12 News reported that a family was killed in a crash in Heber, and that a suspected impaired driver is facing charges. The outlet's coverage centered on parents remembering the family members who died. No court has decided the criminal case, and the reporting reflects what was known at the time it was published.
In Arizona, a fatal crash creates two separate legal tracks that move independently. The criminal case belongs to the state, and a charge is only an accusation; no one is guilty until a court says so. The civil wrongful death claim belongs to the family, and it proceeds under its own rules and its own standard of proof. A.R.S. § 12-611 through A.R.S. § 12-613 allow a surviving spouse, parent, guardian, child, or the personal representative of the estate to bring the action, and damages are measured by the survivors' losses, including grief, lost companionship, lost financial support, and funeral expenses. A separate survival claim under A.R.S. § 14-3110 covers what the person who died could have recovered for their own losses before death. When several members of one household die, each death supports its own claim, and coordinating them usually requires opening an estate for each person.
Deadlines Are Shorter Than Most Families Expect
A wrongful death action in Arizona is generally subject to the two-year deadline in A.R.S. § 12-542, measured from the date of death. Two years feels long while a family is planning a funeral and waiting on a criminal case, and it disappears quickly. The criminal prosecution does not pause the civil clock. If charges are still pending when the deadline approaches, the civil claim still has to be filed or it is gone.
If any government entity or public employee is a potential defendant, a different and much shorter rule applies. A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires a written notice of claim served within 180 days of when the claim accrues, and failure to serve it on time bars the claim entirely. That 180-day window is the single most common way a valid Arizona claim is lost. It is worth having someone identify every possible defendant early, precisely because that determination controls which deadline governs.
What the Criminal Case Does and Does Not Do
Impaired driving is prosecuted under A.R.S. § 28-1381, and a driver who leaves the scene of a serious collision can face separate exposure under A.R.S. § 28-661, which imposes a duty to stop and remain. A conviction on any of these can be useful evidence in a civil case, but it is not the family's remedy. Criminal restitution is limited and does not cover the full range of losses A.R.S. § 12-611 through A.R.S. § 12-613 make recoverable. Families who wait for a verdict before looking at the civil side often find that evidence has gone stale and deadlines have narrowed.
Expect the defense to raise comparative fault regardless of what charges are filed. Under A.R.S. § 12-2505, Arizona uses pure comparative fault, which reduces recovery by the percentage of fault assigned to the injured or deceased person rather than eliminating it. That means an insurer has an incentive to argue about speed, seat belts, lane position, or anything else that shifts a percentage, even in a case involving a suspected impaired driver.
Practical Steps in the First Weeks
Request the full crash report and any supplemental reports as soon as they are released, and keep every version you receive. Preserve the vehicles; do not authorize a salvage sale or let an insurer dispose of a total loss before it has been inspected, because event data recorder information and physical damage evidence are often decisive.
Write down the names and contact information of anyone who called you about what they saw, and keep a folder of funeral invoices, medical bills, and lost income records. Identify all available insurance, including the at-fault driver's liability policy, any underinsured motorist coverage on the family's own vehicles, and any employer or commercial policy that could apply. Route all insurer contact through one person, and give no recorded statement to another driver's carrier before you understand what the claim is worth. Finally, find out who is being appointed personal representative of each estate, because that person controls the survival claim under A.R.S. § 14-3110.
If your family is facing this, our Arizona wrongful death practice page explains how these claims are built and what to expect at each stage.