Injuries from car accidents are one of the leading causes of injury and death in Colorado. Whether you have been injured in a rear-end car accident, a head-on crash, a t-bone accident, or a DUI crash, there are several different types of injuries that can arise, including:
- Lower back strain
- Neck strain
- Herniated discs
- Bulging discs
- Fractured wrists
- Fractured arms
- Fractured legs
- Fractured patella
- Fractured shoulder
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
- Concussion
- Burns
- Paralysis
- Death
What Should You Do if You Have Been Injured in a Car Accident in Colorado?
- First, call 911 and report the accident to law enforcement
- Wait for law enforcement to respond so they can create a traffic accident report and issue a citation to the at-fault party
- Do not admit fault for the accident
- Take photos of the damage to all vehicles involved
- Collect the names and phone numbers of any witnesses
- Seek medical care immediately (if an ambulance offers to take you to the hospital for evaluation and treatment–do it)
- Follow-up on any recommendations received at the hospital such as additional imaging (MRI, CT scan, X-ray etc.), surgery, physical therapy, chiropractic etc.
- Call an experienced Colorado personal injury car accident lawyer to assist you in navigating the complicated personal injury claim process
What Should You NOT DO if You Have Been Injured in a Car Accident in Colorado?
- Admit fault
- Agree to speak to an insurance company representative on a recorded line
- Post about the car accident or injuries on social media
- Accept any low-ball settlement offers from the at-fault insurance company (insurance companies are known to swoop in on freshly injured car accident victims who don’t yet know the full extent of their injuries or damages and try to get them to sign releases for a small fraction of the value of their personal injury claim)
What Happens After the Car Accident?
Hopefully, you have hired an experienced personal injury trial lawyer with experience handling car accident injury claims. If so, the case will move into a stage called “pre-litigation.” During the pre-litigation stage of the claim, your Boulder personal injury lawyer will thoroughly investigate your claim by doing the following:
- Send a letter of representation to the at-fault insurance company and your insurance company (in the event the at-fault driver was uninsured or underinsured)
- Send a letter of representation to any lien holder (e.g. your health insurance company, child support, provider who were unable to bill your insurance)
- Obtain insurance policy information to ascertain the policy limits of all applicable policies of insurance
- Gather you medical and billing records related to the car accident
- Gather the car accident crash report, body-camera, police reports, and witness statements from the law enforcement agency that investigated the crash
- Gather information on lost wages such as paystubs, W2s, and 1099s
- Collaborate with treating providers to determine if there is any permanent physical impairment or need for future care
- Speak with the client to understand how the car accident has impacted their life in terms of pain, suffering, inconvenience, emotional stress, and impairment to the quality of life (non-economic damages)
Once the case has been thoroughly investigated, it is time to submit a “demand” to the insurance company. A demand is simply a letter from a car accident lawyer to the insurance company outlining the facts, liability, and damages and then demanding a certain amount of money to resolve the claim before filing a lawsuit.
For example, let’s say you have been injured in a rear-end car accident. You were stopped at a red light and the person behind you slammed into your car at 50mph because they were distracted looking at their phone. You then called the police, the at-fault driver was issued a ticker for careless driving, and you were taken from the scene by ambulance to a nearby emergency room for evaluation and treatment. Luckily, you were not severely injured. After receiving CT scans in the emergency department, it was determined you have a few herniated discs in your lumbar spine and neck pain (cervicalgia). Your bill from the emergency department is $10,000.00 and you have had to get injections for the herniated discs costing an additional $10,000.00. You have also done physical therapy totaling $5,000.00. Luckily, you did not miss any work because of this incident. Your total economic damages are $25,000.00. The at-fault driver has $100,000.00 in bodily-injury insurance coverage. Because the policy limits of the at-fault driver’s insurance are $100,000.00, that is the most money you can ask for at this stage of the case. Your Boulder personal injury lawyer will assemble a demand documenting your past medical bills, future medical expenses, past lost wages, future lost wages, pain, suffering, inconvenience, emotional stress, and impairment to the quality of life. This demand will likely exceed the $100,000.00 in coverage. The demand will only request the policy limits ($100,000.00). All supporting documents will be attached to the demand as exhibits. The demand will give the insurance adjustor ~30 days to accept the demand and settle the case.
If the case settles, you will be asked to sign a release releasing the at-fault party from all future claims related to the car accident. The insurance company will then send the settlement check to your personal injury lawyer.
At this stage, your Boulder car accident lawyer will have an opportunity to negotiate your liens. Let’s say your health insurance company has paid $5,000.00 on your medical claims. Depending on the specifics of the policy, if you reached a policy-limit settlement, you may not have to pay back anything (under Colorado’s made whole law). Or, you may be able to negotiate a reduction in the lien of 50% or more thereby increasing the net recovery to the injured client.
