Personal injury claims may arise when a person, business, or another party causes harm through negligence or wrongful conduct. These cases can involve motor vehicle collisions, unsafe property conditions, medical negligence, and other preventable incidents. Because traffic crashes are a frequent source of serious injuries, our Tucson car accident lawyers can investigate a collision and identify every potentially responsible party.
The Mercaldo Law Firm has represented injured people throughout Arizona for more than 40 years. Call (520) 624-1400 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with a Tucson personal injury lawyer.
Why Choose The Mercaldo Law Firm to Represent Your Personal Injury Case
The Mercaldo Law Firm was established in 1978 with the expressed purpose of representing people who have suffered catastrophic injuries and the surviving families of victims of wrongful death. Our clients trust us because:
- We have obtained more than $200 million on behalf of clients, with over $35 million resulting from personal injury cases.
- The Mercaldo partners are all AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, meaning our peers have ranked us at the highest level of professional excellence
- Our attorneys have received many awards, including Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year in 2025 for Personal Injury Litigation in Tucson
We deliver our quality legal services on a contingency fee basis, so that you can fully focus on overcoming severe injuries and trauma associated with your accident. You owe no attorney’s fee unless we win your case at trial or in pretrial negotiation and collect a damage settlement award that you approve.
How Our Tucson Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help
The Mercaldo Law Firm works with experienced investigators who reconstruct accidents, carefully examine police reports, and do whatever is necessary to identify the negligent party responsible for the injury. We bring the solid facts of your case to the responsible motorist’s insurance company and, if necessary, to a judge and jury in personal injury litigation.
In case after case, the attorneys with the Mercaldo Law Firm excel at thorough case preparation, extensive accident investigation, and negotiations with major insurers. From start to finish of the legal process, the negligent party who has seriously injured you will be held accountable for his or her carelessness, recklessness, distracted driving, or drunk driving.
Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle
Personal injuries can occur in a wide variety of ways and often leave families and individuals with debilitating and crippling outcomes, which are not only physical and emotional but also financially devastating.
The following types of personal injury cases are common in Tucson:
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Car accidents and motorcycle accidents kill tens of thousands of motorists each year. Millions more sustain serious and life-changing injuries. Some of the most catastrophic accidents occur on our nation’s interstate highways and freeways.
These collisions, which often occur at high speeds or involve aggressive or impaired drivers, can be especially devastating. In some cases, a passenger puts their trust in the hands of a rideshare driver, only to be injured in a crash.
Common outcomes include traumatic brain injury, damage to the spinal cord, paralysis, amputation, and death.
Commercial Truck and Bus Accidents
Commercial trucks and buses are significantly larger and heavier than passenger vehicles, which means collisions involving these vehicles often result in severe or fatal injuries. Victims may face extensive medical treatment, long-term disabilities, and substantial financial losses.
These cases can also be more complex than typical car accident claims, as liability may extend beyond the driver to trucking companies, maintenance providers, vehicle manufacturers, or other parties. Our firm has extensive experience investigating serious commercial vehicle accidents and pursuing the compensation injured victims deserve.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Accidents
Motor vehicle accidents can be equally or even more devastating for those not operating a vehicle, such as when a pedestrian or bicyclist is struck by a vehicle.
Pedestrian accident and bicycle accident victims are completely unprotected, and are therefore especially vulnerable to:
- Head and brain injuries
- Back and spinal cord injuries
- Neck injuries
- Knee injuries
- Shoulder injuries
- Internal bleeding
Wrongful Death Claims
Motor vehicle accidents are one of the most common causes of wrongful death claims, but they aren’t the only one. Our attorneys also handle wrongful death cases that stem from construction accidents, gas explosions, medical malpractice, and beyond.
Any time that another party’s negligence or malpractice caused the tragic loss of a life, our firm is prepared to fight for the victim’s family and for justice.
The Mercaldo Law Firm has had great success recovering compensation for our clients in wrongful death cases.
- We recovered $40 million in a wrongful death verdict for an automobile versus bicycle accident case involving defective roadway design
- We recovered $10.6 million in a wrongful death verdict for a commercial trucking accident case
If you believe you have a wrongful death case, reach out today to a Tucson wrongful death lawyer for a free consultation.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor fails to adhere to their legal duty of care to a patient, resulting in serious injury, a worsened medical condition, or wrongful death. Common malpractice claims in Tucson include:
- Misdiagnosis
- Missed diagnosis
- Delayed diagnosis
- Medication mistakes
- Surgical errors
These are some, but not all, of the common accidents and incidents in which one party’s negligence or wrongdoing causes harm to another, leaving the at-fault party liable for damages.
