Arizona Notice of Claim Deadlines by Defendant: 180 Days to Put the Government on Notice
If the party that hurt you is a city, a county, a school district, a state agency, a public hospital, or an employee of any of them, your two-year injury deadline is not the deadline that matters. A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires a written notice of claim, served on the right officer, within 180 days of when the claim accrued. It must state the facts and a specific dollar amount for which you will settle. Miss the deadline, leave out the amount, or serve the wrong person, and the claim is barred no matter how strong it is. The lawsuit then has to be filed within one year under A.R.S. § 12-821. This page lists who the rule covers, what the notice must say, who to serve for each kind of defendant, and the handful of situations that change the clock.
Reach out to usWho the rule covers
The statute reaches every public entity, public school, and public employee in Arizona. A public entity is the state and any political subdivision, which means every city and town, every county, every special district, and every state agency, board, commission, and department (A.R.S. § 12-820). Public school includes charter schools. A public employee is an employee of any of them, acting within the scope of the job: the city bus driver, the county sheriff's deputy, the school nurse, the state hospital physician.
| If the defendant is | The rule applies | Example |
|---|---|---|
| The State of Arizona or a state agency | Yes | ADOT, DPS, DES, Department of Corrections, a state university, the Arizona State Hospital |
| A county | Yes | Maricopa County Sheriff, Pima County roads, a county jail or health department |
| A city or town | Yes | A Phoenix police officer, a Mesa city vehicle, a Tucson sidewalk, a municipal pool |
| A public or charter school or district | Yes | A school bus crash, a playground injury, a coach's negligence |
| A special district | Yes | A fire district, a hospital district, an irrigation district, a community college district |
| A public employee personally | Yes, with a separate notice served on the employee | Suing the officer or driver by name, not only the employer |
| A private contractor working for the government | Generally no, for the contractor; yes, for the public entity | A private ambulance company under city contract is sued on the ordinary two-year rule; the city is not |
| A federal agency or employee | No; the Federal Tort Claims Act applies instead | A VA hospital, a postal truck, a Border Patrol vehicle |
| A tribal government or enterprise | No; tribal sovereign immunity and the tribe's own claims procedure apply | A tribal casino, a tribal police department |
The two deadlines
| Step | Deadline | Statute | What happens if missed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serve the written notice of claim | 180 days after the claim accrues | A.R.S. § 12-821.01(A) | The claim is barred; no action may be maintained |
| Entity's response | 60 days to accept; silence is a denial | A.R.S. § 12-821.01(E) | After 60 days the claim is deemed denied and suit may be filed |
| File the lawsuit | 1 year after the claim accrues | A.R.S. § 12-821 | The claim is barred |
Both periods run from accrual, which the statute defines as the point when the damaged person realizes they have been damaged and knows or reasonably should know the cause, source, act, event, instrumentality, or condition that caused it (A.R.S. § 12-821.01(B)). For a crash with a city vehicle, that is the day of the crash. The one-year suit deadline runs from the same accrual date, not from the denial, so a notice served on day 170 leaves roughly six months to file.
What the notice must contain
The statute sets two content requirements, and Arizona's courts enforce both strictly. First, facts sufficient to let the entity understand the basis on which liability is claimed: what happened, when, where, who was involved, and why the entity is responsible. Second, a specific amount for which the claim can be settled, together with the facts supporting that amount. A notice that says damages exceed $100,000, or that the amount will be determined, does not satisfy the statute; the Arizona Supreme Court held in Deer Valley Unified School District v. Houser that the amount must be a sum certain the entity could accept to end the claim. A notice that demands a specific amount but then qualifies it with language reserving the right to seek more has also been held insufficient.