Once all liens are resolved, your Colorado personal injury lawyer will create a settlement statement. This will outline:
- Settlement funds received
- Liens paid off
- Case expenses incurred for medical records retrieval etc.
- The attorney’s fee
- Net recovery to the client
Once the settlement statement is signed by the client, it is time to disburse funds. This is the part where you get the check to compensate you for your injuries.
What if the Car Accident Case Doesn’t Settle at the Demand Stage?
Then we file a lawsuit (complaint) and begin the litigation process.
Even though there is an insurance company lurking in the shadows, you don’t sue the at-fault party’s insurance company. You have to sue the at-fault party personally. Then, the at-fault party’s insurance company will hire lawyers to defend them and will call all of the shots during litigation. Even at a jury trial, the jury is not informed that an insurance company is involved. Jurors are left to believe that an individual is being sued and will have to pay the judgment when in reality it is the insurance company being sued and the insurance company that will pay any judgment in the end.
The lawsuit is starting by the filing of a complaint and a civil cover sheet. A typical complaint will name the at-fault driver as the defendant and will allege various claims such as negligence and negligence per se. This complaint is then filed in the District Court in the county where the car accident occurred. A copy of the complaint is then served on the defendant along with a summons and civil cover sheet. The defendant’s attorneys then have 21 days to file an answer to the complaint. Generally, the defendant’s answer just denies every allegation in the complaint. Once the answer is served, the case is “at issue.”
Once the case is at-issue, there are several key stages of the litigation
Discovery
The first stage is discovery. This is where the attorneys serve interrogatories (written questions to be answered under oath), requests for production of documents, and requests for admission. Generally, after written discovery, the defendant and other witnesses are scheduled for depositions.
Depositions
Depositions are an opportunity for attorneys on both sides of the case to question the plaintiff, defendant, and other fact witnesses under oath. Depositions are important tools to lock-in an at-fault party’s trial testimony on issues like liability and damages.
Expert Disclosures
Your Colorado personal injury lawyer will hire experts during the discovery process. Experts will opine on things like liability, past and future lost wages, necessary future medical care, and permanent physical impairment. These expert reports will be shared with the defense to bolster the value of your car accident claim.
Mediation
After depositions, there is generally a mediation. Mediation is an opportunity for the parties to settle the case before a jury trial. Mediators are typically former judges with decades of experience presiding over personal injury and car accident cases on the bench. The mediator pushes for both sides to compromise and reach a settlement to resolve the case so the case does not have to go to trial.
If the case still doesn’t settle at mediation, then you proceed to trial.
Jury Trial
Most Colorado personal injury cases are tried to a jury and not to the court in a “court trial” or “bench trial.”
If you go to trial in your car accident case, you will be trying the case to a jury of six people. The stages of a jury trial are as follows:
- Voir dire. This is the jury selection process where your lawyer and the defendant’s lawyer will widdle down a panel of ~30 prospective jurors to the six jurors who will be seated along with one or two alternates.
- Opening statements. Both the plaintiff and the defendant will have an opportunity to give an opening statement to the jury. The opening statement is not an argument, but more of a roadmap for the jury to know what the theory of the case is and what evidence they are going to hear to support the lawyer’s theory of the case.
- Direct examination. The plaintiff’s lawyer put their case on first because they have the burden of proof. In direct examination, the plaintiff’s lawyer calls their witnesses such as the injured plaintiff, investigating officers, witnesses to the car accident, and expert witnesses.
- Cross examination. This is where the defendant’s insurance defense lawyers will try and poke holes in the plaintiff’s witness testimony. They will attempt to show the jury through questioning the witnesses that the injured client shares some fault for the accident, is lying about their injuries, or that expert opinions are faulty.
- Closing argument. This is where your Colorado personal injury lawyer ties all the evidence that has been presented together for the jury. Your car accident lawyer will argue to the jury how liability, causation, and damages have been established through witness testimony and other evidence.
- Judgment. If the jury delivers a verdict in your favor, the judge will enter a judgment against the at-fault party. The judgment will include interest and costs in addition to the amount awarded by the jury.
- Collecting the judgement. Typically, the at-fault party’s insurance company will pay the judgment entered by the judge. Sometimes, the insurance company will appeal the verdict.
Other Useful Information Regarding Colorado Personal Injury Laws and Car Accident Claims
Statute of Limitations
In Colorado, you have three (3) years from the date of the car accident to file a personal injury claim. If you fail to file a personal injury lawsuit within 3 years of the car accident, your car accident injury claim is going to be barred by the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations for car accidents in Colorado is one of the most important deadlines you need to be aware of.
