Abstract
In Deer Valley Unified School District No. 97 v. Houser, the Arizona Supreme Court held that claims against a public entity must strictly adhere to Arizona's notice of claims statute, which requires that a claim must "contain a specific amount for which the claim can be settled." The decision abrogated seventeen years of case precedent that set "reasonableness" as the standard to measure whether a notice of claim against a public entity satisfies the statute. After the 2007 Deer Valley decision, public entities defending claims brought against them by citizens moved to dismiss the lawsuits by asserting that a claimant's noncompliance with the statute bars the claim altogether. While the decision gave the State a powerful weapon to protect itself from civil tort liability, Deer Valley has caused confusion and uncertainty among claimants, public entities, lawyers, and state and federal courts.
How to Cite
50 Ariz. L. Rev. 1205 (2008)
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