Posted Sat 21st Feb, 2015 | by Jennifer Crichton | on Legal Insights, Personal Injury
When a Plaintiff files a personal injury lawsuit against a Defendant, the law states the Plaintiff has the burden of proving his case. This means the Plaintiff has to prove that the Defendant was negligent and said negligence was a cause of his injuries. However, in certain circumstances, the burden of proof shifts to the Defendant and he is then forced to disprove his negligence. This is known as res ipsa loquitur, and occurs whenever …
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Posted Sat 31st Jan, 2015 | by Jennifer Crichton | on Legal Insights
In a great decision for Plaintiffs in Colorado, on January 22, 2013 the state’s Supreme Court ruled to abolish the sudden emergency doctrine stating “its minimal utility in Colorado’s comparative negligence scheme is greatly outweighed by the instruction’s danger of misleading the jury.” Prior to this holding, the sudden emergency doctrine recognized “that a person confronted with sudden or unexpected circumstances calling for immediate attention is not expected to exercise the judgment of one acting …
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Posted Sun 4th Jan, 2015 | by Jennifer Crichton | on Legal Insights, Personal Injury
In a December 27, 2012 decision, the Colorado Court of Appeals held that it was error for a trial court to give an instruction allowing the jury to find that the Plaintiff failed to mitigate her damages if she “continued to undergo expensive treatment when it was not resolving her pain.” Under the law, an injured party must take reasonable steps to mitigate his or her damages and as such, may not recover damages for …
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Posted Thu 6th Nov, 2014 | by Jennifer Crichton | on Legal Insights
While very few people actually want to get picked for jury duty, it’s truly an experience that those who do get chosen come to appreciate. Because nearly every person who had served on a jury will tell you how beneficial the experience was, it’s too bad that the majority of people will do just about any thing to get out of jury duty. So next time, you get a summons in the mail to appear …
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Posted Sun 2nd Nov, 2014 | by Jennifer Crichton | on Legal Insights
With election day being a mere 4 days away, now is the time to make sure you’ve researched the issues and decided who and what you will vote for. Whether you’re a democrat or republican, it’s essential you vote and make sure your voice is heard. Those who don’t vote often argue that they’re just one person and their vote doesn’t really matter. The truth is that every single person’s vote counts and in fact, …
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Posted Fri 31st Oct, 2014 | by Jennifer Crichton | on Legal Insights
In honor of Halloween 2012, our blog post today is a list of helpful tips to keep your family safe while enjoying the holiday: -If you have young children, it is imperative that an adult supervises their trick or treating. If it’s a large group of kids, it’s a good idea to have 2-3 adults to keep track of everyone. -Monitor the candy they are getting and make sure they do not eat anything until …
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Posted Sat 25th Oct, 2014 | by Jennifer Crichton | on Legal Insights
At Kidneigh, Kaufman & Crichton, P.C. we have been very successful in handling personal injury matters for minor children who have been injured. Most commonly when a minor gets injured in an accident, it is his or her parent who initiates the filing of a claim and who gives authority to the attorney throughout the settlement process. While a minor’s parent has the authority to settle the minor’s claim, approval is often sought by a …
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Posted Thu 23rd Oct, 2014 | by Jennifer Crichton | on Legal Insights
In Colorado, a statutory right of recovery exists against a tortfeasor who causes the death of another. The statute of limitations for wrongful death in Colorado is two years and begins to run on the date of the decedent’s death. This type of claim is governed by the Colorado Wrongful Death Act and C.R.S. 13-21-201(1) and states that only certain parties are entitled to bring a wrongful death lawsuit. These persons are the decedent’s spouse, …
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Posted Fri 19th Oct, 2012 | by Jennifer Crichton | on Legal Insights
In Colorado, and many other states, proper liability insurance is required to drive a car. In fact, since 1997, Colorado has maintained a database that lists specific individuals and whether they hold the proper amount of insurance. Because motor vehicle accidents are common, dangerous, and expensive, the goal of the database program is to decrease the number of uninsured drivers on the road and thus the expenses caused by these accidents. This database is available …
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Posted Fri 12th Oct, 2012 | by Jennifer Crichton | on Legal Insights
Under Colorado law a Defendant is only liable for the percentage of fault attributed to him or her. For example, if Defendant Smith rear ends Plaintiff Jones, but the jury determines that he was only 80% at fault because Plaintiff Jones braked suddenly and is thus 20% at fault then he is only responsible for paying 80% of Plaintiff Jones’ damages award. If there is more than one Defendant then the same rule applies and …
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