Phoenix Truck Accident Lawyer

In short: A Phoenix truck, semi, or 18-wheeler crash is a commercial claim — stacked insurance, more than one defendant, and electronic logs that can be overwritten long before Arizona’s two-year filing clock runs. Serving Phoenix from our Tempe office — 222 S Mill Ave Ste 800, Tempe, AZ 85281. Call (480) 542-7826 or request a callback. There is no attorney fee unless we recover money for you.

Serving Phoenix from our Tempe office

The Ruiz Law Firm does not have a Phoenix office and does not list a Phoenix Google Business Profile. Commercial-truck injury consultations for Phoenix crashes are handled from Tempe:

222 S Mill Ave Ste 800, Tempe, AZ 85281

Attorney Lawrence Ruiz is admitted in Arizona. Confirm current status in the State Bar of Arizona member directory. This page does not publish an Arizona bar number. The public intake line is (480) 542-7826. Tempe office hours are Monday–Friday, 8:30 AM–5:30 PM Arizona time. Tempe office on Google Maps.

Arizona pages stay on this Arizona hub. Call or use the callback form only — this site does not invite text-message intake.

Commercial insurance layers and multi-defendant carriers

A collision with a tractor-trailer, box truck, dump truck, or other commercial vehicle is not a larger version of a two-car wreck. A passenger-auto claim usually runs against one driver and one policy. A Phoenix truck file often does not. The driver may have made the last mistake, while the motor carrier, a broker or shipper, a cargo loader, a maintenance contractor, or a parts maker still belongs in the case. Each can sit behind a different insurance layer. Identifying those layers is the work; it is not a promise that every layer will pay.

Federal law sets a floor for the carrier's coverage. Under 49 C.F.R. § 387.9, a for-hire carrier hauling non-hazardous property in interstate commerce, in a vehicle rated 10,001 pounds or more, must carry at least $750,000 in public liability coverage. Oil and some hazardous materials raise the minimum to $1,000,000. Certain bulk hazardous loads require $5,000,000. Those are minimums. They do not promise what any insurer will pay.

Carrier investigators move quickly. Arizona’s fault statute, quoted below, treats “the car cut off the truck” arguments as jury questions — which is why the company’s records have to be preserved before that narrative hardens.

18-wheelers, semis, and box trucks: when federal rules apply

Interstate carriers are subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). Hours of service, driver qualification, vehicle inspection, and related carrier duties live in 49 C.F.R. Parts 390–396.

Size matters. 49 C.F.R. § 390.5 defines a commercial motor vehicle as a vehicle used on a highway in interstate commerce that has a weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more, among other tests. An 18-wheeler, a semi, or a tractor-trailer clears that line easily. So do many box trucks and larger delivery vans.

A CDL is a separate question. Under 49 C.F.R. § 383.5, the CDL classes generally start at 26,001 pounds. A box truck driver may not need a CDL and still drive a vehicle covered by the federal safety rules. The truck's weight rating, the door decals, and the shipping papers help answer which rules apply.

Hours of service: the 11-hour and 14-hour limits

Tired driving is a common question in 18-wheeler cases. 49 C.F.R. § 395.3 limits property-carrying drivers:

A driver may not drive without first taking 10 consecutive hours off duty;

A driver may drive a total of 11 hours during the period specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section.

The period in (a)(2) is a 14-hour window after coming on duty. The same section requires a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving, and it caps on-duty time at 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days. The ELD file and dispatch records show whether the driver stayed inside those limits.

FMCSA evidence and how long carriers keep it

Ask the carrier early to keep the ECM (“black box”) download, the ELD file, dispatch messages, the driver-qualification file, maintenance records, dashcam video, cargo documents, and any post-crash drug or alcohol tests. A preservation letter puts the request in the company’s file. Federal rules set some minimum retention periods:

• Hours-of-service records: 6 months. A carrier must keep each driver's records of duty status and supporting documents for at least 6 months (49 C.F.R. § 395.8(k)).
• Inspection and maintenance records: 1 year. These are kept where the truck is housed or maintained for 1 year, and for 6 months after the truck leaves the carrier's control (49 C.F.R. § 396.3(c)).
• Accident register: 3 years. Carriers must keep an accident register for 3 years after each accident (49 C.F.R. § 390.15(b)).
• Post-crash testing. After a crash that kills someone, the employer must test the surviving driver for alcohol and controlled substances. Testing is also required after some injury or tow-away crashes when the driver gets a citation (49 C.F.R. § 382.303).

Six months is far shorter than Arizona's two-year filing clock. ECM data can be overwritten even sooner if the truck keeps running.

Look up the carrier's USDOT number

Most interstate trucks show a USDOT number on the cab door. Write it down or photograph it. FMCSA's SAFER Company Snapshot lets anyone search that number. The snapshot lists the carrier's name, address, and operating status. It helps identify the right company when a truck is leased, brokered, or hauling another company's trailer.

Phoenix crash numbers — and what ADOT does not break out for trucks

ADOT’s 2024 Motor Vehicle Crash Facts (Phoenix Streets host of the 2024 PDF) report 37,472 crashes in Phoenix, 265 fatal crashes, 278 people killed, and 15,057 injured. Maricopa County as a whole had 88,094 crashes and 594 people killed.

Those jurisdiction-table columns are totals, fatal and injury crashes, PDO, persons killed and injured, and alcohol-related figures. There is no Phoenix “truck crash” column. This page does not invent a CMV city count.

