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Yes — in Arizona you can usually still recover damages if you were partly at fault for a crash. Under A.R.S. § 12-2505, your damages are not wiped out by your own share of the blame; they are reduced "in proportion to the relative degree of the claimant's fault which is a proximate cause of the injury or death." The statute sets no cutoff percentage.
Section 12-2505 provides that contributory negligence and assumption of the risk are questions of fact for the jury. When either one applies, it does not bar the claim. Instead, the full damages are reduced in proportion to the claimant's relative degree of fault. The statute also states that "claimant's fault" includes fault attributed to a claimant through operation of law.
Arizona does not draw a line at 50 percent, or at any other number, in this statute. Many states cut off recovery once a person is mostly at fault; § 12-2505 contains no such threshold in its text.
The statute removes the comparative-negligence right for a claimant who intentionally, willfully, or wantonly caused or contributed to their own injury or death. Ordinary carelessness — a late brake, a missed signal, a glance away from the road — is a different category from that.
The numbers below are a hypothetical, not a prediction for any case. Suppose a jury finds a person's damages total $100,000 and assigns that person 30 percent of the fault for the crash. The recovery would be reduced by that 30 percent share, leaving $70,000. If the jury assigned 60 percent of the fault to that person, the same math would leave $40,000 rather than zero.
A companion statute, A.R.S. § 12-2506, says that in a personal injury, property damage, or wrongful death action, each defendant's liability is "several only and is not joint," with limited exceptions. In plain terms, each defendant pays only the share of damages that matches their own percentage of fault. When the jury assigns percentages, § 12-2506 directs it to consider the fault of all persons who contributed to the harm, whether or not they were named in the lawsuit.
The statute lists exceptions where a defendant can remain jointly liable, including defendants acting in concert on an intentional tort, a person acting as another's agent or servant, and certain federal employer liability claims.
Because fault percentages directly change what a claim is worth, insurers often look for ways to shift blame onto the injured person: a statement made too early, a gap in the account of what happened, or a missed detail in the police report. Every percentage point assigned to the claimant comes off the top of the recovery. That is one reason accurate documentation after a crash matters.
Comparative fault only matters if the claim is filed in time. Most injury lawsuits against private parties must be filed within two years, which we explain in Arizona's Two-Year Injury Deadline: What A.R.S. § 12-542 Actually Says. If a government entity may share the blame, a much shorter notice requirement applies, covered in Suing Arizona Over a Crash? The 180-Day Notice of Claim.
Being partly responsible for a crash does not automatically end a claim in Arizona. Avoid guessing about fault when speaking with an adjuster, keep records of the scene and your injuries, and ask a licensed Arizona attorney how fault might be apportioned in your situation.
This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Outcomes depend on the facts of each case; consult a licensed Arizona attorney. Statute text was checked against the Arizona Legislature's published Arizona Revised Statutes (azleg.gov) on October 5, 2026.
Who can bring an Arizona wrongful death claim, who the recovery goes to, and how damages work under A.R.S. §§ 12-611, 12-612 and 12-613. The deadline runs from the date of death.
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