Tempe Car Accident Lawyer

Why Tempe drivers call Hirsch Talcott

A crash on the I-10 Broadway Curve or at a Rural Road intersection turns an ordinary day into weeks of phone calls, paperwork, and pain that arrives on its own schedule. Our job is to take the insurance fight off your plate so you can concentrate on getting well. Hirsch Talcott has recovered more than $100 million for Arizona injury clients across 10,000+ cases, and 99% of our cases are won or settled.

• No fee unless we win. Our contingency fee is 25% if your case settles before a lawsuit is filed and 30% if litigation is required — in a market where 33% to 40% is typical.
• A Certified Specialist leads the work. Jack Hirsch is a State Bar of Arizona Certified Specialist in Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation, practicing since 1988.
• About 11 miles from Tempe. Our office is at 1212 E Osborn Rd in central Phoenix, and we handle everything by phone, video, or in person — open 24/7.

What should you do after a car accident in Tempe?

Call 911, get medical care the same day, document the scene, and talk to a lawyer before you sign anything. What happens in the first hours decides how much leverage you have months later:

1. Call 911 from the scene. A police report anchors the fault story before anyone's memory improves. Tempe police respond on city streets; the freeways belong to AZ DPS.
2. Get examined the same day. Adrenaline hides injuries. A same-day medical record ties every symptom to the crash — a gap gives the insurer its favorite argument.
3. Photograph everything. Vehicles, plates, the roadway, skid marks, signals, your visible injuries — and collect witness names before they drive away.
4. Report the crash to your own insurer. Bare facts only: time, place, vehicles involved.
5. Decline the other driver's insurer when it asks for a recorded statement. That call exists to build a comparative-fault case against you.
6. Talk to a lawyer before accepting any offer. A signed release is permanent, and the first offer is priced accordingly.

Where crashes happen in Tempe

Tempe concentrates more traffic into fewer square miles than almost anywhere in the Valley. The I-10 Broadway Curve is one of Arizona's busiest and most crash-prone stretches of freeway, and the US 60 interchange and the Loop 101 and Loop 202 junctions all sit in or against Tempe's borders. On the surface streets, Rural Road, Mill Avenue, and Apache Boulevard carry the heaviest volume — and the most intersection collisions.

Around ASU the mix changes entirely: heavy pedestrian, bicycle, and scooter traffic shares the road with cars and the light rail. Those cases raise their own legal questions — right-of-way, visibility, and insurance coverage for people who were not in a car — which is why we maintain dedicated pedestrian accident and bicycle accident practices. ADOT publishes the statewide toll every year in its Crash Facts report.

How do you get your Tempe crash report?

Request it from the agency that investigated — which depends on where the crash happened, not where you live:

Where the crash happened	Who has the report
Tempe city streets — Rural Rd, Mill Ave, Apache Blvd	Tempe Police Department records, via tempe.gov
I-10 (including the Broadway Curve), US 60, Loop 101, Loop 202	Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZ DPS)

The report is the first document every adjuster reads, so get it early and read it critically. Officers make mistakes — a wrong diagram or a misplaced citation can distort the fault picture for months. When we take a case, we pull the report, test it against the physical evidence, and challenge it where it is wrong.

Medical care after a Tempe crash

Tempe St. Luke's serves the city itself, and serious trauma is routinely transported to the Valley's major hospitals. Where you treat matters less than how consistently you treat: follow the plan, keep every appointment, and keep every record. Insurers read gaps in treatment as proof you were not really hurt — it is the single most common argument we have to defeat. If symptoms surface days later, as neck, back, and concussion symptoms often do, get them documented the day they appear.

The Arizona law that decides your Tempe case

Arizona is an at-fault state — not a no-fault state — so the driver who caused your crash owes your damages, paid through their liability insurance. We unpack what that means in practice in Is Arizona a no-fault state? Three more rules do most of the work in a Tempe case:

• Pure comparative negligence. Under A.R.S. § 12-2505, being partly at fault reduces your recovery but never bars it. Insurers inflate your share of fault for exactly this reason.
• The two-year deadline. A.R.S. § 12-542 gives you two years from the crash to file suit. If a public entity is involved — a City of Tempe vehicle, a government-maintained road defect — a notice of claim is due within 180 days under A.R.S. § 12-821.01.
• Minimum insurance is thin. Arizona requires only 25/50/15 coverage under A.R.S. § 28-4009 — $25,000 per person in bodily injury coverage, which one emergency room visit can exhaust. Your own UM/UIM coverage, which insurers must offer under A.R.S. § 20-259.01, often becomes the real source of recovery.

What is your Tempe car accident case worth?

Case value is built from your medical bills and future care, lost income, and the human damages — pain, disruption, what the injury took from daily life. Arizona's constitution prohibits caps on injury damages (Ariz. Const. art. 2, § 31), so nothing limits what a jury can award except the evidence. For a first, honest estimate of the range, start with our personal injury settlement calculator — then let us pressure-test the number against the insurance available and the strength of the liability case.

Our Phoenix office serves Tempe

We are about 11 miles from Tempe at 1212 E Osborn Rd in central Phoenix — a straight run up the freeway, though most clients never need to make it: we work by phone and video, and we come to you when it helps. The consultation is free, we answer 24/7, and you pay nothing unless we recover. Start with this page or our Tempe car accident attorney overview, and see the broader car accident practice for how we handle these cases end to end. Crashes involving an Uber or Lyft raise separate coverage questions — our rideshare accident page covers the three insurance periods — and when a crash takes a life, our wrongful death practice is led by a Certified Specialist in exactly that work.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a car accident lawyer in Tempe cost?

Nothing up front, and nothing at all unless we win. Hirsch Talcott works on contingency: 25% of the recovery if the case settles before a lawsuit is filed, 30% if litigation is necessary — below the 33% to 40% that is typical in the Phoenix market. Case costs are advanced by the firm, and the consultation is free.

How long do I have to file a claim after a Tempe car accident?

Two years from the date of the crash, under A.R.S. § 12-542. But if a public entity is involved — a city vehicle, a road defect — a notice of claim is due in 180 days, and the evidence itself decays in weeks: camera footage loops over, vehicles get repaired, witnesses move. Treat the practical deadline as now, not two years out.

What if I was partly at fault for a crash in Tempe?

You can still recover. Arizona's pure comparative negligence rule (A.R.S. § 12-2505) reduces your compensation by your percentage of fault but never eliminates it — a driver found 30% at fault still recovers 70% of their damages. The insurer's fault estimate is an opening argument, not a ruling, and we contest it with the report, the physical evidence, and witnesses.

Do I need a lawyer for a minor accident in Tempe?

Not always — and we will tell you when you don't. If there are no injuries and the property-damage offer is fair, you may not need one. But minor is a diagnosis that takes weeks to confirm: neck, back, and head symptoms often surface late, and a quick release signed early is permanent. Our guide Should I get a lawyer for a minor car accident? walks the decision honestly.

What if the driver who hit me in Tempe has no insurance?

Your own policy is usually the answer. Arizona insurers must offer uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and if you carried it, you claim against your own insurer — who then behaves like any opposing insurer and should be handled the same way. If the at-fault driver carried only Arizona's 25/50/15 minimums, underinsured coverage bridges the gap between their limits and your actual damages.

How long does a Tempe car accident settlement take?

Straightforward cases with clear fault and finished treatment often resolve in a few months; disputed-fault cases or serious injuries that require litigation commonly run a year or more. The honest constraint is medical: settling before your treatment course is understood means guessing at the largest number in the case. We move every case as fast as its facts allow — and no faster than your recovery can support.