After an accident, filing a lawsuit may be the last thing on your mind. You may be receiving medical treatment, missing work, dealing with an insurance company, and trying to get your life back to normal. Unfortunately, the law does not give injury victims limitless time to act.
Colorado has statutes of limitations that establish deadlines for filing personal injury lawsuits. The deadline depends on the type of case. Missing the applicable deadline can prevent you from recovering compensation. This can be true regardless of how serious your injuries may be.
Reach out to Kimball Injury Law, LLC for help today.
What Is a Statute of Limitations?
A statute of limitations is a law that establishes how long someone has to file a lawsuit.
Think of it as a legal clock. Once your claim accrues, that clock begins to run. If the limitations period expires before you properly bring the lawsuit, the defendant can generally raise the deadline as a defense.
How Long Do You Have to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Colorado?
The answer depends on what caused your injury.
Colorado law imposes a two-year statute of limitations for many tort claims, including negligence. This category can cover many types of personal injury cases that do not involve motor vehicles.
Examples might include claims arising from:
- Slip and fall accidents
- Dangerous property conditions
- Dog bites
Colorado provides a three-year limitations period for bodily injury or property damage arising from the use or operation of a motor vehicle. This can apply to cases involving:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Other motor vehicle collisions
Other types of cases have their own rules. Medical malpractice, claims against government entities, and other specialized actions can involve different statutes, notice requirements, and exceptions.
The safest approach is to determine the deadline applicable to your claim instead of relying on a general rule.
When Does the Statute of Limitations Begin to Run?
Calculating a deadline involves more than simply identifying the number of years. You also need to know when the claim legally accrued.
In a straightforward accident, the injury and its cause may be immediately apparent. Other situations can be more complicated. You might not immediately discover an injury or understand what caused it.
Why Is Waiting Dangerous Even if You Have Plenty of Time?
The statute of limitations is only one reason to act quickly.
Suppose you were injured in a fall outside a business, and a security camera recorded the entire accident, but the business routinely deletes its footage after 30 days. You might legally have much longer than 30 days to file your lawsuit, but one of the strongest pieces of evidence has already disappeared.
There is a similar problem with witnesses, who can move or become difficult to locate. Additionally, property gets repaired, and vehicles can be sold or destroyed. A case that would have been relatively simple can become much harder to prove if too much time has passed.
What Happens if You Miss the Deadline?
Missing a statute of limitations can have severe consequences. If you file after the applicable limitations period has expired, the defendant can seek dismissal of the entire case. Once a claim is time-barred, even strong evidence of negligence and substantial damages may not save it.
You could lose your opportunity to pursue compensation for both economic and non-economic damages, such as:
- Medical expenses
- Future medical treatment
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Physical impairment
- Property damage
- Other accident-related expenses
This is why determining the deadline should happen near the beginning of a personal injury case rather than near the end.
Contact Kimball Injury Law, LLC About Your Colorado Personal Injury Case
You may have months or even years before the statute of limitations expires, but that does not mean waiting is a good idea.
Colorado’s filing deadline depends on the type of personal injury claim you have. Many negligence actions generally have a two-year period. Motor vehicle cases generally have a three-year period. Other cases can follow different rules.
If you were injured because of another person’s negligence in Colorado, don’t wait to start your claim. Contact Kimball Injury Law, LLC at (719) 357-9444 for a free consultation. Our firm can determine how much time you have, preserve important evidence, investigate your accident, and help you pursue compensation before your opportunity is lost.
