Colorado medical malpractice law
In Colorado, you generally have 2 years to file a medical malpractice claim from the day the injury was discovered. Caps and rules for 2026.
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Your deadline: 2 years from when you found out
Colorado rules at a glance
Work out your deadline- Filing deadline
- 2 years from when the injury was discovered
- Damage caps
- $530,000 for acts or omissions in 2026…
- Before you file
- An expert's sign-off on the claim
- Shared fault
- Modified comparative (50% bar)
Full Colorado law guidedeadlines, caps, children, experts and sources
Example: treatment and discovery six months ago
- TreatmentMay 7, 2026
- Likely deadlineMay 7, 2028
- Outer limitMay 7, 2029
- The clock startsWhen you found out, or should have
- Time to start a claim2 yearsMiss it and the claim is usually lost.
- At the very most3 yearsafter the treatment, with a few exceptions
- Pain and sufferingCapped at $530,000
- All damages togetherCapped at $1,000,000
The rules in Colorado
Filing deadline
2 years
Counted from when the injury was discovered. File within 2 years after the claim accrues (when you knew or should have known of the injury and its cause), and never more than 3 years after the act or omission, unless an exception applies.
Discovery rule
Applies
Yes. The 2 years run from discovery. The 3-year outer limit is lifted when the act was knowingly concealed, when a foreign object was left in the body, or when neither the injury nor its cause could have been known.
Outer limit
3 years
3 years from the act or omission, with exceptions for concealment, foreign objects, injuries whose cause could not be known, and young children.
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-102.5(1), (3)
Damage caps
$530,000 for acts or omissions in 2026 ($415,000 for 2025), rising to $645,000 in 2027, $760,000 in 2028 and $875,000 in 2029, then adjusted for inflation every two years.
HB24-1472 raised Colorado's medical malpractice caps on a schedule tied to the date of the act or omission. Public employees and public health care entities fall under the Governmental Immunity Act instead.
- Total
- Total damages are capped at the greater of $1,000,000 or 125 percent of the wrongful-death non-economic limit in force, present value per patient; a court may award more economic damages for good cause.
- Wrongful death
- Non-economic damages for a patient's wrongful death: $810,000 for acts in 2026 ($555,000 for 2025), rising to $1,575,000 for 2029.
Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 13-64-302, 13-21-203(1)(b), as amended by HB24-1472
Children
Different clock
A child who was under 6 when the act happened can sue any time before the eighth birthday. For other minors Colorado's general disability statute applies: if a parent or legal representative is in place, the normal deadline runs against the child.
Affidavit of merit
Required
The plaintiff's attorney must file a certificate of review within 60 days after serving the complaint, confirming an expert in the field has reviewed the facts and found the claim does not lack substantial justification.
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-20-602
Notice before suing
Not required
No pre-suit notice requirement.
Shared fault
Modified comparative (50% bar)
Modified comparative fault: barred at 50% or more of the fault
Experts
Expert evidence
A standard-of-care expert against a physician must be a licensed physician with substantial familiarity with the defendant's standard of care, generally in the same specialty (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-64-401).
The caps that apply depend on the date of the act or omission, so older injuries carry the older, lower limits ($300,000 non-economic before 2024 accruals).
Sources
- Colorado Revised Statutes § 13-80-102.5, Public.Law (official text from the Colorado General Assembly)
- HB24-1472, enrolled act (Session Laws 2024, ch. 325), Colorado General Assembly
- Colorado Revised Statutes § 13-81-103, Public.Law
- Colorado Revised Statutes § 13-20-602, Public.Law
- State Enactments of Selected Medical Liability Reforms (as of 8/27/2026), Medical Professional Liability Association
- Contributory Negligence/Comparative Fault Laws in All 50 States (updated 6/10/2026), Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C.
Other states
- Best Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Alabama (2026)
- Best Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Alaska (2026)
- Best Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Arizona (2026)
- Best Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Arkansas (2026)
- Best Medical Malpractice Lawyers in California (2026)
- Best Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Connecticut (2026)
- Best Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Delaware (2026)
- Best Medical Malpractice Lawyers in District of Columbia (2026)
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