How Long Do You Have to Sue Someone in Arizona?

How long do you have to sue someone in Arizona?

It depends entirely on what you are suing over. Arizona does not set one deadline, it sets a different one for each kind of claim, running from one year to six. A written contract gives you six years. An injury gives you two. A claim against a city or the state gives you 180 days to file a notice before you can sue at all.

That last one is why this is worth reading rather than skimming. The periods people guess at are usually the long ones, and the shortest deadlines in Arizona attach to the claims people are least likely to realize are on a clock.

What is the deadline for each kind of claim?

Bottom line: the difference between three years and six is whether the agreement was written. A.R.S. § 12-548 gives six years to a debt founded on a contract in writing executed in Arizona; § 12-543 gives three where the indebtedness is not evidenced by a written contract. For anyone running a business, that is a concrete reason to paper an agreement beyond the usual one about proving what was agreed, and it is a question worth raising with a business law attorney while a deal is being formed rather than after it goes wrong.

Employment claims sit at the short end. Wrongful termination and breach of an employment contract both fall under the one year period, which is worth knowing alongside the separate administrative deadlines covered in our guide to at-will employment in Arizona.

One more provision in § 12-548 is easy to miss: where another jurisdiction's limitation period conflicts with Arizona's on a debt action of this kind, the statute says the Arizona section applies.

When does the clock actually start?

At accrual, and accrual is not always the day the thing happened.

Most of these statutes run "after the cause of action accrues." Several then say something more specific:

• Fraud or mistake. The cause of action is not deemed to have accrued until the aggrieved party discovers the facts constituting the fraud or mistake.
• Death from injuries. The action is considered to accrue at the death of the injured party, not at the date of the injury.
• Forcible entry or detainer. Accrual is at the commencement of the entry or detainer.
• Open accounts. No item is barred so long as any item on the account was incurred within three years before the action is brought.

When a claim accrued is one of the most commonly contested questions in a limitations dispute, and it turns on facts rather than on a rule you can look up. If your deadline is anywhere near close, the accrual date is the thing to get a professional read on.

What if you are suing a city, the state, or a school?

Then the shortest and least forgiving rules in Arizona apply, and there is a step before the lawsuit that most people do not know exists.

A.R.S. § 12-821.01 requires a person with a claim against a public entity, public school, or public employee to file a written notice of claim within 180 days after the cause of action accrues, with the person authorized to accept service under the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure. The statute is blunt about the consequence: any claim not filed within 180 days is barred and no action may be maintained on it.

The notice itself has two required contents, and the second is the one people leave out:

1. Facts sufficient to permit the entity, school, or employee to understand the basis on which liability is claimed
2. A specific amount for which the claim can be settled, together with the facts supporting that amount

Then, separately, A.R.S. § 12-821 requires that all actions against a public entity or public employee be brought within one year after the cause of action accrues.

Accrual is defined for this purpose in the statute itself: it is when the damaged party realizes they have been damaged and knows, or reasonably should know, the cause, source, act, event, instrumentality, or condition that caused or contributed to the damage.

Read together, a claim arising from something a public body did runs on a 180 day fuse for the notice and a one year fuse for the suit. Compare that with the two years for an ordinary injury claim against a private party, and the reason this catches people is obvious: the same accident produces very different deadlines depending on who caused it.

What if nothing on the list fits your claim?

There is a catch-all. A.R.S. § 12-550 provides that actions for which no limitation is otherwise prescribed must be brought within four years after the cause of action accrues. Recovery of real property is carved out of it.

Four years is the default rather than the norm, so it is the wrong period to assume applies to you. Most claims people bring have a specific period assigned somewhere, and the residual exists for the ones that genuinely do not.

Can a deadline ever be paused?

Sometimes, and the clearest case is written into A.R.S. § 12-502.

If a person entitled to bring an action is under eighteen years of age or of unsound mind when the cause of action accrues, the period of that disability is not counted as part of the limitation period. The person then has the same time after the disability is removed as anyone else would have had. The statute excludes actions set out in a separate article of the chapter, so it is not a universal rule.

Other doctrines can affect timing too, and they are largely developed in case law rather than set out in the statutes above. That is a real limit on what a page like this can tell you.

