injury victim

An average week in Arizona sees 87 deaths, 816 hospitalizations, and 7,779 emergency room visits due to injury. Over the course of a year those figures add up to 4,456 fatalities, 41,857 hospitalizations, and 404,522 emergency room treatments.

Injury related hospitalizations cost Arizonans roughly $2.2 billion each year, to say nothing of their physical and emotional impact.

In many cases, these injuries are not caused by “accidents” in the true sense of the word. Instead, they result from the wrongful conduct of individuals, companies and government agencies. If you or a loved one has been injured by the careless or reckless acts of another, our law firm understands the challenges you may be facing. You may have significant medical bills that you cannot pay. You may also be out of work due to your injuries resulting in lost income that your family needs to survive. Situations like these deserve proper legal attention from a skilled and experienced Sun City personal injury attorney.

Statute of Limitations
This is the time that you have to file a claim from the time the injury occurred. This is typically two (2) years.

At Mushkatel, Robbins & Becker, PLLC, you can rely on our Sun City personal injury lawyers to pursue full financial recovery resulting from all of the physical, emotional and financial harm you have suffered through no fault of your own. We serve clients throughout the Phoenix metro area, including Sun City, Surprise, Glendale, Peoria, and Scottsdale. If you contact us today, we can provide a timely, free and confidential consultation about your case. Simply call or connect with us online.

What Is a Personal Injury Claim?

Not all accidents serve as the grounds for a personal injury claim in Arizona. However, if another’s negligence caused you or a loved one to suffer injury or death, then it may be the basis for seeking relief through our civil justice system.

Negligence is a legal term meaning the failure to behave in accordance with the level of care that an ordinary, reasonable, prudent person would have used in the same situation. Negligence may be an act or a failure to act.

As we review your case, the personal injury attorneys of Mushkatel, Robbins & Becker, PLLC, will seek to determine whether the evidence supports the four basic elements of negligence.

Four Basic Elements of Negligence

  • Duty – A party owed a duty of reasonable care to you.
  • Breach – The party breached that duty of care.
  • Causation – But for the party’s breach, you would not have suffered harm.
  • Damages – As a result of the party’s breach, you have suffered actual physical harm.

Our legal team will work with skilled investigators and highly qualified experts to collect and analyze the evidence in your case.

We will work diligently to prepare and present a demand for compensation to the party or parties who caused harm (and their insurance companies). If needed, we are prepared to pursue formal litigation to seek the compensation that we believe you deserve for your losses.

Our law firm can also assist if you have lost a loved one due to another’s actions or failure to act. A wrongful death claim requires similar proof as that of a personal injury. However, Arizona law provides for different types of damages in a wrongful death claim and restricts who can bring such a claim.

Types of Injury Cases Our Lawyers Handle

Our law firm features personal injury attorneys with a broad range of legal skills and experience. We draw from their unique strengths and insights and take a true team approach to serving our clients.

As a result, our law firm can handle a wide variety of personal injury cases, including:

grave icon Wrongful Death – If you have lost a loved one in an accident of any type in Phoenix or a surrounding area in Arizona, the lawyers of Mushkatel, Robbins & Becker, PLLC, will protect your rights and fight for all compensation you are due.
car icon Auto Accidents – We help those who have been involved in collisions involving cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles. We also represent pedestrians have been injured when hit by a car while walking. Our law firm carefully investigates crashes to determine whether speeding, aggressive driving, drunk driving, distracted driving or another type of negligent conduct caused a crash. We also explore all insurance policies that can provide relief for our clients.
wheelchair icon Elder Abuse and Neglect – Our lawyers can help families to cope with the devastating harm caused by the failure of a nursing home or other assisted-living facility to provide adequate care for an elderly loved one.
doctor icon Medical Malpractice – We strive to find answers for victims and families that have been impacted by medical negligence, including cases that involve birth injuries, medication errors, misdiagnoses, surgical errors and mistakes made in the emergency room.
swimming pool icon Premises Liability – In addition to slip-and-fall accidents, our attorneys can handle other types of premises liability cases. Examples include accidents at private or public swimming pools or injuries caused by the failure to provide adequate security.
dog icon Dog Bites – We understand the severe injuries that victims of dog bites and other animal attacks can suffer. We seek to hold negligent pet owners accountable and pursue just compensation for our clients.
slippery floor warning sign icon Slip-and-Fall Accidents – Our attorneys assist clients who have serious injuries due to a property owner’s failure to address or warn visitors about slip-and-fall hazards on their property

Pure Contribution Negligence State
Arizona is a “pure comparative negligence” state. This means that a party in a injury claim is liable only for the percentage of fault attribute to that party.

