Seat belts have saved countless lives since federal law began requiring all vehicle manufacturers to install them in new cars in 1968. By 1995, nearly all U.S. states, including Colorado, had mandatory seatbelt laws. According to the National Safety Council (NSC), seat belts reduce the risk of front-seat passenger fatalities by 45% and reduce moderate to severe injuries by 50%. Still, 223 unbuckled Colorado motorists died in car accidents in a single recent year. Many of those traffic fatalities were…

In any court process, someone new to a courtroom hears terms that are not commonly used in daily life, except within the legal world. Two of these terms are “motion to dismiss” and “summary judgment.” Both terms refer to motions made by either the plaintiff’s legal representation or the defendant’s. In Westminster personal injury cases, the plaintiff is the injury victim, and the defendant is the negligent party responsible for the injury. Although both motions can bring a case abruptly…

No one expects their day to end in an emergency room, but nearly 40 million people experience injury-related emergency room visits each year. Injuries always cause trauma and distress and can derail a life in an instant. Sometimes the impacts are temporary, but they may also have permanent consequences. If the injury was caused by someone else’s careless, reckless, or wrongful actions, those temporary or permanent consequences become the damages in a Westminster personal injury claim. Before filing a claim,…

Every state in the U.S. has its own car accident insurance laws. A handful of states have no-fault insurance laws, while others follow either modified or pure comparative negligence laws where it matters who caused an accident. Colorado became a fault-based insurance state in 2003. Before that time, Colorado’s no-fault insurance laws required all drivers to carry a personal injury protection (PIP) policy. Accident victims in no-fault insurance states must file claims against their own PIP policies regardless of which…

Colorado and California are both motorcycle destination states, not only for their scenic routes but because Colorado now joins California’s lead in legalizing lane splitting for motorcycles. In August of 2024, Colorado’s General Assembly passed a bill legalizing the practice of lane splitting—and lane filtering—allowing motorcyclists to drive in the space between lanes of traffic. Still, the lane-splitting law in Colorado does not offer the same level of freedom to lane-split as California’s law, so it’s important to know when…