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
Eighty thousand pounds. That's what a fully loaded semi weighs when it rolls down I-10. Your car? About four thousand. That 20-to-1 weight gap doesn't just matter. It decides everything about how the crash plays out and what happens to you after.
I-10 through Tucson carries nonstop freight between Phoenix and the Mexico border. Near the Ruthrauff and Prince Road interchanges, drivers are merging at highway speed into tight lanes. A semi that miscalculates at 65 mph doesn't tap your bumper. It folds your vehicle.
We settled a case for $970,000 where our client got rear-ended by a big rig on the highway. She went through multiple surgeries. One of them was a bone graft to stabilize her lumbar spine. Months of recovery. And hers was actually a moderate outcome compared to some of the truck crash injuries we handle.
NHTSA data shows that in crashes between large trucks and passenger vehicles, over 70% of fatalities are occupants of the smaller vehicle [3]. Another thing people overlook: trucks ride high. A regular sedan sits below trailer height, which means your car goes under the truck instead of bouncing off it. Underride collisions cause the worst injuries we see. Traumatic brain injuries. Crushed limbs. Spinal cord damage. Burns. A lot of these are permanent.
A loaded semi weighs 20 to 30 times more than a sedan, which is why the injuries we see here are nothing like what comes out of our everyday passenger vehicle crashes.
Fatigue. That's the number one cause and it's not even close.
Truckers running the I-10 corridor push past their legal driving hours to hit delivery windows. Sleep deprivation does the same thing to your reaction time that drinking does. But nobody smells it on you and no breathalyzer catches it.
The other causes we see regularly in Tucson truck crashes:
Tucson sits on a heavy cross-border freight route from Nogales. That puts more commercial trucks on local roads than most Arizona cities deal with. Some of these carriers push every margin, on rest, on maintenance, on load weight, because speed is money. And when they cut too many corners, people get hurt.
Blind-spot sideswipes account for most of the riders hit by a truck we represent — the trucker merges without checking, and the motorcycle in the next lane has nowhere to go.
Car wreck? One driver, one insurance company. Truck wreck? Whole different ballgame. You could be filing claims against four or five separate parties.
Who might owe you compensation:
Trucking companies know the drill. Their investigation team shows up at the crash scene within hours. They're not there to check on you. They're there to start building their defense.
We recovered close to $1 million for a client who broke his femur in a semi collision. Turned out both the driver and the carrier were at fault. Multi-party claims like that are exactly why you want attorneys who've done this before.
Nogales freight adds another wrinkle. Driver works for one outfit, the trailer belongs to a leasing company, and a third party brokered the load. Each one points at the others. Takes real investigation to sort out who actually pays.
The trucking company's lawyers get a call within minutes of the crash. Their team mobilizes fast. Here's what you need to do just as fast.
First, call 911. Get yourself to safety if you can move, but don't leave the scene. Wait for officers.
Second, go to the hospital. Not tomorrow. Today. Truck crash injuries like internal bleeding and traumatic brain injury don't always show symptoms right away. Getting checked immediately also creates a medical record tying your injuries to the crash.
Third, grab your phone and photograph everything. Vehicles, skid marks, road conditions, traffic signals. Most importantly, get a clear shot of the truck's DOT number. That number opens up the carrier's entire federal safety file.
Fourth, get the trucking company's name. Not just the driver's license. The company name, their insurance carrier, the driver's employer. These are often three different entities.
Fifth, don't talk to insurance adjusters. At all. No recorded statements, no casual conversations. They're trained to get you to say something they can use later to shrink your claim.
Sixth, call a truck accident attorney. Do it the same day if you can. While the trucking company's investigator is still at the scene, your attorney needs to be sending preservation letters.
Seventh, keep every single medical record and receipt. Gaps in treatment are the first thing the defense points to when they argue your injuries aren't that serious.
Arizona gives you two years to file suit, but here's the thing: truck companies can destroy certain records after just six months. Wait too long and the evidence you need walks out the door.
Federal regulations control nearly everything a truck driver does behind the wheel. When those rules get broken, they leave tracks. And those tracks are how cases get won.
