Legal Education

What Is a Pure Comparative Fault State? Arizona Explained

Arizona's pure comparative fault rule in plain language — what it means that you can recover even at 99% fault, how insurers use it, and why attorney representation changes the math.

By Editorial Staff · May 20, 2026 · 6 min read

Arizona is one of a small number of states that follows pure comparative fault. In practice, that means an injured person can recover damages even if they were 99% at fault for the underlying accident.

Insurers know the rule well, and they will press hard on fault percentages during early negotiations to reduce what they have to pay.

Attorney representation changes the math because counsel can build a record — photographs, witness statements, expert reconstruction — that anchors the fault allocation in something other than the adjuster's first guess.

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