A.R.S. § 12-542 — Arizona’s Personal Injury Statute of Limitations

The two-year rule

Actions for personal injury, wrongful death, and damage to property must be commenced within two years after the cause of action accrues. Accrual ordinarily means the date of the injury — the crash, the fall, the bite. Missing the deadline is almost always fatal to the claim: the defense raises the statute, and the case is dismissed regardless of merit.

When the clock starts later — or pauses

Under the discovery rule, a claim accrues when the injured person knows or reasonably should know of the injury and its cause — which matters for harms that surface late. The statute is also tolled for legal disability: a minor’s two years generally do not begin until their eighteenth birthday, and similar tolling applies for mental incapacity. These doctrines are argued, not automatic; no one should plan around them when filing on time is possible.

The government exception — 180 days

When the defendant is a city, county, the state, or a public employee — a city vehicle, a bus, a dangerous roadway — A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires a formal notice of claim within 180 days of accrual, stating a specific settlement amount, and suit within one year. Miss the notice and the claim is barred long before the two-year statute would ever run. This is the deadline that surprises people, and it is a major reason to involve a personal injury attorney early rather than at month 23.