Statute of limitations in Colorado

On paper, the deadline to bring a Colorado injury claim sounds simple: file within a set number of years, or lose the right to sue. Underneath that headline sits a set of details that decide whether a particular claim really fits the general figure. A statute of limitations is the legal time limit for starting a civil lawsuit. Miss it, and a court can dismiss the case no matter how strong the underlying facts are.

For most personal injury claims, Colorado sets that period at 2 years under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-102. Injuries tied to the operation of a motor vehicle are treated differently: those claims carry a 3-year period under § 13-80-101. The gap between the two matters, because a single accident can raise a real question about which statute controls.

This guide explains how these deadlines generally work, when the clock tends to start, and which situations can move the date. It is general legal information, not advice about your own case. A licensed Colorado attorney can confirm which period fits your facts.

A limitations period does not run from a fixed calendar date. It runs from the moment a claim accrues. In Colorado, accrual is generally tied to when the injury and its cause are known or, through reasonable diligence, should have been known. For a straightforward injury, that is often the day the harm occurs.

Not every injury announces itself right away. Some conditions surface slowly, and the person harmed may not connect the injury to its cause for some time. Colorado law handles this through discovery-type principles, which can move the accrual date to the point when a reasonable person would have recognized both the injury and that someone else may be responsible. The exact contours depend on the type of claim and the statutory language that governs it.

Because accrual sets the starting line, pinning it down is often the first real question in any deadline analysis. Two people hurt in the same event can have different accrual dates if one discovered the harm later. When the start date is genuinely unclear, that uncertainty is itself a reason to get the facts reviewed early.

Several situations can pause or extend a limitations period, a concept the law calls tolling. When the injured person is a minor or is under a legal disability that prevents managing their affairs, Colorado may hold the clock until the disability is removed. The details, including any outer limit, come from statute rather than from a single general rule.

A defendant's absence from the state can also affect the calculation. If the person you would sue leaves Colorado or conceals themselves so they cannot be served, the time they are gone may not count against you. Concealment of the wrongdoing itself can raise similar questions about when the period should be treated as running.

Claims against government bodies follow their own track. Before suing a public entity in Colorado, a claimant generally must give formal written notice within a defined window, and that notice deadline is separate from, and usually much shorter than, the limitations period for an ordinary claim. The exact timing is set by the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act, so check the current code rather than assuming the standard injury deadline applies.

This page currently covers one category directly: personal injury. Under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-102, most personal injury claims in Colorado must be filed within 2 years. The category is broad. It reaches many everyday harms, from a fall on someone's property to an assault, and it includes ordinary negligence that leaves another person hurt.

The important carve-out sits inside the same area of law. When an injury arises from the operation or use of a motor vehicle, Colorado applies a 3-year period under § 13-80-101. A crash between two drivers, or a pedestrian struck by a car, generally falls under the 3-year track rather than the general 2-year rule. Sorting a claim into the right category is not always obvious, and the label you attach to the event does not settle the question; the underlying facts do.

Other claim types are not listed on this page, and their deadlines differ. Contract disputes, professional malpractice, defamation, and property claims each run on their own periods set elsewhere in the code. For any category not shown here, treat the number as unsettled until you confirm it against the official Colorado Revised Statutes.

Time is easiest to protect when you act well before a deadline approaches. Start by preserving what documents the event: medical records, bills, photographs, repair estimates, and the names of anyone who saw what happened. Memories fade and paperwork gets discarded, so gathering these while they still exist tends to make every later step simpler.

Next, confirm which period actually governs the claim. As the motor-vehicle rule shows, two claims that look alike can run on different clocks, and the safe assumption is the earliest deadline that could plausibly apply. If notice to a government body might be involved, treat that shorter notice step as the more urgent date to verify.

Consider speaking with a licensed Colorado attorney while there is still room to investigate. Counsel can pin down the accrual date, identify any tolling that helps or hurts, and file before the window closes. Waiting until the final weeks narrows the available options, even when the underlying claim is sound. Nothing here substitutes for advice about your specific situation, and statutes can change, so rely on the current code for the final word.