Boulder, Colorado Personal Injury Law Blog

Colorado is a great football state. Not only do the Denver Broncos have three Super Bowl wins to their credit, thrilling their thousands of avid fans, football fever pervades virtually all colleges and high schools in the state. One can only speculate as to how many local high school quarterbacks dream of becoming the next John Elway or Peyton Manning. Some of these boys started playing Pop Warner football at the age of six. One likewise can only speculate as to how many concussions these boys, quarterbacks or otherwise, receive while playing this high-contact sport.

Today, tackle football is America’s favorite high school sport. The National Federation of State High School Associations reports that more than 1 million boys participate in it. If your son is one of them, you need to know that these 1 million teenagers suffer more concussions than their peers who participate in other high school sports. For instance, your son is four times more likely to suffer a concussion than a male basketball player and 16 times more likely than a baseball player. At least two high school football players die each year after suffering a traumatic head injury.

Thousands of Colorado residents end up in car crashes every year. Out of all the accidents the Colorado police investigated, 732 occurred as a result of inattentive driving in 2014 alone. 

One of the things you should always do after a car accident is contact your auto insurance agency. During this conversation, you simply need to provide the facts surrounding the incident, such as the date and time of the collision. The representative you speak with may ask you other questions related to the case. While you may feel like you can answer everything on your own, you will generally be better off having your attorney speak to the adjuster in the aftermath. 

The weeks following your auto accident were some of the most stressful and tedious weeks of your life. Finally, the investigations are over, you can focus on recovering from your injuries and you can look forward to receiving your settlement and getting on with your life. However, the insurance company has still not sent a check as more weeks pass, and you have medical bills and car repairs to worry about. Is this normal for Colorado residents who have been in accidents?

Unfortunately, this is a common scenario for people across the country. Insurance companies are in the business to make money, and some employ tactics to release as little money as possible to accident victims. If an insurance company is purposefully not upholding its end of the agreement, this is known as bad faith. According to FindLaw, some common bad faith practices you might encounter with your insurer or the other party’s insurance company include the following:

• Conducting only a cursory investigation before denying your claim
• Offering you a minimal settlement when the policy entitles you to a much larger amount
• Taking a long time to complete the accident investigation before offering a settlement or sending the check, in hopes that you will stop trying
• Not notifying you of deadlines to file your claim, failing to provide the proper forms or not informing you of additional options that may entitle you to a larger settlement
• Outright refusing to pay a claim that you are legally entitled to
• Threatening you with legal action if you pursue a settlement

If you have ever noticed how many Colorado drivers are on their phones at red lights, in traffic or while driving down the road, you may have firsthand knowledge of how much of a problem distracted driving is on state roadways.

Per CBS Denver, the distracted driving problem is so widespread across the state that some type of distracted driving behavior was a factor in 16 percent of all Colorado road fatalities in 2016. Additionally, 89 percent of all drivers who took part in a recent study by the Colorado Department of Transportation reported driving distracted within the last week, further highlighting the importance of increased awareness and enforcement.