Compensation Limitations in Colorado Personal Injury Cases

 Posted on January 25, 2024 in Personal Injury

Are you thinking of filing a personal injury claim in hopes of receiving compensation for damages? Limitations exist in Colorado for both the time you can file a claim and the amount you can receive in damages. To truly understand the “how, when, and for how much” of a personal injury lawsuit, consulting an experienced lawyer is highly recommended.

Colorado Damage Caps

Damage caps are set limits on how much a plaintiff can receive in a personal injury claim. Colorado has set damage caps on certain claims and damage types. Economic damage caps only extend to dram shop and medical malpractice lawsuits. Economic damages are financial expenses, which can include:

• Current and future medical bills
• Wages lost due to injury
• Property damage, such as a car in need of repairs
• Lost earning capacity

Non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering or loss of consortium, have had damage caps placed on them. The compensation limits are determined by the damages or claim being requested.

The reason for damage caps is to minimize verdicts from becoming an economic burden as well as to keep compensation numbers from getting out of control. Economic damages are easier to prove than non-economic damages which lessens the likelihood of compensation numbers getting out of control. It is also considered unfair to limit actual damages a person sustains due to injuries that resulted from another’s negligence.

Colorado Personal Injury Claim Statute of Limitations

The general statute of limitations for a personal injury claim in Colorado that does not involve a motor vehicle is two years from the date of injury. In some circumstances, the limitation for filing a claim is longer than two years. 

In the case of a motor vehicle accident, the injured party will have three years from the date of injury to file a personal injury claim. A wrongful death case that involves vehicular homicide where the perpetrator flees the scene provides four years to file a claim.

Some exceptions can pause the clock on the filing limitation. An injured party that is mentally incompetent or under the age of 18 when the accident occurred could have the limitation stalled until the disability ends. The disability, in this case, is restoration of mental competence or reaching the age of 18. However, if there is a legal representative available to the injured party at the time the injury occurred, then the filing deadline is unlikely to be changed.

Should the potential defendant conceal him or herself from discovery making the lawsuit unservable, then the time may not be held against the already set limitation. In other words, if the person who caused the accident that led to the injuries the plaintiff sustained is in hiding or cannot be found, then the statute of limitations may be stalled until that person can be served with lawsuit documentation.

Contact a Larimer County, CO Personal Injury Attorney

When seeking to file a personal injury lawsuit, it may be time to speak with an experienced Fort Collins, CO personal injury lawyer. Contact the Hoggatt Law Office, P.C. at 970-225-2190 for a free consultation to discuss your impending case.