Although you may be able to establish the at-fault party’s negligence, your award could be at risk. If the at-fault party claims that you are partially responsible for the accident, Colorado’s modified comparative negligence rules, CRS 13-21-111, will apply. This law reduces your award by the amount of fault that you share. If the court believes you are 50 percent or more liable for the accident, you will not recover any compensation at all.
For example, say that you are injured when you slip on an unmarked spill in a grocery store. You file a lawsuit against the store owner and ask for $40,000 in damages. However, the owner provides surveillance footage that shows you were texting on your phone at the time of the accident. He then claims that you would not have slipped had you paid attention to your surroundings.
The court then assigns 30 percent of the liability to you. Instead of recovering $40,000 in damages, you will only receive $28,000. If the court assigns you 55 percent of the fault, you will recover $0. To preserve your right to compensation, it is important to have an attorney on your side who can defend you against these accusations and advocate aggressively for your maximum recovery.