Parking garages put two things in the same tight space that never mix well: drivers hunting for a spot and people walking to their cars with their hands full. When a pedestrian is hit in a Phoenix parking garage, the garage's insurer usually says the same thing within a week: this happened on private property, so the rules of the road don't apply and nobody here is responsible. That answer is wrong, and it's worth understanding exactly why.
Liability for a pedestrian hit in a Phoenix parking garage usually starts with the driver, but the garage owner or operator can be on the hook too, and often is. Under Arizona negligence law, a driver owes a duty of reasonable care even on private property; backing out without looking, speeding down a ramp, or rolling through a blind corner all qualify as breaches of that duty. The property owner owes a separate duty to keep the premises reasonably safe for invitees. Burned-out lights, missing convex mirrors at blind corners, faded pedestrian walkways, broken gate arms, and sight lines blocked by oversized vehicles in compact spaces are all failures that show up in these claims. Arizona applies pure comparative fault under ARS 12-2505, so more than one party can be assigned a percentage, and your own share only reduces your recovery rather than eliminating it. If the garage is city-owned, a 180-day notice of claim deadline applies under ARS 12-821.01.
The driver's duty doesn't stop at the garage entrance
Most of Arizona's rules of the road in Title 28 are written for highways and public roadways. That's the sliver of truth insurers stretch into a defense. But negligence in Arizona is a common law duty, and it applies wherever someone operates a two-ton vehicle around people on foot.
Some statutes reach private property directly. DUI under ARS 28-1381 applies anywhere in the state, including a garage on Central Avenue. Arizona's hit and run statutes, ARS 28-661 and ARS 28-662, impose duties on drivers who injure someone and leave.
One practical problem: Phoenix police often write only a short report, or none at all, for collisions on private property. Officers may tell you it's a civil matter. Insist that a report be generated anyway, get the driver's license and insurance information yourself, and photograph the plate.
When the garage owner or operator shares the blame
A paying customer or a shopper walking to a store is a business invitee. Arizona property owners owe invitees a duty of reasonable care, which includes inspecting for hazards and fixing or warning about them. Garages generate a predictable list of failures.
Design, lighting, and maintenance
Dead light fixtures on a lower level. Convex mirrors that were never installed at a blind ramp corner, or that were installed and never replaced after they cracked. Pedestrian walkways whose paint wore off years ago. Missing speed bumps on a downhill ramp. Columns placed so a driver backing out of a space genuinely cannot see a person walking behind them. Each of these is a maintenance decision someone made, and maintenance decisions leave records.
Valet drivers and parking management companies
Plenty of Phoenix and Scottsdale garages are run by third-party operators, and hotels and restaurants across Old Town use valet services. If a valet or a garage employee hits you while working, the employer is generally vicariously liable under respondeat superior. That matters because a commercial general liability or garage keepers policy is usually much larger than a personal auto policy. Our Pedestrian Accidents team looks for that second policy in nearly every garage case.
City-owned garages come with a much shorter deadline
This is the trap that costs people their claims. Sky Harbor's terminal garages, the Phoenix Convention Center garages, city hall parking, and ASU's downtown structures are all owned by public entities. Claims against public entities in Arizona require a written notice of claim served within 180 days of when the claim accrues under ARS 12-821.01, and a lawsuit must be filed within one year under ARS 12-821.
Miss the 180 days and the claim is barred, no matter how badly you were hurt. Compare that to the general two-year personal injury statute of limitations in ARS 12-542 that applies to private garage owners and drivers. If you're not certain who owns the structure, treat it as a public entity claim until you know otherwise.
If the driver took off
Hit and run in garages is common because drivers assume there's no report and no consequence. You still have options. Uninsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy, or on a policy of a relative you live with, follows you as a pedestrian; you don't have to be in a car to use it. Arizona insurers must offer UM and UIM coverage under ARS 20-259.01, and many people carry it without realizing what it covers.
Underinsured motorist coverage matters too. Arizona's minimum liability limit is $25,000 per person, which a single ambulance ride and an ER visit can consume. Our car accident attorneys stack and pursue those policies routinely.
Cameras overwrite in weeks, not years
Almost every Phoenix garage has cameras. Almost none of them keep footage long. Depending on the system, video is overwritten in seven to thirty days, and nobody at the property has any obligation to save it unless someone asks in writing.
Send a preservation letter fast, and ask for more than the clip of the impact. You want footage showing whether the light in that corner was working, whether the mirror was there, and how many other near misses happened on that ramp that afternoon. Request the incident report the security guard wrote, the maintenance logs for the lighting circuit, and any prior complaints about the same area.
Also get names and phone numbers from anyone who stopped. Garage witnesses are usually strangers passing through; they will not be findable in two months.
Partial fault is not a defense to your whole case
Expect to hear that you were walking behind a moving car, that you were on your phone, or that you weren't in the marked walkway. Arizona uses pure comparative negligence, so if a jury assigns you 30 percent of the fault on a $200,000 case, you recover $140,000. Under ARS 12-2506, fault gets allocated among all responsible parties separately, which is precisely why naming the garage owner alongside the driver changes the value of a claim.
If you were a pedestrian hit in a Phoenix parking garage, don't let an adjuster tell you private property means no claim. Call Sher Law Group at 480-418-7437 for a free consultation with personal injury lawyers who handle these cases across Phoenix and Scottsdale. There's no fee unless we win.