Primary Location
Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyers
2700 N Central Ave Suite 320, Phoenix, AZ 85004, United States
Phone: (602) 905-7766
Call us at (855) 855-8910
Call us at (855) 855-8910
Walk into a grocery store in Tucson. Trip on a broken tile the manager knew about for weeks. Now you're in an ER with a fractured wrist and no idea who's paying for it.
Arizona law is clear on this. Property owners owe visitors a safe environment. When they cut corners and somebody gets hurt, they're on the hook for it.
How much they owe depends on why you were there in the first place:
And then there's monsoon season. July hits, rain dumps across the city, and suddenly every parking lot and sidewalk is a slip hazard. Property owners who don't clean up storm debris or address flooded entryways fast enough? That's on them, not you.
People always ask us, "Does my accident even count as premises liability?" Usually, yes. If you got hurt on somebody else's property because they didn't maintain it, you've got a potential claim.
What we handle most:
Tucson's outdoor malls and desert terrain create problems you won't see in other cities. Campbell Avenue shopping plazas have stretches of uneven pavement that catch people off guard. And commercial properties next to hiking trailheads tend to skip maintenance more than they should.
The single most common premises case we file involves wet floor falls — a spill that was not cleaned, a recently mopped area without a warning cone, or a produce-section leak that nobody flagged.
Property-based dog bite injuries are their own subset of premises claims, governed by Arizona's strict liability statute rather than the usual knew-or-should-have-known standard.
Here's what we tell every new client who calls us after a property accident. These steps matter more than people realize, because what you do in the first 48 hours shapes the entire case.
1. Get to a doctor. Don't wait it out. Don't tell yourself it's probably nothing. Some injuries, like concussions and internal bleeding, don't show up right away. Your medical record becomes the single strongest piece of evidence linking the hazard to your injury.
2. Report it. Tell the property owner or manager what happened. Ask for a written incident report and keep a copy. If they say they don't do incident reports, write down who you talked to and when.
3. Take photos. The hazard. Your injuries. The surrounding area. Missing warning signs. Anything that shows the condition of the property at that exact moment.
4. Grab witness info. Names, phone numbers, emails. Other shoppers, employees, bystanders. People forget things fast, so get their contact details while you can.
5. Don't talk to their insurance company. They'll call. They'll sound friendly. They'll ask you to give a recorded statement. Don't do it. Adjusters use those recordings to twist your words and shrink your payout.
6. Call a premises liability attorney. Before you sign any forms, releases, or settlement offers from the property owner.
We had a client who slipped on standing water at a retail store. Tore up both knees. The store's surveillance cameras? Conveniently not working that day. But our team found a witness who saw the puddle sitting there for over an hour before the fall. Nobody cleaned it up. That case settled for $390,000 because we had proof the store knew and did nothing.
Don't assume evidence will wait for you. Tucson businesses overwrite security footage in days, sometimes hours. Pima County Superior Court handles these lawsuits [1], and showing up with strong early evidence makes a real difference.
Four elements. That's what every premises liability case boils down to. Miss one and your case falls apart. Hit all four and the property owner's got a problem.
Duty of care. Did the owner have a responsibility to keep the property safe for you? If you were a customer, the answer is almost always yes.
Breach. Did they drop the ball? A leaking roof they ignored for months. A broken stair railing they knew about. A spill they saw but didn't clean up.
Causation. Did that specific failure cause your injury? Not some other unrelated thing.
Damages. Did you actually suffer losses? Medical bills, missed work, ongoing pain.
One thing that surprises people: Arizona runs a pure comparative negligence system [2]. What that means in plain English is that even if you were partly at fault, you can still collect. The insurance company loves to argue, "Well, you should have been watching where you were going." Fine. Let's say a jury agrees you were 20% responsible. You still get 80% of your damages.
What kind of evidence actually moves the needle?
Proving a premises case takes the same evidence discipline that runs through all our work — you can see all our Tucson injury pages for how we approach investigation, documentation, and valuation across every type of claim.
Most people assume it's the property owner. Sometimes it is. But premises liability cases in Tucson get complicated fast because so many different parties touch a single property.
Think about a shopping center near Park Place Mall. You've got the building owner, a separate management company that handles day-to-day operations, the individual store that leases the space, and maybe a third-party cleaning crew. If you trip on a broken floor tile in the common area, which one is responsible? All of them could be.
Parties we regularly pursue in these cases:
That last one, government claims, trips people up. If you got hurt on city or county property, Arizona has a much shorter deadline. You've got 180 days to file what's called a notice of claim under ARS 12-821.01. Not 180 days to file a lawsuit. 180 days to file a notice that you intend to pursue one. Miss it and your case is done.
