Today I want to talk about the time limit you have to act if you have been injured in a car accident by another person’s negligence (it was someone else’s fault). You should be aware that the law places a specific time limit on your ability to be compensated for your injuries and this is called a Statute of Limitations (SOL). If you go past the time limit placed upon you by the SOL, you cannot bring an action against the person that hurt you and thus cannot seek compensation from their insurer. If you were to sue the person who hurt you after the SOL, the defendant/tortfeasor would have the defense that you went beyond the statute of limitations and a judge would be required to dismiss your case/claim. This in turn could lead to other negative consequences that could end up costing you instead of making sure you are compensated for your injuries.
Now that I’ve given you those things to think about, let’s get to the actual SOL for automobile collisions. Colorado law allows three (3) years for you to bring an action against the person/persons/entities responsible for causing your injuries as a result of a car accident.
Now to be clear, I’m being specific to car collisions here. Colorado law has multiple types of SOL’s for all different types of actions in both criminal (violation of criminal laws) and civil (violation of private rights). There are also exceptions to the three year limitation which may be special to your case such as if a governmental entity is involved (say you got hit by a city maintenance truck). These are just some of the reasons you need to protect yourself and make sure you know how long you have to act and the best way to know that is to give our office a call. It doesn’t cost anything to give us a call and our initial consultations in personal injury and workers’ compensation cases are always free.