Generally speaking, an injury claim must be filed in Arizona within two years after the date of injury. However, special rules may apply in your case that shorten or extend the time available to you. We believe these time limits make it important to contact Mushkatel, Robbins & Becker, PLLC, as soon as you are ready to take legal action in your personal injury case.

What Can Be Recovered in an Arizona Personal Injury Claim?

In a personal injury case, you will seek what are commonly referenced as “compensatory damages.” These damages are aimed at reasonably and fairly compensating you for all harm caused by another’s fault, including:

  • Reasonable and necessary past and future medical expenses
  • Lost earnings and any decrease in your future earning power
  • Pain, suffering, discomfort, disability, disfigurement and anxiety
  • Loss of enjoyment of life
  • Loss of love, care, affection, companionship and other pleasures in your marital relationship or parent-child relationship.

Additionally, in some cases, you may be eligible to seek “punitive damages.” These damages are aimed at punishing and deterring conduct such as:

  • Intentionally causing an injury
  • Reckless Disregard
  • Causing an injury out of spite or ill will
  • Consciously pursuing a course of conduct despite knowing that it would create a substantial risk of significant harm to others.

You should know that Arizona is a “pure comparative negligence” state. This means that a party in a personal injury lawsuit is liable only for the percentage of fault attributable to that party. Additionally, if some amount of fault is attributed to you, your recovery would be reduced in proportion to that percentage of fault. Because of this rule, identification of all parties that may be legally required to pay damages to you is crucial. It is also important to ensure that a disproportionate amount of fault is not attributed to you.

FAQs

If you have reason to believe that you were harmed by the negligence of another person, company or governmental agency, you may have the right to pursue a personal injury claim in Arizona. In some instances, a person may be legally entitled to bring a claim on behalf of an injured child– a parent or legal guardian, for instance – or on behalf of one who has been left incapacitated by his or her injuries.

A lawyer is not legally required for you to pursue an injury claim. That said, you are likely to benefit from having professional assistance during this process. A Sun City personal injury attorney can provide many valuable services, including investigating your case and consulting with experts to determine the full amount of compensation you are due. Above all, an attorney can deal with an insurance company on your behalf and handle other aspects of your case while you focus on your recovery. Check out our page on ‘Do I Need a Lawyer’ to learn more.

Insurance companies are often difficult to engage, and frequently appear to have their best interests in mind rather than yours. Additionally, an insurance company may take advantage of your situation and try to convince you to accept a settlement that fails to fully compensate your for all of your damages. Contacting an attorney as soon as possible after suffering an injury is likely a more prudent and rewarding decision. An attorney can review any settlement offer made by the insurance company and help you to avoid a costly mistake. Also, when the insurance company contacts you, you can simply refer the company to your lawyer.

If you are receiving Social Security Disability benefits – sometimes called SSD or SSDI benefits – the recovery you obtain in a personal injury claim generally should not impact your monthly benefits payments. However, if you are eligible for SSD benefits, then Medicare may be covering your medical care and treatment. If so, a Medicare lien may be attached to your settlement. Your attorney would need to resolve that lien before disbursing settlement funds to you.

A Sun City personal injury lawyer is typically paid on a contingency basis. This method of payment compensates your attorney via a percentage of any verdict or settlement that is obtained on your behalf. Additionally, the lawyer must  bill you for any costs involved in your case, including the costs involved with investigating a case and hiring experts. In personal injury cases that our law firm handles, we charge no fees for an initial consultation. We also typically agree to represent clients on a contingency fee basis. This means that you will pay no attorney fees unless we obtain a financial recovery for you.