Property owner liability also reaches assaults enabled by negligent security — broken gate locks, unlit parking lots, missing cameras, and a pattern of prior incidents the owner ignored.
Some property injuries heal in a few weeks. Others change the trajectory of your life.
The injuries that come up most in our premises liability cases:
Your injury type directly affects what your case is worth. A sprained ankle is one thing. Spinal fusion surgery followed by six months of physical therapy and a permanent lifting restriction? Completely different conversation.
So what can you actually get if you win? Arizona breaks it into two categories, and both matter.
Here's something worth knowing: Arizona doesn't cap non-economic damages. Some states put a ceiling on pain and suffering awards. Arizona doesn't. A jury decides what's fair based on the evidence, not some arbitrary number a politician picked.
Our attorneys have fought property owners and their insurance companies across Arizona. Here are real outcomes from our premises liability cases:
Our legal team took a premises liability fall case to trial and obtained a $21.2 million jury verdict. The client's injuries required both thoracic and lumbar fusion surgery after falling due to unsafe property conditions.
In another case, our client slipped on a wet floor and the defense claimed brittle bone disease, not the hazard, caused the injuries. The jury sided with us and awarded over $1 million.
A retail store client slipped on water leaking from an ice machine and needed a total knee replacement. The jury found the store 100% liable and returned a $900,000 verdict.
Every case is different. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Arizona gives you two years from the date of injury to file a premises liability lawsuit. Sounds like plenty of time. It's not.
Here's why. Surveillance footage? Gone within a week at most Tucson businesses. Witnesses? They move, forget, or stop returning calls. The property owner fixes the hazard so nobody else gets hurt, which is great for them and terrible for your evidence.
And if a government entity is involved, you don't get two years. You get 180 days to file a formal notice of claim. That covers injuries on Tucson city property, Pima County facilities, state-owned buildings, and public parks.
A few exceptions exist. Minors sometimes get more time. Injuries discovered well after the accident may qualify for a later start date. But banking on exceptions is a bad strategy. The sooner you talk to an attorney, the more evidence survives.
Properties around the University of Arizona campus and downtown Tucson see massive foot traffic daily. That means more potential witnesses, but it also means those witnesses blend into the crowd faster. Don't wait.
1. Get medical help right away, even if you feel fine.
2. Report the incident to the property owner or manager.
3. Ask for a copy of the incident report.
4. Photograph the hazard, your injuries, and the surrounding area.
5. Collect names and contact info from witnesses.
6. Don't sign anything from the property owner's insurance company.
7. Call a Tucson premises liability lawyer for a free case review.
Arizona's two-year statute of limitations starts the day of your injury.
Our attorneys have handled personal injury cases across Arizona and California. We know how Tucson insurance companies operate, and we know how to push back.
That number reflects real results for real families — medical bills paid, lost wages recovered, and futures protected.
You pay nothing upfront. Our fee comes out of your settlement or verdict. If we do not win your case, you owe us nothing.
Accidents do not follow business hours. Neither do we. Call (602) 905-7766 any time — nights, weekends, and holidays.
We serve Tucson clients from our Phoenix office at 2700 N Central Ave, Suite 320. We know Arizona roads, courts, and insurance adjusters — and we travel to meet you when it matters.
“After a crash, you need a team that answers the phone, explains your options, and fights for every dollar you are owed. That is what we do at The Simon Law Group.”
Over 250 years of combined attorney experience
Serving Tucson from Phoenix | 2700 N Central Ave, Suite 320 | Licensed in AZ & CA
It does, but maybe not how you'd expect. Arizona uses pure comparative negligence. Your compensation gets reduced by whatever percentage of fault the jury assigns to you. If they say you're 30% at fault, you still collect 70%. Even at 99%, you technically recover something. But obviously, the lower your fault percentage, the bigger your check.
You can. But the timeline is brutal. Instead of two years, you've got 180 days to file a notice of claim. Not a lawsuit. Just the notice. Government entities fight hard, bring in big defense firms, and look for any procedural reason to throw your case out. Don't try this without an attorney.
Broken bones, brain injuries, spinal damage, soft tissue tears, burns, lacerations, and emotional distress from things like negligent security. If an unsafe property condition caused it, there's a good chance it qualifies.
Premises liability falls under the personal injury umbrella. It's the specific branch that covers injuries from unsafe property conditions. Car accidents, medical malpractice, defective products, those are different branches of PI law.
Photos of the hazard and your injuries. Medical records showing a connection to the accident. Incident reports from the property. Witness statements. Security footage if it exists. The more documentation you bring, the harder it is for the property owner to play dumb.
Medical bills past and future, lost income, diminished earning capacity, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. Arizona doesn't cap non-economic damages, which means juries have full discretion on pain and suffering awards.
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