What happens if you miss the deadline?

The claim ordinarily becomes unenforceable, however strong the underlying facts are.

The statutes are phrased the same way throughout: the action shall be commenced and prosecuted within the period "and not afterward." For the public entity notice of claim, the statute goes further and says an untimely claim is barred with no action maintainable on it.

Two practical qualifications. A limitations defense is generally something the other side raises rather than something the court applies on its own. And whether a period has actually run is frequently disputed, because it depends on when the claim accrued and on whether anything paused it.

Neither of those is a reason to relax. They are reasons the date is worth establishing early, while there is still room to act on the answer, rather than discovering it is contested after the window has closed.

Frequently asked questions

What is the statute of limitations in Arizona?

There is no single one. Arizona assigns a period to each type of claim. One year covers wrongful termination, breach of an employment contract, libel and slander, malicious prosecution, and false imprisonment. Two years covers injuries to a person, including medical malpractice, along with property damage and conversion. Three years covers oral debts and open accounts. Six years covers a debt founded on a written contract executed in Arizona. Anything with no period specified falls to a four year residual.

How long do you have to sue for breach of contract in Arizona?

It depends on whether the agreement was written. An action for debt founded on or evidenced by a contract in writing executed in this state must be brought within six years. Where the indebtedness is not evidenced by a written contract, the period is three years. A credit card debt is also governed by the six year provision.

How long do you have to sue for a personal injury in Arizona?

Two years after the cause of action accrues, under the statute covering injuries done to the person of another, which expressly includes medical malpractice. Where death results from those injuries, the statute treats the action as accruing at the death of the injured party. Product liability actions are governed separately.

How long do you have to sue the city or the state in Arizona?

Much less time, and there is a step before the lawsuit. A written notice of claim must be filed with the person authorized to accept service within 180 days after the cause of action accrues, and any claim not filed within that window is barred with no action maintainable on it. Separately, all actions against a public entity or public employee must be brought within one year.

What has to be in an Arizona notice of claim?

The statute requires facts sufficient to permit the public entity, public school, or public employee to understand the basis on which liability is claimed, and it also requires a specific amount for which the claim can be settled together with the facts supporting that amount. Both elements are in the statute, and the settlement figure is the one people most often leave out.

When does the clock start on an Arizona lawsuit?

Generally when the cause of action accrues, which is not always the day something happened. For fraud or mistake the statute says the action is not deemed to have accrued until the aggrieved party discovers the facts constituting the fraud or mistake. For claims against a public entity the statute defines accrual as when the damaged party realizes they have been damaged and knows or reasonably should know the cause, source, act, event, instrumentality, or condition that caused it.

Does being a minor pause the deadline to sue in Arizona?

For many claims, yes. If a person entitled to bring an action is under eighteen or of unsound mind when the cause of action accrues, the period of that disability is not counted as part of the limitation period, and the person then has the same time after the disability is removed as anyone else would have. The statute excludes actions set out in a separate article of the chapter.

What happens if you miss the statute of limitations in Arizona?

The statutes say the action must be commenced within the period and not afterward, so a late claim is ordinarily unenforceable no matter how strong the underlying facts are. Limitation defenses are generally raised by the other side rather than applied automatically, and whether a period has actually run can itself be disputed, which is why the date is worth checking early rather than assuming.

Sources

• A.R.S. 12-541, one year limitation · Arizona State Legislature · checked 2026-09-04
• A.R.S. 12-542, injury to person or property; two year limitation · Arizona State Legislature · checked 2026-09-04
• A.R.S. 12-543, oral debt; stated or open account; fraud or mistake; three year limitation · Arizona State Legislature · checked 2026-09-04
• A.R.S. 12-548, contract in writing for debt; six year limitation · Arizona State Legislature · checked 2026-09-04
• A.R.S. 12-550, general limitation · Arizona State Legislature · checked 2026-09-04
• A.R.S. 12-502, effect of minority or insanity · Arizona State Legislature · checked 2026-09-04
• A.R.S. 12-821, general limitation; public employee · Arizona State Legislature · checked 2026-09-04
• A.R.S. 12-821.01, authorization of claim against public entity, public school or public employee · Arizona State Legislature · checked 2026-09-04

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