In most cases, yes. Sharing some of the blame doesn’t stop you from seeking compensation in Colorado. What matters is how your negligence compares to the other party’s. Under the state’s modified comparative negligence law, C.R.S. § 13-21-111, you can recover damages as long as your negligence was not as great as the negligence of the party you’re claiming against. Your recovery is then reduced in proportion to your own share of the fault. If your negligence equals or exceeds theirs, the law bars you from recovering anything.
A Denver personal injury attorney can evaluate how shared fault applies to your situation before you assume you have no case.
Does contributing to the accident disqualify your personal injury claim?
No. Colorado retired its all-or-nothing rule back in 1971. Under today’s comparative fault framework, a person who contributed to the accident can still bring a personal injury claim against anyone who carries a bigger share of the blame.
That makes sense once you consider how crashes actually happen; rarely does all the carelessness or human error sit with one person, which is why sharing blame doesn’t bar you from seeking compensation. Picture a common car accident: one driver speeding, the other rolling a stop sign. Both made mistakes. The law weighs them, but it doesn’t treat them as equals. So long as the other party was more responsible for the accident than you were, you can still pursue injury claims and recover compensation from them.
What does Colorado’s modified comparative negligence law say?
The statute sets out two rules. If you were less at fault than the other party, you can still recover; your award just shrinks by your share of the blame. If your fault matches or outweighs theirs, the law doesn’t allow you to recover. And when more than one party caused your injury, Colorado courts compare your fault against everyone else’s combined.
At trial, the jury returns a special verdict stating two things: the total damages and each party’s percentage of fault. The court then trims the award to match. A handful of states follow “pure” systems where even a mostly-at-fault plaintiff recovers something; Colorado’s modified comparative approach draws a firmer line.
How much does your percentage of fault cost you?
Every point of fault assigned to you comes straight out of the amount of compensation you receive. Say your damages total $200,000 — medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, all of it. At 20% fault, your award drops to $160,000. At 40%, it’s $120,000. At 50%? Nothing.
A few percentage points can swing a recovery by tens of thousands of dollars, which is why the percentage of fault tends to be the single most contested number in a personal injury case.
What if the insurance company says you were responsible for the accident?
An insurer’s fault assessment isn’t the final word. Adjusters assign fault percentages during the claims process, and because being held responsible for a bigger share shrinks the payout, disputes over that number come up constantly. You’re entitled to challenge how responsibility gets divided before it cuts into your recovery.
Evidence moves that number. Factors like police reports, photos and video from the scene, vehicle damage patterns, witness accounts, and accident reconstruction can each support a lower fault percentage. Unless a case reaches trial, fault stays a matter of negotiation. Even when an insurer insists you caused the crash, that alone doesn’t stop you from pursuing a personal injury claim or filing a lawsuit.
Should you hire a personal injury lawyer if you were partially at fault?
Yes, shared-fault cases are where legal help tends to matter most. When liability is undisputed, a case centers on proving damages. Add a fault dispute, and you’re proving two things at once, because an inflated fault percentage quietly drains value from everything else you can establish.
A personal injury lawyer can preserve the evidence that supports an accurate fault percentage, bring in accident reconstruction or medical experts when the facts call for it, and negotiate with the insurance company using that proof. No fair agreement? The fault question can go to a jury.
Talk to a Denver personal injury lawyer before accepting blame
If you think you were partly responsible for your accident, have your case reviewed before accepting an insurer’s version of events. Colorado law also limits how long you have to file a personal injury claim, so an early review protects your options.
Zara Injury Law has spent more than 19 years representing injured Coloradans, shared-fault cases included. We work on a contingency fee basis, so you pay no attorney’s fees unless compensation is recovered. Call (866) 823-8288, available 24/7, or contact us online for a free consultation.