A Guide to Colorado Slip and Fall Claims and Lawsuits

You fell and were hurt on someone else's Colorado property. You're considering an insurance claim or a slip and fall lawsuit to recover compensation ("damages") for your injuries, but you have questions about Colorado law. Are you allowed to sue? What must you prove to win your case? How long do you have to file a lawsuit in court?

Colorado's premises liability law, which covers (among other things) slip and fall claims like yours, is unique. Other states look to the common law of negligence—a body of legal rules made up of case decisions—to decide who's legally responsible for slip and fall injuries. In Colorado, premises liability law is statutory. Colorado's legislature enacted Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-115 (2024), known as the Colorado Premises Liability Act (the "Act"), to provide the legal framework for slip and fall and other premises-related claims. Analysis of your slip and fall case starts there.

We explain the key provisions of the Act, including what you need to prove and defenses the landowner is likely to raise. We'll also discuss the statute of limitations, damages you're allowed to recover, and much more.

Key Provisions of Colorado's Premises Liability Act

To recover damages for your Colorado slip and fall injuries, you must prove each of these elements:

• the Act imposed on the landowner a statutory duty of care
• the landowner breached, or failed to meet, that duty of care
• you suffered an injury, and
• your injury was caused by the landowner's failure to meet the duty of care.

As we'll see, though, duty of care is a two-way street. The law requires that both you and the defendant (the party you're suing) take reasonable steps to look out for your safety. In most slip and fall cases, you'll point to the defendant as being responsible and the defendant will point right back at you, claiming you share some or all of the blame.

(Learn more about slip and fall claims on government property, at a business, and at a private residence.)

Who Can Be Responsible for a Slip and Fall Claim?

The Act imposes liability on "landowners." That term includes:

• any person who's legally responsible for conditions, activities, or circumstances that exist on real estate
• a person who possesses real estate, or
• the agent of someone who's responsible for or possesses real estate.

(Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-115(7)(b) (2024).)

Cutting through the legalese, anyone who owns or controls real estate can be liable for a Colorado slip and fall injury. Owners, tenants, contractors, property managers, and easement holders—to name just a few—all might fall under the heading of "landowners" who must take reasonable care for the safe management and maintenance of their property.

Your lawyer will identify and pursue all those who might be responsible under the Act. In most cases, the defendants will fight among themselves to figure out who has to pay you.

What Is a Duty of Care?

The duty of care is a legal standard—a rule that explains what a landowner should do to be reasonably sure their property is safe for visitors. It says to a landowner: "Here's the least you must do to avoid legal responsibility for injuries that happen on your property."

A duty of care arises under the Act when:

• there's a dangerous condition on the property, and
• the landowner knows (or in some cases, the landowner should know) about the danger.

Relationships Define the Duty of Care

A Colorado landowner's statutory duty of care usually depends on the relationship, if any, between the landowner and the visitor. The Act recognizes three categories of visitors: Trespassers, invitees, and licensees. The court must decide which category (or categories) best fits each visitor. (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-115(6) (2024).)

A visitor's status can change, depending on where they are on the property and what they're doing. For example, if you visit a retail store to do some shopping, the law calls you an invitee. But if you wander from the retail sales area to a private business office at the back of the store where customers aren't allowed, you've probably become a trespasser.

Trespassers. A trespasser is someone who's on a property without permission, or after permission to be there expired or was revoked.

Duty owed to trespassers. Colorado landowners are legally responsible only for injuries "willfully or deliberately caused" to a trespasser. Simple negligence, by itself, won't result in liability.

Invitees. An invitee (also known as a "business invitee") enters a property to "transact business" with the landowner, or "in response to the landowner's express or implied representation that the public is requested, expected, or intended to enter or remain." Retail customers are classic invitees. Patients at a medical building, hotel guests, and movie theater patrons are invitees, too.

Duty owed to invitees. When a landowner has actual or constructive knowledge of a dangerous condition, they must either warn of the condition or fix it. Constructive knowledge means the condition was there for a long enough time that the landowner should have discovered it, had they made a reasonable effort to inspect the property.

There's a special rule for properties listed on the county property tax roll as either agricultural or vacant. For injuries on those properties, a landowner is legally responsible to an invitee only when the landowner actually knew about the dangerous condition. Constructive knowledge won't suffice.

Licensees. You're a licensee when you come to a property with the owner's permission, but for a purpose that mostly benefits you. Social guests and visiting relatives are among the most common licensees.

Duty owed to licensees. A landowner who actually knows about a dangerous condition is liable for injuries to a licensee when the landowner unreasonably fails to:

• take reasonable care to make safe a dangerous condition the landowner created, or
• warn of the condition, if it wasn't created by the landowner and isn't a condition normally found on the type of property involved.