Elements of Negligence:
- Liability. This is proven by showing that the defendant had a duty and the defendant breached their duty. For instance, all drivers have a duty to use reasonable care under the circumstances. This is plain vanilla negligence. Duty can also be established by showing that the at-fault driver violated a statue. This is called negligence per se. For instance, if the at-fault driver was issued a ticket for careless driving or following too closely, then liability is generally established because they breached their duty to follow Colorado’s traffic laws.
- Causation. The plaintiff must prove that the injuries sustained were caused by the car accident and were not pre-existing injuries.
- Damages. In Colorado, there are three main buckets of damages: economic damages (past and future medical expenses and lost wages), non-economic damages (pain, suffering, inconvenience, emotional stress, and impairment to the quality of life), and permanent physical impairment (scars, burns, loss of sight, loss of limb, etc.).
Burden of Proof
The plaintiff’s lawyer has the burden of proof in the case. The burden of proof in a car accident case is proof by a “preponderance of the evidence.” This means the plaintiff’s lawyer must prove (1) it is more likely than not that the defendant was negligent, (2) it is more likely than not that the defendant’s negligence was a cause of the plaintiff’s injuries, and (3) it is more likely than not that the defendant sustained both economic and non-economic damages in the amounts requested by the plaintiff’s lawyer.
Modified Comparative Negligence
Colorado uses a modified comparative negligence standard. What this means is that the plaintiff can still recover damages even if they were partially at-fault for the car accident. For example, if the plaintiff was speeding at the time of the car accident or wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, the jury may render a verdict for the injured car accident victim, but may apportion some of the fault to the plaintiff and the remainder to the defendant. The verdict is then reduced by the plaintiff’s percentage of fault assigned by the jury. Further, if the jury finds the plaintiff was 51% or more at fault, the verdict will be for the defendant and the injured plaintiff will get nothing. For example, if the jury finds the injured plaintiff 10% at fault and the defendant 90% at fault and awards $100,000.00 in damages, the judge will enter judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $90,000.00 to account for the Plaintiff’s 10% comparative negligence. If the jury finds the plaintiff 51% or more at fault, the verdict will be for the defense.
Excess Verdicts
If the at-fault party’s insurance company unreasonably fails to settle the claim within their insured’s policy limits, and you obtain a judgement in excess of the policy limits, there are ways to make the at-fault insurance company pay the excess verdict. For instance, if you send a demand for the $100,000.00 policy limits and the insurance company either denies the claim or gives you a low-ball offer, and then you get a $500,000.00 verdict at trial, the at-fault insurance company may be liable for bad-faith and may be forced to pay the $500,000.00 judgment.
Conclusion
If you have been injured in a car accident anywhere in Colorado, Boulder personal injury lawyer Mike Ferrell can ensure you get the maximum compensation possible for your personal injury car accident claim.
When you are seriously injured in a car accident, you are rightfully concerned with medical bills, car repairs, lost wages, and medical appointments for continuing treatment. The last thing you need to add to your plate is dealing with the insurance company. Further, the insurance company adjustors and lawyers know all of the rules and laws of the personal injury claim process. As a non-lawyer, you likely know none of the rules or laws related to making a personal injury claim. Making a car accident personal injury claim without an experienced car accident personal injury lawyer is like walking into a boxing ring with Mike Tyson when you have no boxing training or experience–bad things are going to happen.
Personal injury claims are complicated and nuanced and present numerous crucial deadlines and legal landmines for people unfamiliar with the process. Further, research shows that car accident victims represented by a lawyer receive 3.5 times more money if they are represented by an attorney than if they represent themselves. This means that in a typical car accident case with $100,000 policy limits, you are likely to recover only $28,500 if representing yourself when you could have obtained the full $100,000 if represented by a competent Boulder personal injury lawyer. Assuming the attorney’s fee on the $100,000 is 33.3%, you are walking away with $66,700.00 by hiring a lawyer. In this hypothetical scenario, the lawyer increased your net settlement by $38,200 after fees!
Contingency Fees
The best part about working with Boulder personal injury lawyer Mike Ferrell is that he does not charge any fees or costs unless and until he wins your case. You read that right: at The Ferrell Law Firm, we operate on a contingency fee basis. We will take your case on, pay any case expenses necessary to prepare a settlement demand or a jury trial, and you will not be charged a dime unless and until your case settles.
If you have been injured in a car accident in Colorado, call The Ferrell Law Firm for a free and confidential case evaluation today. Our lawyers are standing by to fight for justice in your car accident case and get you the compensation you are entitled to.