A personal injury accident such as a fall or car accident may cause many serious injuries. One type of injury caused is a neck injury. According to Colorado personal injury law, a person can sue for damages, or money, if their neck injury was caused by someone else. However, that person must have negligently caused the neck injury. Anyone who sustained a neck injury in an accident that wasn’t their fault should contact our Colorado Springs location.
What is a Neck Injury?
An injury to the neck can range from a muscle strain, quadriplegia and whiplash to trauma such as a broken neck. A neck injury can be cause pain and/or impair a person’s ability to walk, move or stand normally. Impaired movement is often associated with a neck injury that includes a spinal cord.
The damage to the neck often occurs to the anatomical part of the neck. This area is connected to a lot of bones, soft tissue, joints and nerves in the cervical spine. They all work to hold up a person’s head. Any mild or severe injury to the neck can cause plenty of legal damages such as medical bills, rehabilitation bills and lost wages.
Showing Negligence Occurred in the Neck Injury Accident
Negligence occurs when a person doesn’t act as a reasonable individual would in the same and/or similar circumstances. This means the person who caused the accident such as a car accident failed to do the right thing. They may have done nothing at all. In both situations, they could be liable for causing the neck injury if the accident victim can prove it.
The accident victim can prove negligence in a series of steps. These steps include showing the individual had a legal duty to protect them from a neck injury. They didn’t protect the victim from a neck injury and breached the legal duty. The person’s actions led to the accident and the victim’s injuries. In addition, the person owes the victim money to cover their damages such as medical bills.
Be Aware of Colorado Comparative Fault Rules
Comparative fault is a defense used to decrease a jury verdict. Colorado uses modified comparative fault, which is a specific type of comparative fault. With modified comparative fault, an accident victim can’t be more than 50 percent responsible for the accident. If they are 51 percent or more at fault for the accident, then they won’t receive any money for their accident.
Deadline for Filing a Colorado Neck Injury Lawsuit
The state has specific deadlines for filing any type of injury-related case. A person has two years to file their lawsuit in civil court. The two-year period starts the day of accident happened. If a person waits until after the statute of limitations is over, they are barred from filing a lawsuit. This means they can’t obtain money for their neck injury. Once the lawsuit is filed, they can settle or take the lawsuit to trial.
