Category Archives: Civil Litigation
FASTAR Arrives in Pima County
A new pilot program in Pima County drastically changes the rules for smaller civil claims. As of November 1, 2017, there are new rules in Pima County for resolution of smaller cases certified to be less than $50,000. The acronym FASTAR stands for “Fast Trials and Alternative Resolution.” Most small car accident cases still fall under […]
Criminal Restitution vs. Civil Compensation
What are the differences and similarities between the two? According to Arizona law, a victim of a crime is entitled to receive from the convicted criminal the full economic value of the victim’s losses as determined by the Court. A.R.S. §13-603(C). This restitution is included in the Sentencing component after the criminal has either pled guilty or […]
Jurisdiction: Many Factors Determine Where You Can File Your Lawsuit
One of the first classes every law student takes is civil procedure. One of the principal lessons of civil procedure is “Jurisdiction” or where suit should be filed. General rules are you that file suit in the county where the incident occurred or in the county where the Defendant resides. If an event occurred in […]
Top 10 Civil Verdicts in Arizona in 2016
Every year the “Arizona Attorney” the official State Bar publication for lawyers, prints an article on the Top 10 Civil Verdicts in Arizona for the previous year. Here are the results for 2016 in order of size: $27,625,000. This was a partnership dispute over alleged misappropriation of funds from one partner by another. The behavior […]
Alternative Dispute Resolution: What is it?
Arbitration, Mediation, and Settlement Conferences. What are they and what do they mean to our clients? Arbitration is an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) vehicle that is being used more frequently to resolve legal disputes. In Civil Cases, it is Mandatory for cases involving $50,000 or less in Pima County. The court controls the case, but […]
Gotcha! Surprise Evidence Doesn’t Actually Exist.
We all have seen legal dramas where someone pulls something out of a hat and a surprise witness or surprise piece of evidence comes in to save the day for the side that appeared to be losing. This makes for good TV or movie scenes, but never truly happens in an Arizona court room. Arizona, […]
The Supreme Court: How a Case Can Make Its Way to the Highest Court in the Land
The Judiciary, headed up by the Supreme Court, is one of three branches of our government whose role is to put a check and balance on the powers of the Legislature (Congress) and the Executive (President) branches. A slew of highly politicized cases have brought this least glamorous of the branches into the limelight in […]
What is a Nonparty?
Arizona is a comparative fault state. Each defendant is liable only for the amount of damages allocated to that defendant in direct proportion to that defendant’s percentage of fault. A.R.S. § 12-2506. For example, if you slip on water that has accumulated on the floor in your local grocery store and fall to the ground […]
Lawsuit Time Limits-Statute of Limitation
In the Civil realm of the law, most claims have a statute of limitation. This means that your right to file a lawsuit against a person or entity expires after a certain amount of time. The justification for these time limits is to allow businesses and people to go about their business without having to […]
Protecting Your Assets
Arizona’s homestead exemption laws (A.R.S. §§ 33-1101 – 1105) forbid a creditor from taking one’s home in a bankruptcy or other debt proceeding. This law protects up to $150,000 of equity from the home in which you reside from attachment, execution, or forced sale. In Arizona, the exemption is automatic. The exemption means that if an […]
