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In Colorado, there is a law that states you have a limited amount of time to file a lawsuit against the at fault party for personal injury claims. This law is called the statute or limitations. For general negligence claims, you only have 2 years from the date of the accident to file a claim, but for car accident cases, the statute of limitations is increased to 3 years from the date of the accident. There are other circumstances in which the statute of limitations is as little as 1 year, such as the case for intentional torts (like an assault). There are very few exceptions to this law, so If you’ve been injured in any kind of accident, it is imperative that you contact an experienced Colorado car accident lawyer right away to get your claim filed before your time runs out.
For the majority car accident victims, you likely won’t be eligible for an exception to the statute of limitations, but there are a few things that could help extend your timeline to file if you fall into one of the following three categories:
Tolling is an exception to the statute of limitations that allows the start of the timeline to file to be paused for a period of time due to the injured parties inability to file their claim. This usually applies to minor children, who are not legally competent to enter into contracts or file a lawsuit on their own behalf until they reach the age of 18. Usually this exception does not apply, as a parent of the minor child can bring a suit on their behalf even if they have not yet turned 18, but it is the most common exception to the statute of limitations. This may also apply to an adult who becomes legally incapacitated due to the severity of injuries, or for other reasons, but this situation is far less common than with a minor child.
If the car accident you were injured in was a hit and run, you may be eligible to receive an extension on the statute of limitations due to the fact that sometimes it can take a very long time to figure out who the hit and run driver was. When this happens, the law will allow an extension to 4 years from the date of the accident to file your claim in an effort to give you plenty of time to find out who the hit and run driver was and then file your claim.
In the event that there were 2 separate causes of the accident, such as a defective product like failing brakes on your vehicle, then you would only have 2 years to file your claim for the defective product, but you would still have the full 3 years to file your claim on the car accident against another driver who hit you. This isn’t so much an exception to the statute of limitations, but more of a separation of claims based on the differences in timelines to file between regular personal injury lawsuits and car accident injury claims.
An example of a situation in which this might apply would be if another driver runs a redlight and T-bones your car. Your side airbag fails to deploy, and you believe this has exacerbated your injuries. You have a claim against the at-fault driver for negligence, but may also have a claim against the manufacturer of your vehicle for the defective airbag.
There are also situations in which you might find yourself dealing with a claim that has a 1-year statute of limitations, and another with a 2-year statute. This usually occurs when a shoving match or minor fist-fight escalates into causing serious injury. An example of this would be a man pushing another man to try to get around him into a building, but the pushing causes the other man to fall unexpectedly, causing more serious injuries than were anticipated. In this circumstance, the injured party would have a battery claim (1-year statute of limitations), but also a negligence claim (2-year statute of limitations) because the push was not reasonably calculated to cause serious injuries.
In almost all cases, the clock starts ticking on the statute of limitations from the day that the accident took place. But, in some cases you may be given extra time to file your claim. Ordinarily, these circumstances arise in theft, fraud, or malpractice cases against another lawyer or doctor and are complicated situations. The timing on the statute of limitations is certainly not something that you should try to determine by yourself though, so make sure you speak with a qualified law firm about your claim and the potential extension of time instead of just assuming you have extra time.
If you take longer than the 3 years from the date of the accident to file your claim and you don’t qualify for any extensions on the statute of limitations, then you will lose out on your ability to file a claim and worse than that, you will lose your chance at getting any compensation for your injuries from the at fault party. Compensation for your injuries is what will cover all of your costs associated with the accident as well as giving you some extra compensation for the pain and suffering you dealt with, which can make a major impact on your life and your financial situation. Don’t wait until it’s too late, call our accident attorneys at Rector Stuzynski LLC today and speak with our attorneys about your case.
At Rector Stuzynski LLC, we have helped countless car accident victims get the compensation they deserve for their injuries and we would be happy to help you with your claim as well. We deal with personal injury law every single day, so we can assure you that we know the ins and outs of all of the laws that your claim will need to navigate, including the statute of limitations. If you fall under one of the rules that gives you an extension on your timeline to file, we will handle that for you and get your claim properly built and filed for you on time. Our law firm will handle every possible aspect that we can so that you can sit back and focus on recovering from your injuries while we do all the heavy lifting involved in getting you a favorable settlement. Our consultations are always free and we are available 24/7 via the phone, so don’t hesitate to give us a call today and review your case with our Colorado Springs car accident lawyers.
We serve clients injured in slip & fall accidents anywhere throughout the state of Colorado, but we focus on residents of these areas: Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Fountain, Briargate, Monument, Black Forest, Pueblo, Canon City, Larkspur, Security-Widefield, Peyton, Falcon, Calhan, Castle Rock, Teller County, El Paso County, Elbert County, Park County, Douglas County and beyond.
We serve clients injured in the following zip codes: 80907, 80909, 80918, 80917, 80931, 80932, 80933, 80934, 80935, 80936, 80937, 80941, 80942, 80946, 80947, 80949, 80950, 80960, 80962, 80977 ,80995 ,80997 80901, 80912, 80904, 80915, 80905, 80910, 80923, 80922, 80919, 80920, 80916, 80939, 80914, 80951, 80924, 80927, 80938, 80906, 80840, 80829, 80902, 80809, 80841, 80911, 80908, 80929, 80819, 80921, 80925, 80132, 80926, 80913, 80863, 80817, 80831, 80133, 80930, 80860, 80814, 80813, 80118, 80106, 80928, 80866, 80816, 80808, 80104, 80116, 81008, 80864, 80135, 81240, 81007, 80109, 81290, 80107, 80108, 80425, 81215, 81221, 80117, 80827, 81212, 80134, 80835, 81003, 80131, 81226, 81001, 80138, 80125, 81002, 81009, 81010, 81011, 81012, 80124, 81244, 80126, 80820, 80130, 80163, 80433, 80129, 80833, 80112, 80832, 81025, 81005, 81223, 81006, 80470, 80127, 80122 and beyond.
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