Tempe Car Accident Lawyer

Tempe Car Accident Lawyer

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Injured in a Tempe crash? Call (725) 485-3301 for a free case review — no attorney fee unless we recover money for you. Or Get My Free Case Review online.

In short: This page is the Tempe car accident lawyer resource for crashes on Mill Avenue, the ASU edge, Baseline, Rural, McClintock, and the East Valley freeways that bound the city. Arizona law applies. The only Arizona office is The Ruiz Law Firm, 222 S Mill Ave Ste 800, Tempe, AZ 85281. If the wreck happened in Henderson or Las Vegas, use the Nevada car accident lawyer page instead.

A Mill Avenue office — not a Phoenix address

The Ruiz Law Firm's Arizona location is on South Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe, at the ASU edge of the city: 222 S Mill Ave Ste 800, Tempe, AZ 85281. That is the only Arizona NAP. There is no Phoenix office and no Scottsdale office.

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. Nevada Bar 11451 is a Nevada credential and is not an Arizona number.

Call (725) 485-3301. An Arizona-only line has not been published. Tempe office hours are not listed here. Google Business Profile verification for the Tempe listing is pending, so this page does not claim a Maps pack ranking or a "top-rated Tempe" badge.

Other Arizona pages live on the Arizona hub.

What ADOT recorded in Tempe in 2024

The Arizona Department of Transportation's 2024 Motor Vehicle Crash Facts jurisdiction table is the source for city-level counts. The Crash Facts landing page and the 2024 PDF (ADOT-branded file hosted by Phoenix Streets) report these Tempe totals:

• 6,637 total crashes
• 29 fatal crashes
• 2,049 injury crashes
• 4,559 property-damage-only crashes
• 32 persons killed
• 3,007 persons injured
• 295 alcohol-related crashes (5 killed, 225 injured)

Those rows are for Tempe as a jurisdiction. The same city table does not split passenger cars from motorcycles, pedestrians, or bicycles. This page does not invent a Tempe "car versus car" count.

Statewide, the same report lists 121,107 crashes and 1,228 fatalities. Maricopa County accounts for 88,094 crashes — 72.74% of Arizona's total. Tempe is one East Valley city inside that county total, not a stand-in for Phoenix.

Mill, ASU, Baseline, Rural, and McClintock

Tempe crash facts are local. The office sits on S Mill Ave. Campus-edge traffic, downtown mill traffic, and the arterials that feed Loop 202, US-60, I-10, and Loop 101 (ADOT system roads) are the geography this page is written for.

Tempe Vision Zero is the city's data-driven program to cut fatal and serious-injury crashes. The city identifies safety corridors and has turn-lane projects at Rural Road & University Drive and Rural Road & Rio Salado Parkway. Those are city projects, not a Ruiz crash study.

Baseline Road from Priest Drive to Loop 101 is a city-identified high-injury arterial. Tempe's SS4A materials, as reported when the city announced the grant, describe 35 fatal or serious-injury crashes from 2017–2021 on that 3.9-mile stretch. This page treats Baseline as a Tempe-identified high-injury corridor and points readers to Vision Zero rather than treating a third-party recap as the primary source.

Tempe also selected photo-enforcement intersections using criteria that included at least three serious or fatal crashes from 2018–2022. KTAR reported the city's list. The intersections named in that city program include:

• Baseline & Rural
• Baseline & Mill
• Southern & Mill
• Warner & McClintock
• Guadalupe & McClintock
• University & McClintock
• Broadway & McClintock
• Broadway & Rural
• Elliot & Rural
• Elliot & Kyrene
• University & Priest
• Curry & Scottsdale
• Rio Salado & Rural/Scottsdale
• 48th Street & Broadway

That list is the city's photo-enforcement program, not independent Ruiz research. It is here because those names are the Tempe-specific intersections this car page covers. Phoenix High Injury Network corridors do not belong on this page.

Arizona's two-year clock — not Nevada's

A Tempe passenger-car claim is an Arizona case. A.R.S. § 12-542 sets a two-year limitation for injuries to the person. Official text:

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.

