The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) has labeled Colorado a “Lawsuit Inferno” in its new Legislative HeatCheck report. The Democratic-controlled legislature of Colorado has pursued extensive liability-expanding legislation this year, despite opposition from the business community and Governor Jared Polis’ vetoes of several significant bills. As a result, Colorado is now considered one of the worst state legislative bodies for expanding liability.
“Colorado is becoming a trial lawyer’s paradise where abusive litigation is allowed to run rampant due to the legislature’s creation of new avenues to sue,” said Tiger Joyce, ATRA president. “The ambush of liability-expanding bills advanced this session exemplifies lawmakers’ capitulation to the personal injury bar’s agenda at the expense of their constituents. Residents will continue paying a crushing ‘tort tax’ that makes everything from insurance to groceries more expensive.”
Colorado residents currently pay the sixth-highest “tort tax” in the nation due to excessive tort costs, amounting to $1,874 per person annually, alongside nearly 100,000 job losses statewide each year.
A primary concern was House Bill 1472, which significantly increased limits on noneconomic damages in liability cases. The bill more than doubles the noneconomic damages limit to $1.5 million in general liability suits and $2.125 million in wrongful death cases while tripling the medical malpractice limit to $857,000. Although seen as a compromise to prevent eliminating limits entirely, these increases are expected to lead to more excessive and unpredictable verdicts.
Governor Polis provided some checks by vetoing two other liability expansions sent by lawmakers: “While we commend Governor Polis for vetoing a pair of egregious liability expansions, lawmakers still enacted an array of bills that will generate excessive litigation by empowering the trial bar through new private rights of action and expansive consumer protection claims,” Joyce said. “This litigation-friendly approach exemplifies Colorado’s deteriorating legal climate and willingness to prioritize personal injury lawyers’ interests over responsible policymaking that balances consumer protection with allowing businesses to operate.”
Other problematic bills signed into law this year include measures perceived as potentially bankrupting companies over minor violations while benefiting trial lawyers financially.
Colorado’s legal climate has progressively worsened, leading it to be included on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s Judicial Hellholes® “Watch List” in recent years.
ATRA’s Legislative HeatCheck report evaluates selected states’ progress or lack thereof in enacting meaningful tort reform measures during their most recent legislative sessions. Alongside Colorado, legislatures in Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, and New York were also named “Lawsuit Infernos.” The full Legislative HeatCheck report can be accessed at heatcheck.atra.org.
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