The same summary splits 2024 fatalities by road system: 453 killed on the state highway system and 775 killed on local roads. I-10, I-17, and Loop 202 are ADOT freeways in that state highway system. That is not a truck-fatality total for a named interchange.

Freight-adjacent High Injury Network streets

City of Phoenix High Injury Network layers (KSI 2018–2022) flag west-side arterials that also carry freight: 67th Avenue at Thomas, Indian School, and McDowell; 51st Avenue from Roosevelt to McDowell; 43rd Avenue corridors; Buckeye Road & 75th Avenue; Van Buren; and I-10-adjacent McDowell Road from 24th to 28th Street (HIN signalized layer, HIN segments). Those are city KSI flags, not a 2024 truck-crash count at any one of them.

Arizona’s two-year clock — A.R.S. § 12-542

A.R.S. § 12-542 is the two-year limitations statute for injury to the person (and for injury when death ensues):

Except as provided in section 12-551 there shall be commenced and prosecuted within two years after the cause of action accrues, and not afterward, the following actions:

1. For injuries done to the person of another including causes of action for medical malpractice as defined in section 12-561.

2. For injuries done to the person of another when death ensues from such injuries, which action shall be considered as accruing at the death of the party injured.

If a truck crash kills, A.R.S. § 12-611 and A.R.S. § 12-612 say who may sue. That belongs on our Phoenix wrongful death lawyer page. The truck-page point is narrower: when death ensues, § 12-542(2) starts the two-year clock at death, not at the crash. ECM and ELD files do not wait two years.

Pure comparative fault — A.R.S. § 12-2505

Arizona does not use a 51% bar. A.R.S. § 12-2505 makes contributory negligence and assumption of risk jury questions and reduces damages instead of closing the courthouse door:

A. The defense of contributory negligence or of assumption of risk is in all cases a question of fact and shall at all times be left to the jury. If the jury applies either defense, the claimant's action is not barred, but the full damages shall be reduced in proportion to the relative degree of the claimant's fault which is a proximate cause of the injury or death, if any. There is no right to comparative negligence in favor of any claimant who has intentionally, wilfully or wantonly caused or contributed to the injury or wrongful death.

A claimant who intentionally, wilfully, or wantonly caused the harm does not get that comparative-negligence path. Ordinary blind-spot arguments remain jury questions. They are not a reason to skip the carrier’s logs.

Public-entity clocks if a government vehicle or roadway is in the case

If a city, county, state, or public employee may be involved, Arizona adds notice and suit deadlines that are shorter than § 12-542. A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires a notice of claim within 180 days after accrual and a specific settlement amount. A.R.S. § 12-821 requires the action against a public entity or public employee within one year. Those statutes are a caution, not a diagnosis that your crash is a government claim.

Where a Phoenix truck case is filed

Civil injury suits of $10,000 or more (excluding interest, costs, and attorney fees) go to Maricopa County Superior Court, not Justice Court. Hearings are at the downtown Phoenix campus even when a form is dropped at another counter. The Central Court Building is 201 W Jefferson St, Phoenix, AZ 85003. That is the courthouse, not a Ruiz office.

The civil cover sheet (packet CVC1) codes motor-vehicle tort as type 101 (non-death / personal injury) or 103 (wrongful death). Attorneys must e-file civil cases (clerk civil and tax filing). The court’s lawsuit guide is the public overview.

Phoenix Level I trauma hospitals

Serious truck-crash injuries are often treated at an AZDHS designated Level I trauma center. The AZDHS list includes, in Phoenix:

• Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, 1111 E McDowell Rd
• St. Joseph’s Hospital & Medical Center, 350 W Thomas Rd
• Valleywise Health Medical Center, 2601 E Roosevelt St
• HonorHealth John C. Lincoln, 250 E Dunlap Ave

Naming a hospital is geography, not a Ruiz affiliation.

Abogado de accidentes de camión en Phoenix

¿Lo lesionó un camión, un tráiler o un camión de carga en Phoenix? Hablamos español. Llame al (480) 542-7826. La consulta es gratis. No cobramos honorarios de abogado a menos que recuperemos dinero para usted.

Tome fotos del nombre de la compañía, del número USDOT en la puerta y de la placa del tráiler. Arizona permite dos años para presentar la mayoría de las demandas por lesiones (A.R.S. § 12-542). Los registros del camión pueden borrarse mucho antes. Atendemos casos de Phoenix desde nuestra oficina en Tempe, 222 S Mill Ave Ste 800. No tenemos oficina en Phoenix.

After a Phoenix truck crash

Photograph the cab company name, the USDOT or MC number if it is on the door, the trailer number, the scene, and visible injuries. Save the police report number. Get medical care. Do not give a recorded statement to the carrier’s insurer before you speak with a lawyer. Call (480) 542-7826 or use the callback form. We do not quote Arizona verdicts or review counts on this page.

If you also need the Nevada truck page for a Clark County crash, use the Las Vegas truck accident lawyer page. Nevada comparative-fault law does not govern a Phoenix crash; Arizona’s pure comparative statute does. Start with the Arizona hub for the Tempe office and the other Arizona injury pages. If an Uber or Lyft car was part of the crash, see our Phoenix Uber and Lyft accident lawyer page. For a truck crash involving a rider, see our Phoenix motorcycle accident lawyer page.

To talk with a Phoenix truck or 18-wheeler accident lawyer serving from Tempe, call (480) 542-7826 or request a callback. Consultations are free. There is no attorney fee unless we recover money for you.