az-pima · diff

v0.1.0 to v0.1.0

34 added, 24 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: az-pima

description: >

This skill should be used when drafting or filing documents in

the Pima County Superior Court in Tucson — Arizona's

second-largest court. Triggers include "Pima County Superior

Court", "file in Pima County", "sued in Pima County", "Tucson

superior court", "Pima County courthouse", "Pima local rules",

- "Pima compulsory arbitration", "Pima County case number", and

- "Pima County scheduling order". Covers the court's general

- civil jurisdiction, the Pima County Superior Court local rules,

- the local-rule compulsory-arbitration jurisdictional limit,

+ "Pima compulsory arbitration", "Pima FASTAR", "Pima County case

+ number", and "Pima County scheduling order". Covers the court's

+ general civil jurisdiction, the Pima County Superior Court local

+ rules, the FASTAR program that Pima uses in place of ordinary

+ compulsory arbitration for lower-value civil cases,

case-management / scheduling-order practice, AZTurboCourt

e-filing, and case-type / case-number conventions. Layer on top

of `az-statewide-format`.

version: 0.1.0

---

# Pima County Superior Court (Tucson)

> **NOT LEGAL ADVICE.** These notes describe the venue's

> procedural mechanics as a drafting aid, not legal advice.

> Local rules and judge-specific practices change; verify with

> the clerk and the current local rules before relying on

> anything here.

Use this skill in addition to `az-statewide-format` when the case

is in the **Pima County Superior Court**, seated in **Tucson**.

Pima is Arizona's second-most-populous county, and its Superior

Court is the state's second-largest, high-volume general-civil

trial court after Maricopa.

## Location and divisions

- The Superior Court sits in the **Pima County Superior Court /

courthouse complex in downtown Tucson**. Confirm the current

street address, division/courtroom, and any annex or remote

hearing locations with the Clerk of the Superior Court before

filing or appearing.

- Superior Court is Arizona's single court of general

jurisdiction; Pima organizes its civil work into divisions

presided over by individual judges, with court commissioners

handling certain matters. Confirm your assigned division and the

judge's individual practices before noticing anything.

- Family, probate/mental-health, and juvenile matters run on

separate calendars and rules — see `az-family-court` /

`az-family-law`. This skill addresses the **general civil** side.

## Jurisdiction

- The Superior Court hears general civil actions; the **Pima

County Justice Courts** handle lower-value civil claims and

evictions (see `az-justice-courts`). Confirm the

amount-in-controversy threshold and any small-claims overlap

before choosing the forum.

- Equity, special actions, and appeals from the limited-

jurisdiction courts also lie in Superior Court.

- ## Compulsory arbitration (local-rule limit)

+ ## Lower-value civil routing — FASTAR (not compulsory arbitration)

- - Arizona's compulsory-arbitration program runs under **A.R.S.

- § 12-133** and **Ariz. R. Civ. P. 72–77**, with each county's

- Superior Court setting the **jurisdictional dollar limit by

- local rule**. Pima County sets its own threshold by local rule.

- - A civil case at or below the Pima limit is **assigned to

- compulsory arbitration** and proceeds through an arbitrator

- before any trial; an appeal from the award is a **trial de novo**

- in Superior Court. Pleading the amount in controversy (or a

- certificate as to compulsory arbitration) drives this routing.

- - **Do not hard-code the dollar figure** — it is set by Pima local

- rule and revised periodically. Read the current limit from the

- Pima County Superior Court local rules in `az-law-references`,

- and confirm with the clerk. For the substantive

- arbitration/ADR framework see `az-commercial-disputes` and

- `az-hearings`.

+ - Statewide, **A.R.S. § 12-133** and **Ariz. R. Civ. P. 72–77**

+ authorize a county Superior Court to require **compulsory

+ arbitration** of civil money cases at or below a

+ **jurisdictional dollar limit set by local rule**. But Ariz. R.

+ Civ. P. 72(a)(2) lets a county instead establish a **Fast Trial

+ and Alternative Resolution ("FASTAR") program**, in which case

+ the FASTAR Rules apply *instead of* Rules 72–77 within the

+ FASTAR limits.

+ - **Pima County uses FASTAR, not the ordinary compulsory-

+ arbitration track.** Lower-value civil cases are routed into

+ FASTAR — under which a party elects either a short "fast trial"

+ or an arbitration-style alternative-resolution proceeding —

+ rather than the Rules 72–77 compulsory-arbitration process used

+ in counties like Maricopa.