The FMCSA says: 11 hours max driving after 10 consecutive hours off [1]. Hard stop at 14 hours from the moment you clock on. Every minute gets logged by electronic logging devices that are time-stamped and tamper-resistant. The old paper logbook tricks don't work anymore.
So what are we actually digging into when we investigate a truck crash?
I-10 between California and Texas is one of the longest freight corridors in the country. Tucson sits right in the middle of it. Drivers on tight schedules rack up fatigue violations on this stretch all the time.
Something most people don't know: trucking companies are legally required to hold onto these records. But some try to shred them early or say they got corrupted. That's why we send a preservation letter within days of the crash. It forces them to save everything. Miss that window and the proof you needed is gone.
Arizona uses pure comparative negligence. What does that actually mean for you? You can still recover money even if you were partly at fault.
Quick example. Jury says you were 20% responsible and the trucker was 80% responsible. Your award drops by 20%. You still collect the other 80%. Even at 90% fault on your side, you'd get 10%.
Why bring this up? Because the trucking company's lawyers will absolutely try to shift blame your way. You were speeding. You were in the blind spot. You should have yielded. Every percentage point they stick on you is money they save.
Speedway and Grant here in Tucson, those intersections are textbook for this. Truck swings wide on a turn, sideswipes a car, and then the defense argues the car should have given more space. We push back on that with physical evidence, camera footage, and accident reconstruction.
Don't give up on your claim because you think the crash was partly your fault. Nearly every truck accident involves shared responsibility. The question isn't whether you share some fault. It's whether you fight for the part that belongs to you.
Two years. That's your window to file a personal injury lawsuit in Arizona. After that, the courthouse door closes.
But here's a wrinkle most people miss. If a government truck or a government-maintained road contributed to the wreck, the notice deadline drops to 180 days. Half a year. Most people don't even know this clock is ticking until it's too late.
What are we actually fighting to recover? The full picture looks like this:
Pima County Superior Court is where truck accident lawsuits get filed for the Tucson area [2]. Most settle before trial. But they only settle for real money when the trucking company believes you'll actually walk into a courtroom.
When a commercial truck crash is fatal, the claim shifts to one we bring on behalf of families who lost a loved one, and the damages picture changes dramatically.
Car crash claims and truck crash claims aren't even the same sport. Different rules. Different stakes. Different opponents.
The trucking company's insurer assigns a full team the moment the crash report hits their desk. Adjusters. Investigators. Defense lawyers. Their single objective is paying you the minimum the law allows. They're good at it.
What actually changes when you bring in your own attorneys?
The Simon Law Group carries over 250 years of combined PI experience and has put more than $750 million back in clients' pockets. Free case review. You pay nothing unless we win your case.
Truck claims follow the same Arizona negligence framework as every other one of our Arizona personal injury cases, but the added layer of FMCSA regulations and commercial insurance coverage makes them significantly more complicated.
Every case is different. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
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
Usually both. Arizona law lets you bring claims against the driver, the trucking company, whoever loaded the cargo, and even the truck manufacturer. It depends on the evidence, but multiple parties sharing liability is the norm in these cases.
Two years from the crash date. That's the general rule under ARS 12-542. But if a government entity was involved, you might have just 180 days to file a notice of claim. Don't wait to find out which deadline applies to you.
More parties, more regulations, more data. Federal FMCSA rules add a whole layer of compliance records and electronic logs that car crashes don't have. Plus, trucking companies have corporate legal teams that start building defenses within hours.
Yes. Arizona's pure comparative negligence rule means your damages get reduced by your share of fault, but you still collect the rest. If you were 30% responsible, you'd recover 70% of your total damages.
Driver hours logs, electronic logging device data, maintenance records, drug tests, the truck's black box, security camera footage, and the driver's employment file. We also look at the trucking company's internal safety reports and accident history.
Traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, broken bones, organ damage, and burns. Truck crashes produce more severe injuries than car wrecks because of the weight difference. Many victims are looking at permanent disabilities and years of treatment.
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