ARS 12-542: Arizona’s Two-Year Statute of Limitations

In Arizona, the statute of limitations is two years for most personal injury, wrongful death, and property damage lawsuits under ARS 12-542.¹ The clock generally starts the day the injury or damage happens, and missing the deadline almost always means losing the right to sue, no matter how strong the underlying claim is. Several situations shorten, extend, or pause this window, and one of them, claims against a government entity, cuts the time down to roughly six months.

What the Two-Year Deadline Covers

ARS 12-542 groups six categories of claims under the same two-year limit:¹

Injury to another person, including medical malpractice claims against licensed healthcare providers.²
Injury resulting in death (wrongful death).
Trespass and damage to real property.
Taking personal property without permission.
Detaining or converting personal property.
Forcible entry or forcible detainer.

The personal injury category is broad. Car crashes, slip-and-fall accidents, dog bites, assaults, and professional errors by doctors, nurses, or dentists all fall inside it. The property categories reach everything from a neighbor’s construction damaging your foundation to someone holding onto belongings and refusing to return them.

When the Clock Starts

For most claims, the two-year period begins on the date of the injury or damage. A crash on March 15 sets a deadline of March 15 two years later.

Wrongful death is different. When someone is injured and later dies from those injuries, the two-year period runs from the date of death, not the date of the original injury. If an injury happens in January and the person dies the following October, the family’s two years run from October. Arizona law limits who can bring the action: a surviving spouse, child, parent, guardian, or the personal representative of the estate.³

Arizona courts also recognize a “discovery rule” for injuries that are not immediately obvious. Under that rule, the clock starts when you knew or reasonably should have known about both the injury and its cause. The classic example is a surgical instrument or sponge left inside a patient who has no symptoms for months. The two years would not start on the surgery date; they would start when the patient discovered the problem, or when a reasonable person would have investigated. Courts take the “should have known” part seriously. Ignoring unexplained symptoms for a year before getting a diagnosis can push the start date back to when symptoms first appeared. ARS 12-821.01 codifies a version of this rule for government claims, and Arizona case law applies similar reasoning to private claims.⁴

Claims Against Government Entities: 180 Days, Not Two Years

This is the single biggest trap in Arizona injury law. If your claim is against a public entity, a public school, or a government employee, you do not get two years to act. ARS 12-821.01 requires a formal notice of claim within 180 days after the cause of action accrues.⁴ That is roughly six months.

The notice has to go to the person authorized to accept service for the government entity, contain enough facts to explain why the entity is liable, and state a specific dollar amount you would accept to settle. A vague letter saying you were hurt and want compensation does not satisfy the requirement. Any claim not filed within 180 days is permanently barred.⁴

Minors and people who are mentally incompetent get a limited protection: their 180 days runs from the end of the disability rather than from the injury itself.⁴

What Pauses the Two-Year Clock

Arizona law recognizes several situations that suspend the running of the deadline, a concept called tolling.

Minors and People of Unsound Mind

Under ARS 12-502, if you are under 18 or of unsound mind when the cause of action accrues, that period of disability does not count toward the two-year limit. A child injured at age 10 generally has until age 20 to file: the clock is frozen until 18, then the standard two years starts. Arizona courts have generally read “unsound mind” to cover conditions severe enough that the person cannot manage their own legal affairs. Ordinary grief or temporary distress does not qualify. The tolling also does not apply to the real-property claims listed in Article 2 of Chapter 12.⁵

Defendant Outside Arizona

ARS 12-501 pauses the clock for time the defendant spends outside Arizona, either when the cause of action accrues or later during the limitations period.⁶ Modern long-arm statutes have narrowed the practical reach of this provision, but it remains on the books.

Active Military Service

Under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, time spent on active military duty cannot be counted toward any state statute of limitations.⁷ The protection extends to the servicemember’s heirs and representatives. Federal tax deadlines are the one carved-out exception.

Construction Defects: The Eight-Year Cutoff

Even when ARS 12-542 would otherwise give you time to sue, a separate hard deadline called a statute of repose can end the claim earlier. ARS 12-552 bars contract-based claims against developers, designers, contractors, and other construction professionals more than eight years after substantial completion of the improvement.⁸

The discovery rule does not extend this deadline. If the building was substantially completed nine years ago, the window is closed regardless of when the defect appeared. The only narrow exception covers injuries or latent defects that occur or are discovered during the eighth year, which get one additional year, capping the outer limit at nine years from substantial completion.⁸ A foundation crack that shows up a decade after construction may be a real defect with no available remedy.

Filing Isn’t the Finish Line

A common and expensive mistake is treating the filing of the complaint as the last step. Arizona’s Rules of Civil Procedure require you to serve the defendant with the summons and complaint within the time set by court rules after filing. If you don’t, the court can dismiss the case without prejudice. That technically allows refiling, but if the two years ran out in the meantime, there is nothing left to refile. Filing on the last possible day and then taking weeks to arrange service is one of the fastest ways to lose a valid claim.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

The consequence is blunt. The defendant moves to dismiss, and the court grants it. A time-barred claim is dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again. The strength of the evidence, the severity of the injury, and the clarity of fault do not matter once the limitations period expires. Arizona courts enforce these deadlines strictly, and judges have very limited discretion to override them.

The defendant also does not have to raise the issue right away. A statute-of-limitations defense can appear in an answer or in a motion to dismiss at any point before trial, and some defendants wait, letting the plaintiff invest time and money before raising it. The only reliable protection is to file well before the deadline and confirm every procedural step, including service, has been completed on time.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 12-542 – Injury to Person; Injury When Death Ensues; Injury to Property; Conversion of Property; Forcible Entry and Forcible Detainer; Two Year Limitation
2
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 12-561 – Definitions
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 12-612 – Parties Plaintiff
4
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 12-821.01 – Authorization of Claim Against Public Entity, Public School or Public Employee
5
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 12-502 – Effect of Minority or Insanity
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 12-501 – Absence From State
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 U.S. Code 3936 – Statute of Limitations
8
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 12-552 – Actions Involving Development of Real Property Design