12 News reported that one person died in a crash involving five vehicles on Interstate 10 near 107 Ave, and that DPS is asking for the public's help to identify some of the drivers and vehicles involved. No further details were reported, and no determination of fault has been made.
When a person dies in a multi-vehicle collision and law enforcement cannot identify every driver involved, the family's wrongful death claim does not stop; it changes shape. Arizona law under A.R.S. § 12-611 through A.R.S. § 12-613 allows a surviving spouse, parent, child, or the personal representative of the estate to bring an action for the death, and A.R.S. § 12-542 generally gives two years from the date of death to file. Unidentified drivers create two practical routes. First, uninsured motorist coverage on the household's own auto policies often applies when an at-fault vehicle is never found, which makes locating every policy in the family an early priority. Second, when multiple vehicles contribute to one death, each identified driver can be held responsible for their own share under A.R.S. § 12-2505, Arizona's pure comparative fault statute, so a claim does not fail simply because one participant is missing. Preserving vehicles, dashcam footage, and witness contacts early matters most.
Who Has the Right to Bring the Claim
Arizona does not let every grieving relative file separately. Under A.R.S. § 12-612, a wrongful death action is brought by the surviving spouse, a child, a parent or guardian, or the personal representative of the deceased person's estate, on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries. One action covers all of them, which is why families should coordinate rather than each hiring separate counsel in the first week.
There is a second, separate claim. A survival action under A.R.S. § 14-3110 belongs to the estate and covers losses the person suffered before death, including medical expenses and damage to property. It is brought by the personal representative, so opening a probate estate is often a necessary early step even when the family does not think of itself as having an estate to administer. The two claims are usually filed together but are valued differently.
When a Driver or Vehicle Is Never Identified
A request for public help identifying drivers and vehicles is an investigative step; it does not establish that anyone broke the law. Arizona's duty-to-stop statute, A.R.S. § 28-661, requires drivers involved in a collision resulting in death or serious injury to stop and remain at the scene, but whether that duty was violated by anyone is a question for investigators and, if charges follow, a court. Nobody has been accused or convicted of anything based on a request for tips.
For the family, the more useful question is coverage. Steps that matter:
- Gather the declarations pages for every auto policy in the household, not just the policy on the vehicle involved. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage can stack across policies and resident relatives.
- Notify your own insurer promptly, in writing. Uninsured motorist policies contain their own notice and cooperation deadlines that are much shorter than the two-year statute.
- Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer, including your own, before you understand what is being asked and why.
- Ask that the vehicles involved be preserved and not sold for salvage. Event data recorders and physical damage patterns are often the only neutral record of how a multi-vehicle sequence unfolded.
Deadlines That Can End a Claim Early
Two years from the date of death is the general deadline under A.R.S. § 12-542, and for wrongful death that clock runs from the death, not from the collision. That is the outer limit, not a planning target.
If any public entity or public employee turns out to be a potential defendant, the deadline shortens dramatically. A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires a written notice of claim served on the entity within 180 days of when the claim accrues, with a specific sum demanded. Missing that notice bars the claim against that entity entirely, regardless of how strong it is. Because families rarely know at the outset whether a roadway, a government vehicle, or a public contractor is implicated, the 180-day clock should be treated as the operative deadline until the investigation rules it out. Request the full crash report and any supplemental reports as soon as DPS releases them.
If your family lost someone in a collision on I-10 or anywhere in Maricopa County, our Arizona wrongful death practice page explains how these claims are built and what the process asks of you.