Suffered a Personal Injury? What to Do Next

First 72 hours: the steps that protect your health and your claim

If you have suffered a personal injury — in a crash, a fall, a dog attack, or any incident someone else caused — what you do in the first few days shapes both your recovery and your legal options. The order matters:

1. Get medical care now, even if you feel "okay." Adrenaline masks injuries, and soft-tissue, brain, and internal injuries routinely surface days later. Seeing a doctor immediately also creates the medical record every claim is built on — a gap between the incident and your first visit is the first thing an adjuster will use against you.
2. Report the incident. A crash gets a police report; a fall at a business gets an incident report; a dog bite gets an animal control report. Official records fix the date, place, and parties while the facts are fresh.
3. Preserve evidence. Photos of the scene, your injuries, the hazard or vehicles involved; names and numbers of witnesses; the clothes and shoes you wore in a fall. Camera footage gets overwritten in days — it must be requested fast.
4. Keep everything. Bills, receipts, discharge papers, work notes, a daily log of pain and limitations. Damages are proved with paper.
5. Say little to insurers. Notify your own carrier factually. Do not give the at-fault side a recorded statement or sign anything before getting advice.

Do you actually have a case? The three-part test

Not every injury is a legal claim. In Arizona, a personal injury case needs three things:

• Fault — someone else's carelessness caused the injury: a distracted driver, a store that ignored a spill, a dog owner, a manufacturer of a defective product.
• Harm — real damages: medical treatment, lost work, pain, lasting limitations. A near-miss with no treatment is not a case.
• A source of recovery — almost always an insurance policy: auto liability, homeowner's, commercial premises, or your own uninsured motorist coverage.

Importantly, being partly at fault does not bar you. Arizona's pure comparative negligence rule (A.R.S. § 12-2505) reduces a recovery by your share of fault but never eliminates it. If all three parts are plausibly present, the question is worth one free conversation with a lawyer — that is exactly what a free case evaluation is for.

The deadlines running against you

Every claim has a clock, and some are far shorter than people assume:

Claim	Deadline	Authority
Most personal injury claims	2 years	A.R.S. § 12-542
Dog bite (strict liability)	1 year	A.R.S. § 12-541
Notice of claim against a public entity	180 days	A.R.S. § 12-821.01

The public-entity trap catches the most people: if a city vehicle, a government building, or a public road defect is involved, you have six months to serve a formal notice of claim — not two years. Deadlines are paused for minors, but a parent's own expenses run on the adult clock.

What compensation covers

Arizona's constitution forbids caps on injury damages (Ariz. Const. art. 2, § 31). A full claim includes past and future medical care, lost wages and earning capacity, out-of-pocket costs, pain and suffering, and permanent impairment. Two mistakes cost injury victims the most: settling before the full extent of the injury is known, and forgetting future treatment. Our settlement calculator shows how the pieces combine into a case value.

Common claim types — and where to learn more

• Vehicle crashes — the largest category by far. Start with our car accident practice or the umbrella motor vehicle accident page covering trucks, motorcycles, and rideshares.
• Falls and premises injuries — property owners owe visitors reasonable safety. See slip and fall claims.
• Dog bites — strict liability, but a one-year deadline. See dog bite claims.
• Serious and catastrophic injuries — brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and wrongful death claims for families.

What a lawyer changes — and what one costs

Insurance studies and our own 10,000+ cases point the same direction: represented claimants recover substantially more, even after fees, because valuation, evidence, and negotiation are the adjuster's full-time job and not yours. Hirsch Talcott works on contingency — 25% if the case settles before a lawsuit is filed, 30% if litigation is required, and nothing at all if there is no recovery. The full math is on our fees page. There is no cost to find out where you stand: a free case evaluation takes one conversation, 24/7.

Frequently asked questions

I suffered a personal injury but feel mostly fine — should I still see a doctor?

Yes, immediately. Concussions, whiplash, internal bleeding, and disc injuries commonly surface days or weeks after the adrenaline fades, and a delayed diagnosis is harder to treat and harder to connect to the incident. If symptoms appear later, the gap in the medical record becomes the insurer's favorite argument. One prompt exam protects both your health and your claim, whatever you decide to do legally.

How long after an injury can I still make a claim in Arizona?

Usually two years from the injury under A.R.S. § 12-542 — but one year for a dog bite's strict liability claim, and only 180 days to serve a notice of claim when a city, county, or state entity is involved. Practically, evidence disappears much faster than deadlines: footage is overwritten, hazards are repaired, witnesses scatter. The sooner a claim is investigated, the more of it survives.

What if I can't afford a lawyer after my injury?

Personal injury representation costs nothing up front. Contingency fees mean the lawyer is paid a percentage of the recovery — at Hirsch Talcott, 25% pre-suit or 30% in litigation, below the 33–40% typical in Phoenix — and advances the case costs. If there is no recovery, you owe no fee. The consultation itself is free, so affordability is never the reason to skip finding out whether you have a case.

Will I have to go to court?

Probably not. The overwhelming majority of injury claims settle in negotiation with the insurer — 99% of our cases end in a settlement or a verdict in our clients' favor. Filing a lawsuit is a tool, not the default: it becomes necessary when an insurer denies fault or undervalues the claim, and being genuinely prepared to try a case is what makes settlement offers honest.