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The Colorado Governmental
Immunity Act (“GIA”) replaces the common
law doctrine of sovereign immunity, which immunized
the State of Colorado and its political subdivisions
from suit for personal injuries suffered by private
persons. The GIA controls all actions where the state,
any of its political subdivisions, or public employees
of public entities are sued in tort. The GIA controls
all actions that lie in tort or could lie in tort regardless
of the type of action or form of relief chosen by the
plaintiff.
Under the GIA, public entities are immune from liability
for all tort claims or claims that could lie in tort
regardless of the action chosen by the claimant. However,
this immunity is waived in actions for injuries resulting
from the following:
- The operation of a motor vehicle owned or leased
by a public entity or employee while in the course
of employment. However, this waiver does not apply
to emergency vehicles.
- The operation of any public hospital, correctional
facility, or jail.
- A dangerous condition of any public building.
- A dangerous condition of a public highway, road,
or street which physically interferes with the movement
of traffic on the paved portion. “Physically
interferes with the movement of traffic” does
not include traffic signs, signals, or markings or
the lack there of.
- A dangerous condition caused by the failure to
realign a stop sign or yield sign which was turned
without authorization in a manner which reassigned
the right of way or the failure to repair a traffic
control signal on which conflicting directions are
displayed.
- A dangerous condition caused by an accumulation
of snow and ice which physically interferes with public
access on walks leading to a public building open
for public business if the public entity failed to
use existing means available to it to remove or mitigate
such accumulation if the public entity had actual
notice of the condition and a reasonable time to act.
- A dangerous condition of any public hospital, jail,
public facility located in any park or recreation
area maintained by a public entity or a public water,
gas, sanitation, electrical, power, or swimming facility.
- The operation and maintenance of any public water
facility, gas facility, sanitation facility, electrical
facility, power facility, or swimming facility.
- The waiver of sovereign immunity created by these
exceptions does not apply to those incarcerated in
a correctional facility or jail unless the claimants
have not yet been convicted.
Even if one of the above-listed exceptions to the
general doctrine of sovereign immunity is present,
plaintiffs must still meet the GIA’s notice
provision. The GIA’s notice provision requires
persons who claim to have been injured by a public
entity or by its employee acting in the scope and
course of his or her employment must file a written
notice within 180 days after the date on which the
person discovered the injury, regardless of whether
the person then knew all of the elements of claim
or a cause of action for such injury. The notice requirement
is a jurisdictional prerequisite to any action brought
under the GIA, and a plaintiff’s failure to
comply forever bars his or her action.
Under the GIA, the plaintiff’s notice must contain
the following:
- The name and address of the claimant and the name
and address of his attorney, if any;
- A concise statement of the factual basis of the
claim, including the date, time, place, and circumstances
of the act, omission, or event complained of;
- The name and address of any public employee involved,
if known;
- A concise statement of the nature and extent of
the injury claimed to have been suffered; and
- A statement of the amount of monetary damages requested.
The GIA also specifies with whom the notice must be
filed to be valid. If the claim is against the state
or one of its employees, the notice must be filed
with the attorney general. If the claim is against
any other public entity or one of its employees, the
notice must be filed with the public entity’s
governing body or attorney.
Notice under the GIA is effective upon mailing by
registered mail or upon personal service. If the claim
is for wrongful death, the notice may be presented
by the personal representative, surviving spouse,
or next of kin of the deceased. This section does
not alter Colorado’s general statutes of limitation.
If notice is given pursuant to the GIA’s notice
provision, no action shall be commenced until after
the claimant has received notice from the public entity
that the public entity has denied the claim or until
after 90 days have passed following the filing of
the notice of claim required by this section, whichever
occurs first.
The GIA also sets the following limitations on the
amount recoverable from public entities and employees:
- For any injury to one person in any single occurrence:
$150,000.
- For an injury to two or more persons in any single
occurrence: $600,000 with no one person allowed to
recover in excess of $150,000.
The GIA defines “dangerous condition”
as a physical condition of a facility or the use thereof
which constitutes an unreasonable risk to the health
or safety of the public, which is known to exists
or which in the exercise of reasonable care should
have been known to exist and which condition is proximately
caused by the negligent act or omission of the public
entity in constructing or maintaining such facility.
Maintenance does not include any duty to upgrade,
modernize, modify, or improve the design or construction
of the facility. A dangerous condition should have
been known to exist if it is established that the
condition has existed for such a period of time and
was of such a nature that, in the exercise of reasonable
care, such condition and its dangerous character should
have been discovered. A dangerous condition does not
exist solely because the design of any facility was
inadequate. The mere existence of wind, water, snow,
ice, or temperature shall not, by itself, constitute
a dangerous condition.
The information you
obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be,
legal advice.
You should consult an attorney for individual advice
regarding your own situation.
Copyright © 2004 by Wood,
Ris & Hames, P.C. All rights reserved.
You may reproduce materials available at this site for
your own personal use and for non-commercial distribution.
All copies must include this copyright statement. |
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