+ - **Do not hard-code the dollar figures or the election

+ mechanics** — the FASTAR threshold and the residual

+ compulsory-arbitration amount are set by Pima local rule and

+ revised periodically. Read the current Pima County Superior

+ Court local rules in `az-law-references`, and confirm with the

+ clerk which track applies to your case and what the controlling

+ thresholds are. For the substantive arbitration/ADR framework

+ see `az-commercial-disputes` and `az-hearings`.

## Pima County Superior Court local rules

- Beyond the statewide Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, Pima

County Superior Court operates under its **own local rules**

(adopted under the supervision of the Arizona Supreme Court),

- which govern case assignment, motion practice, the compulsory-

- arbitration threshold, scheduling, and local filing conventions.

+ which govern case assignment, motion practice, the FASTAR /

+ compulsory-arbitration thresholds, scheduling, and local filing

+ conventions.

- Read the current Pima local rules from the corpus in

`az-law-references` before relying on any page limit, conferral

requirement, or motion-call procedure. Where the corpus is a

pointer stub rather than verbatim text, **confirm the current

rule with the clerk or the court's website**.

## Case-type and case-number conventions

- Pima Superior Court civil case numbers follow Arizona's Superior

Court pattern — generally a county/court designator, a two- or

four-digit year, a case-type code, and a sequential number.

**Confirm the exact case-type code and number format the Pima

clerk assigns** for your cause of action; the case-type code

drives docket routing and the arbitration determination.

- Once assigned, the case number anchors the caption per

`az-statewide-format`. **Do not guess the case-type code** —

verify it against the Pima clerk's intake practice.

## Case management and scheduling orders

- After the case is at issue, the court manages civil cases through

**case-management and scheduling orders** setting discovery

cutoffs, disclosure deadlines (Arizona's Rule 26.1 mandatory

disclosure), motion and dispositive-motion dates, ADR/arbitration

milestones, and the trial date.

- **Calendar your obligations from the scheduling order entered in

your specific case**, not from a generic template, and confirm

the assigned judge's individual practices, motion-call day, and

any chambers-copy or lodging requirement. See

`az-schedule-hearing`, `az-hearings`, and `az-deadlines`.

**Agent behavior:** before drafting a notice of hearing, setting a

page-limited brief, or calendaring a deadline, read the current

Pima County Superior Court local rules in `az-law-references`, the

scheduling order entered in the case, and the assigned judge's

- practices. Confirm the compulsory-arbitration limit, motion-call

- procedure, and any chambers-copy requirement with the clerk.

+ practices. Confirm the FASTAR / compulsory-arbitration thresholds,

+ motion-call procedure, and any chambers-copy requirement with the

+ clerk.

## E-filing — AZTurboCourt

- Arizona's statewide electronic-filing platform is

**AZTurboCourt**. Pima County Superior Court accepts civil

filings through AZTurboCourt; confirm whether e-filing is

**mandatory** for your case type and party, the current

document-type selections, and the filing-fee / fee-waiver

workflow with the clerk.

- See `az-file-packet` for packet assembly and preflight and

`az-statewide-format` for the statewide document-format

requirements.

## Composition

- For statewide format and the caption: `az-statewide-format`

- For other Arizona venues: `az-maricopa` (Phoenix),

`az-superior-courts` (other counties), `az-justice-courts`

(limited-jurisdiction / evictions)

- For the first responsive pleading: `az-first-30-days`

- For drafting motions / declarations / notices / orders:

`az-draft-motion`, `az-draft-declaration`, `az-draft-note`,

`az-draft-order`

- For discovery and Rule 26.1 disclosure: `az-discovery`

- For scheduling and hearings: `az-schedule-hearing`,

`az-hearings`; deadlines: `az-deadlines`

- For arbitration/ADR substance: `az-commercial-disputes`

- For filing mechanics: `az-file-packet`; pre-filing QC:

`az-quality-check`; citation/quote checking: `az-fact-check`

- For pro se conventions: `az-pro-se`

## References

- `az-law-references` — Ariz. R. Civ. P., Ariz. R. Evid., A.R.S.

(incl. § 12-133 compulsory arbitration), and the Pima County

Superior Court local-rules corpus

- Pima County Superior Court local rules and the assigned judge's

individual practices (confirm current versions with the clerk

and the court's website, sc.pima.gov)