The statute also covers death that ensues from the injuries, with the action accruing at death, and several property theories that are not the focus of this car page. The two-year figure is a lawsuit deadline. Camera video, vehicle data, and witness memories can be gone in days.

Do not apply Nevada car accident filing rules to a Tempe wreck. NRS 11.190 is Nevada law.

Pure comparative fault on an Arizona crash

Insurance adjusters often talk as if any shared blame ends the claim. Arizona's rule is different. A.R.S. § 12-2505 is pure comparative negligence:

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.

The claim is not barred because of the claimant's percentage of fault. Damages are reduced by that percentage. Intentional, wilful, or wanton conduct by the claimant is carved out. This page does not promise a recovery at any particular fault split.

Nevada's modified comparative-negligence rule with a 51% bar (NRS 41.141) is Nevada law. It is explained on the Nevada car accident lawyer page. It does not decide a Tempe case.

Arizona car accident claim: statutes that actually apply

• Injury filing deadline: two years after accrual (A.R.S. § 12-542)
• Fault rule: pure comparative negligence (A.R.S. § 12-2505) — the claim is not barred by the claimant's share of fault; damages are reduced
• Public-entity notice: 180 days (A.R.S. § 12-821.01)
• Public-entity lawsuit: one year (A.R.S. § 12-821)
• Attorney fee: contingency — no attorney fee unless we recover money for you

When a city or state vehicle may be in the mix

Some Tempe crashes involve more than two private drivers — a city vehicle, a public employee, or a question about the roadway itself. Arizona then uses shorter clocks. A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires a notice of claim within 180 days after accrual. A.R.S. § 12-821 requires suit against a public entity or public employee within one year. This is a caution, not a diagnosis that your crash is a government claim.

Maricopa County Superior Court — downtown Phoenix, not a Tempe campus

Tempe is in Maricopa County. Civil injury actions of $10,000 or more (excluding interest, costs, and attorney fees) go to Maricopa County Superior Court, not Justice Court. Packet CVC1 states that civil cases are heard at the downtown Phoenix location even if forms are dropped at another counter, including Mesa.

The clerk's Central Court complex is 201 W Jefferson St, Phoenix, AZ 85003 (facility listing). Filing counters include downtown Phoenix, Mesa, Surprise, and a north Phoenix counter, with hours listed Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Cover type 101 is Non-Death/Personal Injury. There is no Tempe Superior Court campus for these civil trials.

Hospitals on and next to Mill Avenue

Two facilities belong on a Tempe car page because of geography and trauma designation — not because Ruiz has a hospital relationship.

HonorHealth Tempe Medical Center, 1500 S Mill Ave, Tempe, AZ 85281, sits on the same Mill Avenue corridor as the office. It has an emergency department. It was formerly Tempe St. Luke's. It is not a Level I trauma center on the Arizona Department of Health Services designated trauma list.

Banner Desert Medical Center, 1400 S Dobson Rd, Mesa, AZ 85202, is an East Valley Level I trauma center on that AZDHS list.

Where any particular patient is treated is an EMS and clinical decision. This page does not name an ambulance destination.

After a Tempe collision

What you do in the first hours still matters under Arizona procedure, even though the statutes above are Arizona's rather than Nevada's:

1. Call 911 when appropriate so there is an official crash record.
2. Get medical care. Delayed symptoms are common; gaps in treatment are a favorite insurer argument.
3. Photograph vehicles, signals, lane markings, and visible injuries.
4. Save names of witnesses.
5. Decline a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer until you understand why it is being requested.
6. Call (725) 485-3301 or request a callback. Site CTAs are call or callback-form only.

Nevada counterpart and Arizona hub

The firm also practices in Nevada from Henderson. Nevada crashes stay on the Nevada car accident lawyer page, where Nevada statutes are labeled as Nevada law. Arizona crashes stay here.

All slice 1 Arizona pages are listed on the Arizona personal injury lawyers hub.

Contact the Tempe office

The Ruiz Law Firm
222 S Mill Ave Ste 800
Tempe, AZ 85281

Phone: (725) 485-3301
Get My Free Case Review

The consultation is free. There is no attorney fee unless we recover money for you. This page is attorney advertising, not legal advice, and it is noindex until the firm approves indexing.