injury attorney here in Phoenix, Arizona at Jones, Raczkoski PC. There’s a “catch-22” in premises liability cases. Typically you’ll be asked by an insurance adjuster or defense attorney at some point, did you see what caused you to fall before you fell? There’s only two answers, yes I saw it or no I didn’t. But they’re prepared for either answer. If you say, yes I saw it then their argument is going to be you should have avoided it. If you say, no I didn’t see it, they’re going to say it was right in front of you. There are reasons why people fall even though they saw something and there are reasons people fall even though they didn’t see something because it was not visible. If you have a case like that you need it professionally evaluated by somebody like us, Jones Raczkowski PC. (602) 840-8787.

By: Mack Jones

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

In a wreck? Need a check?  In a wreck? Need a check?  In a wreck?  In a wreck?  Need a check?  Hurt in a wreck and need a check? I’m attorney Kevin Rowe. Make one call. That’s all. Lerner & Rowe is the way to call. Call 977-1900.

By: Kevin Rowe

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

My name is Mack Jones and I’m a personal injury attorney here in Phoenix, Arizona at Jones Raczkowski PC. You’ve been injured and now you’re receiving bills and typically you’re going to continue receiving bills and you’re going to receive repeated medical bills from the same provider. That is stressful, no matter who you are. There are ways that we at Jones Raczkowski can help.

First, you should process your bills as you normally would. If you have group health, process them through group health.

Second, if they will be included in any potential claim that is made on your behalf, as against the purported defendant, reclaim the face amount of the bills, not the reduced amount of the bills. Not your copay, not your deductible. The face amount of what the bill was as asserted by the provider.

Third, only attorneys practicing in premises liability generally are going to have an awareness. And particularly in premises liability there may be medical payments coverage available simply because you fell on somebody else’s property. That’s not fault-based insurance. It’s no-fault based insurance and it’s called medical payments, and it can be up to $5000 or $10000 just because you fell on somebody else’s property. But you need an attorney, typically, to find out whether that coverage exists. If that coverage does exist, we’ll get that coverage for you and we won’t charge a fee on that. Call us at Jones Raczkowski PC, 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

Succeeding in a Malpractice Case in Orlando

To succeed in a medical malpractice case in Florida, there are three things you have to prove. You have to prove that the doctor was negligent and deviated or fell below the standard of care, then you have to prove that that negligence caused your harm, and then we have to prove what your damages are. So there are three things you have to prove to be successful in a malpractice case. Until we get your records and have them reviewed by experts, we don’t really know if the doctor has fallen below the standard of care. So if you have a question about that and would like us to review your records for free, call me. Nathan Carter at Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter, 1-800-49-LEGAL.

By: Nathan Carter

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