What Types of Injuries Are Covered In Tucson Personal Injury Claims?
Any injury serious enough to require medical care and other impacts, such as lost wages and benefits, and pain and suffering, can constitute a medical malpractice claim.
Common injuries cited in Tucson personal injury claims include the following:
- Fractures
- Soft-tissue injuries, like sprains, tendon or ligament damage, and strains
- Lacerations, contusions, and abrasions
- Burns
- Spinal cord injuries
- Traumatic limb loss
- Internal organ injuries
- Facial and dental trauma
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)
Concussions and TBIs are serious personal injuries: a person’s entire life can be affected. Most often, this means the injured person will lose the ability to work, require a lifetime of additional medical care, and see a dramatic change in their quality of life. The impact of this injury is not isolated to the victim, but shared with their family as well. Their loved ones must often adapt to a new life as caretaker, and one without the person they knew before the injury.
While physical outcomes are often permanent and emotional trauma may improve with time, injured parties do have rights to compensation for their financial hardships when injuries are caused by the negligence, carelessness, or recklessness of others.
Victims of accidents can seek appropriate compensation from the party at fault in a court of law. If you are the victim of an accident, it is important to talk to an experienced personal injury attorney to understand your options. The experienced attorneys for the Mercaldo Law Firm will be there for you when you need help the most.
Recovering Compensation For Your Injuries
Treatment often constitutes one of the largest expenses accident victims will face. The treatment for a TBI or concussion can vary, depending on the severity of the injury. When a serious injury is suffered through a blow to the head, a person may need surgery in order to relieve a contusion (blood clot), repair a crack in the skull, or alleviate a hemorrhage. This treatment is often expensive and long-term.
A catastrophic injury or brain injury is a life-changing event. Its ramifications are sweeping. It can mean years or a lifetime of around-the-clock medical care, expensive and grueling long-term therapy, and financial and emotional drain on a victim’s family. Victims and families should not have to pay for the negligence that causes this kind of anguish; they have suffered enough. The negligent party and his or her insurance company should bear the full financial burden of the victim’s sacrifice and injury.
Our attorneys will work to recover compensation for your medical expenses and additional damages, such as:
- Future medical expenses
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Lost earnings
- Future income loss or reduced earning capacity
- Compensation for pain and suffering
- Compensation for catastrophic injuries with permanent harm, such as loss of limb, disfigurement, disability, loss of one of the senses, loss of enjoyment of life, or diminished quality of life
The families of a loved one who suffered a fatal personal injury can recover compensation for their losses, such as funeral expenses, the decedent’s lost income and benefits, and compensation for the emotional grief and anguish of the loss.
When Should I Contact A Personal Injury Attorney?
Any time you are dealing with an accident, whether it is one involving large commercial vehicles or standard passenger vehicles, you should contact an experienced, knowledgeable attorney who will protect your rights. People who have been in a rollover accident should contact an experienced personal injury attorney to discuss the possibility of compensation for lost wages and medical expenses. If a loved one has died in a rollover crash, for example, the family of the deceased may also receive compensation for their tragic loss.
Any time you are dealing with a serious injury or wrongful death, you should contact an attorney to discuss your case. Serious injuries from a bicycle accident cause financial difficulties and severe pain and suffering. If you suffered a serious injury when struck by a motor vehicle while in a crosswalk, walking, jogging, or riding a bicycle, you are dealing with a number of long-term setbacks: lost wages, medical bills, and pain and suffering, amongst other damages. A bicyclist injured by a distracted motorist should contact a personal injury attorney with experience in pedestrian accidents. The attorney can make sure the negligent driver is held responsible and obtain all available compensation for the injured person.
Traumatic brain injuries create especially sensitive cases. When negligence by a motorist, doctor, property owner, or product manufacturer results in brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputation, or catastrophic injury for an accident victim, precious rights must be protected and justice must be sought.
Proving Liability In a Personal Injury Claim In Arizona
When an individual, business, or other entity causes you harm through careless, reckless, or wrongful action, a successful claim to recover damages requires clear and concise evidence of the at-fault party’s liability. The injury victim in personal injury claims bears the burden of evidence as the claimant and plaintiff in the case.
