Court Opinion

ID: 9792543
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:30:35.859253+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:43.520631
License: Public Domain

Justice KIRSHBAUM
specially concurring.
I believe that under the circumstances of this case plaintiff-appellant Woodsmall’s notice of claim to defendant Regional Transportation District (RTD) satisfied the applicable provisions of section 24-10-109(1), 10A C.R.S. (1988). The notice informed RTD of all of the information required by section 24-10-109(2), 10A C.R.S. (1988), to the extent the information was known to Woodsmall prior to the expiration of the requisite time period. Section 109(2)(e) requires “[a] statement of the amount of monetary damages that is being requested” (emphasis added). Woodsmall’s statement that she was unable to ascertain the precise amount of damages that would later be requested, together with appropriate explanations for such inability, in effect states that she was not requesting a specific amount of damages at that time.
Under this circumstance, Woodsmall complied with the plain language of the statute while preserving her right to request an appropriate damage amount at some future date. This view of the statutory requirement encourages early notification to a defendant that a claim is being asserted rather than in some circumstances requiring delayed notification because of the plaintiff’s inability to specify the precise amount of damages that “is” being asserted at the time the notice is filed.
For the foregoing reasons, I agree that the trial court erred in dismissing Woodsman’s claim.