- The claimant's name and contact information, and the attorney's if represented
- The date, time, and place of the incident
- The public entity, and each public employee, against whom the claim is made
- A description of what happened and why the entity or employee is liable
- The injuries and losses claimed, with the facts supporting them: medical bills, wage loss, property damage, pain and suffering
- A single specific dollar figure for which the claimant will settle the claim in full
Settling for the stated amount is the entity's option, not the claimant's ceiling in later litigation; a lawsuit can seek more. But the figure should be chosen with care, because it is the number the entity's risk manager will read first.
Who to serve, by defendant type
The notice must be filed with the person or persons authorized to accept service for the entity under the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure (A.R.S. § 12-821.01(A)). Delivering it to the police department, the school principal, the risk-management office, or the entity's insurer is not service on the entity unless that office is the authorized one, and Arizona courts have barred claims on exactly that ground. The table gives the usual recipient; confirm the current officer and address with the entity's clerk before serving, and serve by a method that creates a record.
| Defendant | Serve the notice on | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| The State of Arizona, a state agency, board, commission, or department | The Attorney General | Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4.1(h) |
| A county | The clerk of the board of supervisors (the county's chief executive officer, secretary, clerk, or recording officer) | Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4.1(i) |
| A city or town | The city or town clerk (the chief executive officer, secretary, clerk, or recording officer) | Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4.1(i) |
| A school district or charter school | The governing board's clerk or the district's chief executive officer (superintendent); for a charter, the charter holder's authorized officer | Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4.1(i) |
| A special district (fire, hospital, irrigation, community college) | The district's chief executive officer, secretary, clerk, or recording officer | Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4.1(i) |
| A public employee, individually | The employee personally, in addition to the employer | A.R.S. § 12-821.01(A); Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4.1(d) |
| A state university or the Board of Regents | The Attorney General, and the Board of Regents' designated recipient | Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4.1(h); ABOR policy |
When a claim names both an entity and one of its employees, serve both. Service on the city does not put the officer on notice, and the claim against the officer personally is barred if the officer was not served within the 180 days.
What changes the clock
| Situation | Effect | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Claimant is a minor, insane, or incompetent | The 180-day notice period runs from when the disability ends; the one-year suit period is tolled the same way | A.R.S. § 12-821.01(D); § 12-502 |
| A required administrative or dispute-resolution process | Accrual is postponed until that process ends; both deadlines run from the final decision | A.R.S. § 12-821.01(C) |
| Wrongful death | The claim accrues at death; the estate's representative and the statutory beneficiaries each need to be covered by the notice | A.R.S. § 12-542(2); § 12-821.01 |
| Latent injury or unknown cause | Accrual waits until the person knows or should know the cause, source, or condition | A.R.S. § 12-821.01(B) |
| Eminent domain and just-compensation claims | The notice statute does not apply | A.R.S. § 12-821.01(H) |
| Federal civil-rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 | The state notice-of-claim statute does not apply to the federal claim, though it does apply to any state-law claims brought alongside it | Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131 (1988) |
Federal and tribal defendants
A claim against a federal agency or employee runs under the Federal Tort Claims Act instead: an administrative claim (Standard Form 95) presented to the agency within two years of accrual, six months for the agency to act, then suit in federal court within six months of a written denial (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b), § 2675). Arizona has large federal footprints at Luke and Davis-Monthan Air Force Bases, the VA hospitals in Phoenix, Tucson, and Prescott, the Border Patrol, and the national forests and parks. Claims against a tribe, a tribal enterprise, or a tribal employee are governed by the tribe's own tort-claims ordinance and by sovereign immunity, which can bar suit entirely; the tribe's claims procedure and any limited waiver must be checked before anything is served.
What to do in the first week
Identify every possible public defendant, including the ones that are not obvious: the road's owner in a crash, the district behind a school event, the county behind a jail or hospital. Count 180 days from the incident and write the date down. Gather the facts and the loss figures needed to state a specific amount. Confirm the authorized recipient for each defendant. Serve by a method that proves delivery, and keep the proof. A licensed Arizona attorney can review the notice before it goes out; asking is free, and in these cases the review matters more than in almost any other.