Personal Injury Litigation

Money Damages in Personal Injury Cases

The law recognizes three major categories of damages in injury cases: economic, non-economic and physical impairment and disfigurement.

Economic damages
include past and future lost wages, impaired earning capacity, medical and rehabilitation and life care costs (in automobile cases only to the extent that they are not available as no-fault benefits), lost past and future home services, and certain past and future out-of-pocket expenses.

Non-economic damages
are losses of a human nature and, although often difficult to quantify, should be considered at least as valuable as economic loss. The law recognizes injuries such as pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life as monetarily compensable.

Physical impairment and disfigurement damages
are much like non-economic damages. But because the limitation on monetary recovery for other non-economic damages does not apply to physical impairment and disfigurement damages, they are calculated separately.

The Colorado Legislature has passed laws which limit the amount of compensation available for wrongful injury and loss. These laws are referred to as damages caps.

Generally, non-economic damages may not exceed $366,250 for injuries occurring after January 1, 1998. A court may allow an award in excess of this amount under certain circumstances.

For medical malpractice against a hospital or physician, damages may not exceed $1,000,000 per patient with not more than $250,000 attributed to non-economic loss or injury. The court may allow an award in excess of this amount under certain circumstances.

Non-economic damages in wrongful death cases in Colorado are capped at $341,250 for deaths occurring after January 1, 1998.

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