ABC15 reported that 10 people were hospitalized following a multi-vehicle crash along Interstate 10. According to the Arizona Department of Transportation, the crash happened around 2:15 p.m. on I-10 near Bullard Avenue. No determination of fault has been reported, and nothing beyond those facts is known at this point.
When ten people are hurt in a single multi-vehicle crash, the legal problem is not usually whether someone was negligent; it is how fault gets divided and how limited insurance gets split. Arizona uses pure comparative fault under A.R.S. § 12-2505, so a jury assigns each party a percentage and each injured person's recovery is reduced by their own share, even if that share is large. In a chain-reaction collision, several drivers may each carry part of the responsibility, and a defendant is generally liable only for their own percentage rather than the whole verdict. The practical squeeze is coverage. Arizona's minimum bodily injury liability limits are low, and when many claimants compete for one policy, early settlements can exhaust it before later claimants are evaluated. That makes underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy central, and it makes the deadline in A.R.S. § 12-542, two years from the date of injury, worth calendaring immediately.
How Arizona Divides Fault Among Several Drivers
Under A.R.S. § 12-2505, Arizona is a pure comparative fault state. Your percentage of fault reduces your recovery, but it never bars it. Someone found 60 percent at fault can still collect 40 percent of their damages. That matters in a pileup, where insurers commonly argue that everyone involved contributed something: following too closely, changing lanes, or reacting late.
Arizona also generally uses several liability rather than joint liability. If a jury finds one driver 30 percent responsible and another 70 percent, each pays only their own share. You do not get to collect the full amount from whichever defendant has the deepest pocket. The practical consequence is that every potentially responsible party has to be identified and put on notice, because leaving one out can mean permanently losing that percentage of your damages.
If any part of a claim involves a public entity or a public employee, a different clock applies. A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires a notice of claim served within 180 days of when the claim accrues, and missing it typically ends that portion of the case regardless of how serious the injuries are.
When One Liability Policy Has to Cover Many Injured People
A single policy with a per-accident limit does not expand because more people were hurt. Ten claimants sharing one limit can mean each recovers a fraction of what their medical care actually cost. Insurers sometimes resolve the first claims presented and then report the policy exhausted. Three things help:
- Your own underinsured motorist coverage. UIM sits on top of what the at-fault driver's insurer pays and is often the largest real source of recovery in a multi-claimant crash. Pull your declarations page and read the UM and UIM lines.
- Multiple policies. There may be more than one at-fault driver, an employer policy if a vehicle was being used for work, or umbrella coverage above a primary policy.
- Health insurance and MedPay. These pay bills while liability is sorted out. Reimbursement rights may apply later, but keeping bills current protects your credit and your access to treatment.
What to Do in the First Two Weeks
Get evaluated even if you walked away. Freeway-speed collisions produce injuries that present days later, and a gap in treatment becomes the insurer's main argument.
Request the crash report and note the report number. Photograph your vehicle before it is repaired or salvaged, including the interior and any airbag deployment. Write down what you remember while it is fresh, including the lane you were in and the sequence of impacts, because in a pileup the order of collisions is often the central factual dispute.
Report the crash to your own insurer promptly; policies require it, and it is how a UIM claim gets opened. You are not required to give a recorded statement to another driver's insurer, and doing so before you understand your injuries rarely helps. Do not sign a medical authorization that gives an adjuster open access to your full history. Keep every bill, every out-of-pocket receipt, and a simple log of missed work.
If you or a family member was injured in this collision, our Arizona car accident attorneys can explain how fault and coverage would be sorted out in a crash involving this many injured people.