If you were hit by a car while walking in Colorado, you generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit, because Colorado treats injuries involving a motor vehicle under a shorter deadline than most other injury cases. Your claim is usually made first against the driver's auto liability insurance, and what you can recover depends heavily on how fault gets divided between you and the driver. A pedestrian who is found 50% or more at fault recovers nothing at all under Colorado law. Those three things (the deadline, the fault split, and which insurance policies apply) shape almost every Colorado pedestrian accident claim.
How long you have to file a Colorado pedestrian accident claim
Colorado has two different clocks, and pedestrian cases fall under the shorter one.
- Two years for actions for injuries resulting from the use or operation of a motor vehicle, under C.R.S. 13-80-102.
- Three years for most other personal injury claims, under C.R.S. 13-80-101.
A person walking who is struck by a car was injured by the operation of a motor vehicle, so the two-year deadline is the one that typically controls, even though the injured person was not in a vehicle. This surprises people. They hear "three years for personal injury," assume it applies, and let a year of negotiation drift past without realizing the real cutoff is closer.
Missing the deadline usually ends the claim permanently, no matter how clear the driver's fault was. Certain narrow situations can change the timing, including claims involving a minor, a hit-and-run driver who is later identified, or a claim against a government entity (which carries its own separate and much shorter notice requirements). Those exceptions are fact-specific and are worth asking an attorney about early rather than late.
Fault matters more than most people expect
Colorado uses modified comparative fault with a 50% bar. A jury assigns each party a percentage of responsibility. Your recovery is reduced by your own percentage, and if you are found 50% or more at fault, you recover nothing.
A simple illustration: if a jury finds your total damages are $100,000 and finds you 20% responsible, the award drops to $80,000. If the jury instead finds you 50% responsible, the award is zero.
This is why insurance adjusters in pedestrian cases push so hard on where you were walking and what you were doing. Common arguments raised against pedestrians include:
- Crossing outside a marked crosswalk, or against a signal
- Stepping off a curb into traffic that was too close to stop
- Walking in a roadway where a sidewalk was available
- Wearing dark clothing at night, or being distracted by a phone
- Impairment at the time of the crash
None of these automatically defeats a claim. Drivers still owe a duty of reasonable care, including a duty to keep a proper lookout and to exercise care to avoid hitting a pedestrian even when the pedestrian is somewhere unexpected. A pedestrian outside a crosswalk is not automatically the majority-at-fault party. It becomes a question of what each person did and what each person reasonably could have done.
Which insurance actually pays in a pedestrian case
People assume there is one policy involved. Often there are several, and identifying all of them early matters because a single driver's minimum-limits policy rarely covers a serious pedestrian injury.
The driver's liability coverage
This is the primary source. Colorado requires drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage, but the required minimums are low relative to the cost of a hospital stay, surgery, and rehabilitation after a pedestrian is struck.
Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage
This one is widely misunderstood. UM/UIM coverage on your own auto policy can apply even though you were walking, not driving. It commonly covers you as a pedestrian, and in many households it also covers resident family members. If the driver fled, was uninsured, or carried limits too small to cover your injuries, your own policy may be the most important coverage in the case.
Medical payments coverage
MedPay on an auto policy pays medical bills regardless of fault, usually in a modest amount, and pays quickly. It can help bridge the gap while a liability claim is still unresolved.
Health insurance and liens
Health insurance often pays treatment costs in the meantime, then asserts a right to be reimbursed from any settlement. Hospitals and medical providers may also assert liens. These claims are negotiable in many cases, and how they are handled affects what actually reaches the injured person, not just the headline settlement figure.
What damages are available, and the Colorado cap to know about
Colorado injury claims typically include two broad categories.
Economic damages are the measurable financial losses: emergency and ongoing medical treatment, surgery, physical therapy, assistive devices, lost wages, reduced future earning capacity, and out-of-pocket costs tied to the injury.
Noneconomic damages cover pain and suffering, inconvenience, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. Colorado caps these. The cap is currently roughly $642,180, and a court may raise it to approximately $1,000,000 if the evidence supporting the higher amount is clear and convincing. The figure adjusts over time, so the number that applies is the one in effect for the relevant case.
Physical impairment and disfigurement are treated separately from the noneconomic cap in Colorado, which can matter a great deal in pedestrian cases, where crashes frequently produce permanent limitations, scarring, or loss of function.
What tends to help a pedestrian claim
Because fault is so decisive, evidence that pins down the sequence of events carries real weight. Things that tend to matter:
- The police report and any traffic citation issued. A citation is not automatically proof of civil liability, but it is meaningful.
- Video. Intersection cameras, business security cameras, doorbell cameras, and dash cameras. Much of this footage is overwritten within days or weeks, so it is time-sensitive.
- Witness names and contact information gathered at the scene, before memories fade and people scatter.
- Prompt and consistent medical care. Gaps in treatment get used to argue the injury was minor or unrelated.
- Photographs of the scene, lighting, signal timing, sight lines, crosswalk markings, vehicle damage, and visible injuries.
- A record of how the injury changed daily life, including work missed and activities given up.
It is also worth knowing that recorded statements to the other driver's insurer are usually requested early, and that those conversations are often used to develop comparative fault arguments later.
The bottom line
A Colorado pedestrian accident claim usually runs on a two-year deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-102, not the three-year period in C.R.S. 13-80-101 that applies to most other injury cases. Fault is divided by percentage, and a pedestrian found 50% or more responsible recovers nothing, which is why the details of where and how the crash happened get scrutinized so closely. More than one insurance policy is often in play, including uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on the injured person's own auto policy. Noneconomic damages are capped, currently around $642,180, with a possible increase to roughly $1,000,000 on clear and convincing evidence. Evidence disappears quickly, and the legal deadline arrives sooner than most people assume.
This article is general information about Colorado law and is not legal advice. Laws change and every case is different. Talk to a licensed attorney about your situation.