The evidence presented by the injury victim must effectively demonstrate the following:
- The at-fault party owed a legal duty of reasonable care to the injury victim
- They breached this duty of care through negligence
- The breach of duty directly caused the injury
- The injury victim suffered damages from the injury
In medical malpractice claims, the standard for proving liability is different. Instead of proving a breach of the general duty of reasonable care, the medical malpractice victim must prove that the doctor failed to adhere to the standard of care accepted by the medical community.
In some types of personal injury cases, strict liability applies, and the claimant doesn’t have to prove negligence. For instance, in a dog bite claim, the pet owner is strictly liable for all damages caused by their pet without having to demonstrate negligence. After a defective product, the injury victim must prove that the product had a design defect, a manufacturing error, or a marketing mistake.
A skilled attorney applies a well-executed legal strategy to prove liability in all types of personal injury claims, depending on the evidentiary requirements.
What Should I Do After a Personal Injury?
After suffering a serious injury, you may be too seriously injured to take any action at the scene, especially if you are incapacitated or unconscious. However, if you can safely use a cell phone, you can begin to take important steps on your own behalf. After the injury, do the following:
- First, call 911 to report the accident and request an ambulance or other transportation to a hospital or urgent care center
- Then, use the phone’s camera to take photos of the accident or incident scene, including anything relevant to the injury
- If the injury occurred on commercial property, ask for an accident or incident report
- Add the contact information of any eyewitnesses to the accident
- Take photos of your visible injuries
Go directly to the hospital from the accident scene and request a comprehensive medical assessment to diagnose all injuries. Then, obtain a detailed medical report. Carefully follow your doctor’s treatment recommendations.
How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim In Tucson?
There are very specific time limits for bringing a lawsuit in these cases, and you must make sure all of your rights are protected and preserved.
Statutes of limitation, the laws governing when a claim must be made, apply to all personal injury cases, including medical malpractice claims. If a case is not filed within the prescribed timeline, which varies depending on the type of case, those involved and its location, you will lose your legal right to bring the lawsuit altogether.
The time can be as short as 180 days. Therefore, if you believe you or a loved one may have a claim, it is important to obtain legal advice without any delay. It is imperative that you contact a qualified attorney as soon as is reasonably possible.
Our Recent Results In Personal Injury Claims Put a Powerful Voice Behind Your Claim
The Mercaldo Law Firm lends your case a renowned legal voice, backed by our history of exceptional results.
For instance, our firm obtained a settlement of over $6 million for a young man seriously injured while riding his bicycle. In another case, we obtained a $40 million jury verdict on behalf of the family of a young boy killed in a tragic bicycle accident.
In yet another case, we obtained a $9.2 million verdict on behalf of a 17-year-old high school student, who suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was struck in a crosswalk that was negligently designed and maintained by Pima County. The verdict apportioned fault between the driver of the vehicle and the county.
Often, the effects of brain injury are subtle, yet just as devastating as more obvious mental defects. Through our decades of experience with these types of complex cases, we have developed the ability to articulate the debilitating effects of these injuries in a way in which a jury or insurance company can understand and empathize. This creativity has helped clients earn numerous million-dollar settlements and jury awards.
At the Mercaldo Law Firm, we understand that handling a catastrophic loss case is quite different than one involving more minor injuries. We have found liability with street-light manufacturers, bicycle and reflector manufacturers, cities, and drivers to make sure our clients receive the compensation and justice they deserve.
Do I Have to Go to Court for a Tucson Personal Injury Case?
The overwhelming majority of personal injury claims are resolved with a settlement from the at-fault party’s insurance company, for instance, auto insurance after a car accident, or premises liability insurance after a slip-and-fall injury in a store or restaurant.
Only about 4% of personal injury claims require going to court. At The Mercaldo Law Firm, we focus on being trial-ready throughout each client’s case, giving us more powerful negotiation skills and ensuring a well-executed legal strategy should your case require court.
Contact the Tucson Injury Lawyers Who Prioritize Your Best Interests
So that you can fully focus on overcoming severe injuries and trauma associated with your accident, we deliver our quality legal services on a contingency fee basis. You owe no attorney’s fee unless we win your case at trial or in pretrial negotiation and collect a damage settlement award that you approve.
If your life has been changed forever because of serious, catastrophic injuries you’ve suffered as a result of a car accident, you can and should depend on The Mercaldo Law Firm to work hard for the maximum financial compensation you deserve.
Call (520) 624-1400 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with a Tucson personal injury lawyer.