Constructive knowledge isn't enough to impose liability in the case of a licensee.

(See Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-115(4) (2024); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-115(7) (2024).)

Duty of care owed to young children. Children often are attracted to properties with conditions that adults recognize as potentially dangerous. Swimming pools, construction areas, and abandoned vehicles and equipment are well known examples. The law sometimes calls these conditions an "attractive nuisance."

When a Colorado property presents an attractive nuisance, the attractive nuisance rule might apply. Under this rule, landowners must take precautions to protect children younger than 14 who enter the property, regardless of whether they're invitees, licensees, or trespassers. Children who are at least 14 years old are presumed to understand the potential danger posed by an attractive nuisance.

(See Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-115(3) (2024).)

Injuries on recreational property. If you were hurt on recreational property, be sure to ask your lawyer whether different rules apply. Colorado carves out special duty of care rules for landowners who open their property for recreational uses. (See Colo. Rev. Stat. § 33-41-103 (2024); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 33-41-104 (2024).)

Dangerous Conditions and Landowner Notice

To prove a landowner liable under the Act, you start by showing there was a dangerous condition on the property. Next, you must show that the landowner knew (or in the case of most invitees, knew or should have known) about the danger.

Examples of dangerous conditions. Here are some examples of dangerous property conditions:

• uneven surfaces caused, for example, by something like a crack or break in the pavement or walk
• loose or easily movable surface material such as gravel, rocks, or sand
• wet, slushy, snowy, or icy walkways
• stair runs or risers that are larger or smaller than what's typically required by building or safety codes
• torn, frayed, or unsecured carpets or rugs
• accumulations—natural or artificial—of water, snow, or ice
• foreign substances like liquids, foods, or other slipping or tripping hazards on floors
• aisles or walkways occupied or partially blocked by product displays
• tools or equipment left in aisles or walkways
• products spilled on store aisles
• inadequate lighting
• missing or defective railings, handrails, or guardrails, and
• things hanging from shelves or ceilings.

The landowner knew of the danger. A landowner can't be expected to warn about or fix dangerous conditions when the landowner isn't aware of them. Proving that the landowner had notice of the condition is critical to a slip and fall claim. Without it, the landowner has no duty of care. In most cases, expect the landowner to deny having had notice of the danger.

For invitees and licensees, a landowner's actual knowledge of a dangerous condition will suffice. Proving what a landowner actually knew can be a challenge. Here are examples of the kinds of evidence you might look for.

• Prior incident reports and complaints, documenting earlier encounters with the condition.
• Maintenance records, showing prior efforts to deal with the condition.
• Inspection reports from government agencies, recording prior infractions or safety violations related to the condition.
• Surveillance photos or videos, to prove how the condition came to be and how long it had existed.
• Testimony from others who saw the dangerous condition, to find out what they saw and what, if anything, they reported to the landowner.
• Emails, text messages, and other communications indicating that the dangerous condition was known to the landowner or its agents.
• Testimony from the landowner and the landowner's agents, to find out what they knew about the condition and when they knew it.
• Expert witness testimony, which can help to establish, for example, how long a substance likely had been on the floor before you fell on it.

Except as noted above, when an invitee is injured, the landowner's constructive notice of the danger can be enough to establish a duty of care. You'll need to rely on the landowner's constructive knowledge of a dangerous condition when—as often will be the case—the landowner denies having actually known of it.

The key to constructive notice is proving how long the dangerous condition existed before it injured you. From there, you can argue that had the landowner been reasonably careful, it would have inspected the property, discovered the danger, and fixed it or warned you about it.

(Learn more about proving fault for slip and fall accidents.)

Landowner Defenses: Shifting the Blame to You

As discussed above, lack of notice can be a complete defense to a slip and fall claim. In addition, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-115(3) (2024) specifically mentions comparative negligence and assumption of the risk as possible defenses.

One other traditional slip and fall defense—the "open and obvious danger" rule—isn't a complete defense in Colorado. Instead, landowners can argue that a danger was open and obvious in support of their comparative negligence defense.

Here's how it works.

The Comparative Negligence Defense

Your own negligence is a defense to the landowner's legal responsibility for your injuries. If the accident happened in a contributory fault state, any negligence on your part—even 1% of the total—defeats your claim entirely. When the accident happened in a comparative fault state, your share of the negligence reduces the damages you can collect. Some comparative fault states (including Colorado) bar you from collecting any damages if you're mostly to blame for what happened.

Colorado is a comparative negligence state. Colorado has adopted a "modified" comparative negligence rule. When you're found partly—but not mostly—to blame for the fall, your percentage share of the total responsibility simply reduces your personal injury damages by that amount. But if you're found mostly to blame, meaning you were 50% or more at fault, you can't collect any damages. (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-111(1) (2024).)

