Colorado Personal Injury Law Overview

Personal injury law is a broad area of law that encompasses injuries and deaths due to someone else's negligence or wrongdoing. Some of the most common persona injury suits involve vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, defective products, and premises liability.

Compensation

In Colorado, compensatory damages can include:

• Past, current, and future medical expenses, including time lost from work to attend medical appointments
• Lost wages
• Lost earning capacity
• Permanent disfigurement
• Permanent disability
• Emotional distress
• Interference with family relationships
• Property damage, including vehicles damaged in auto accidents
• Expenses incurred as a direct result of injury

Punitive damages, in Colorado, are only available if the negligence or wrongdoing was malicious or intentional. In most cases in Colorado, punitive damages cannot be more than the compensatory damages. Also in Colorado, non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases are limited to $300,000.

Negligence

In Colorado, there is "modified comparative negligence" that determines how much you can collect if you are partly to blame for your accident and injuries. As long as you are less than half to blame, the person who caused your injuries can be held responsible for their percentage of fault.

Under several liability, each responsible party is required to pay the amount for which they have been deemed responsible. If another party cannot pay his part, no other party can be held financially responsible to make up for what he owes the victim.

The following three elements must be present to prove negligence in the state of Colorado:

• The person who caused your injuries owed you a duty and failed to uphold that duty
• That failure caused your injuries
• You suffered damages

All states have statutes of limitation regarding personal injury cases, which means you only have a certain amount of time to file a lawsuit after your injury.

If you live in Colorado and feel you may have a valid personal injury or wrongful death claim, please contact an experienced Colorado personal injury attorney in your area today.