Judges are reluctant to dismiss cases against public entities for failure to comply with the notice of claim statute. There have been well over a hundred plus cases since Deer Valley. The Arizona Supreme Court hasn’t backed off. Once again, the court clarified that compliance requires a sum certain. This means there should be no need to guess or investigate. When the sum certain is ambiguous in the notice of claim, or the public entity has to figure it out, the plaintiff hasn’t complied. This particular notice stated the sum certain as “one hundred thousand dollars ($250,000).” Oops. The court of appeals relied on contract principles to determine intent and held that the number was subordinate to the words, and therefore, we should ignore the $250,000 and go with the one hundred thousand dollars. The Arizona Supreme Court vacated the court of appeals’ decision without much pause. The statute demands strict compliance not an investigation into contract principles or intent. The statute continues to be a tripwire for plaintiffs. Why do legal minds struggle with keeping it simple even when interpreting plain statutory language?

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