What did you do that was negligent? Expect the defendant to leave no stone unturned looking for ways to blame you for the fall. Here are a few of the most common claims.

• You were on a part of the property where visitors aren't allowed, or aren't expected to be.
• You weren't paying attention to where you were walking.
• You were distracted by a child, or your phone, or something else.
• You were wearing footwear that was inappropriate or even unsafe for the situation.
• You were warned of the dangerous condition, or the owner took reasonable steps to protect visitors.
• The dangerous condition was open and obvious.

Open and obvious dangers. In many states, landowners aren't responsible for injuries caused by open and obvious dangers. An open and obvious danger is one that's clearly visible and that should be seen by a reasonable person exercising ordinary care for their own safety. Common examples include accumulations of snow or ice, large objects, and darkness.

Colorado has done away with the open and obvious danger rule as a complete defense to a slip and fall claim. Instead, the landowner can argue that the open and obvious nature of a condition means the visitor should be assigned a greater percentage of the blame under Colorado's modified comparative negligence rule.

If this defense succeeds, at best it reduces the value of your claim. When it pushes your share of the fault to 50% or more, it wipes your claim out entirely.

You Assumed the Risk

When you voluntarily and knowingly assume the risk of a known danger, injuries resulting from that danger ordinarily aren't the landowner's responsibility. Classic examples include recreational activities like bungee jumping, base jumping, skydiving, and other high-risk adventures. (See Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-21-111.7 (2024).)

The Slip and Fall Statute of Limitations

A "statute of limitations" is a law that limits your time to file a lawsuit in court. For most Colorado slip and fall claims, you have two years from the date you were injured to sue. Different rules might apply when:

• you don't know right away you've been hurt
• you were injured on government property
• you were legally disabled at the time you fell, or
• the defendant leaves Colorado to avoid being sued.

(See Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-102(1) (2024); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-108(1) (2024); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-118 (2024); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-10-109(1)-(2) (2024); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-81-101(3) (2024); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-81-103(1) (2024).)

If you're unsure about how much time you have to file a slip and fall lawsuit, speak to a Colorado personal injury lawyer right away. Miss the filing deadline and, absent an extension that gives you more time to sue, your slip and fall claim is legally dead. You've lost the right to recover damages for your injuries.

Do You Need a Lawyer for Your Slip and Fall Claim?

To answer that question, ask yourself these questions.

• Are the case facts simple and mostly uncontested? If so, that's a point in favor of giving it a try on your own. On the other hand, when the facts are complicated or murky or the defendant disputes your version of the story, think about hiring legal counsel. A lawyer can help you find and organize the facts into a coherent, compelling narrative that puts you in the best possible light.
• Are there difficult legal issues involved? Here, we're speaking of legal issues that might sink, or do serious damage to, your case. The statute of limitations is a prime example. So is comparative or contributory negligence, as discussed above. Because comparative negligence is almost guaranteed to be in play in a slip and fall case, your best bet will be to have legal help in your corner.

The defendant will be represented by an insurance company and its attorneys. It won't be a fair fight if you're not represented, too. Here's how you can find a lawyer who's right for you.

Colorado Slip and Fall FAQ

Here are some other questions you might have about your slip and fall case.

Where Will Your Slip and Fall Lawsuit Be Filed?

Your lawyer will file your case in the Colorado district court (for damages of $25,000 or more), or the county court (for damages of less than $25,000). The proper "venue," or location, is likely nearest to where the defendant lives or has its main place of business, or where you fell and were injured.

Will Your Case Settle or Will It Go to Trial?

Most personal injury cases settle without a trial. Yours probably will, too, unless the defendant feels confident a jury will find you were mostly to blame, you weren't badly hurt, or your injuries weren't caused by the fall. You should discuss negotiation and settlement strategies with your lawyer.

How Long Will It Take to Resolve Your Case?

That depends. If the facts aren't disputed, it's clear the landowner was to blame, you've gathered the evidence to support your claim, and your injuries and damages are well documented, your case might settle in several weeks to a few months. If it goes to trial, expect the process to take a year or more, and even longer if there's an appeal. A case can settle at any time during trial preparation or trial.

What Kinds of Damages Can You Collect?

If you win your case, you'll recover what the law calls "compensatory damages." These are meant to compensate you for:

• out-of-pocket losses like medical bills, lost wages, and amounts you pay for replacement household services, and
• things that don't come directly out of your pocket, like pain and suffering, emotional distress, and disability.

(Learn more about how insurance companies value injury cases.)

Find Out About Colorado Personal Injury Laws

Your slip and fall claim is a type of personal injury case. You can learn more about the laws we've covered here, as well as other Colorado personal injury laws that likely will impact your claim.