Does Arizona Cap Pain and Suffering Damages?

No. Arizona's Constitution bars lawmakers from capping the amount of money a person can recover for an injury or death. Article 2, Section 31 of the Arizona Constitution prohibits laws that limit the damages recoverable for causing death or injury, which means there is no state-set ceiling on pain and suffering in an ordinary Arizona injury case.

What Section 31 says

Section 31 is titled "Damages for death or personal injuries." According to the text published by the Arizona Legislature at azleg.gov, it prohibits state laws that cap the amount of damages recoverable for causing someone's death or injury. That protection applies to the amount of damages generally, so it is not limited to economic losses like medical bills. Non-economic damages, the legal category that includes pain and suffering, are covered by the same rule.

The section has one stated exception. A person who is hurt while committing a felony, or while fleeing after committing one, cannot bring a damages claim against the victim of that felony.

What "no cap" does and does not mean

It is easy to read too much into this rule, so a few clarifications help.

It does not guarantee a particular amount. The absence of a cap means the law does not set a maximum. How much a claim is worth still depends on the evidence: the severity of the injury, medical records, lost income, and how a jury or an insurer weighs the harm.

It does not remove practical limits. Many claims resolve within the limits of the at-fault party's insurance policy, and collecting beyond those limits depends on the defendant's other assets. Those limits come from contracts and finances, not from the state's laws on damages.

It does not mean fault is irrelevant. Arizona's fault rules still affect how much a person receives. If you were partly responsible for a crash, a factfinder can reduce your recovery by your share of fault, a rule we explain in our guide to recovering damages when you were partly at fault.

Each defendant pays only its own share

Arizona also limits what any one defendant pays through a different statute. Under A.R.S. § 12-2506(A), in personal injury, property damage and wrongful death actions, "the liability of each defendant for damages is several only and is not joint." In practice, each defendant is responsible for its own percentage of fault, applied to the plaintiff's total recoverable damages, and each defendant receives a separate judgment.

The statute directs the factfinder to apportion fault among the injured person, every defendant, and in some cases nonparties. It also lists exceptions in which one party answers for another's share: when the two were acting in concert, when the other person was the party's agent or servant, or when liability arises under the Federal Employers' Liability Act. Under the statute, "acting in concert" involves a conscious agreement to pursue an intentional tort, so ordinary negligence does not qualify.

Because liability is several, how fault is divided among the parties can determine how much each one owes.

Why the distinction matters

The questions that tend to decide outcomes in Arizona injury cases are fault, proof of damages, the available insurance, and the timing of the claim. Filing deadlines are covered in our explainer on the time limit for a personal injury lawsuit.

Next steps

If you were injured, keep your medical records, bills and any documentation of how the injury changed your daily life. Because the value of a claim depends on specific facts, consider speaking with a licensed Arizona attorney about your situation.

This article explains Arizona law for general information and is not legal advice. Sources: Arizona Constitution, Art. 2, § 31, and A.R.S. § 12-2506, azleg.gov.