Colorado Caps on Noneconomic Damages for Medical Malpractice Cases to Nearly Triple Over Next Five Years
June 13, 2025
By: Casey Kannenberg
Recent legislation in Colorado is going to dramatically impact the defense of medical negligence claims. For many years, Colorado has enjoyed a stable, relatively low statutory cap on noneconomic damages at $300,000. Colorado’s noneconomic damages has stood in stark contrast to other states with no (or much higher) noneconomic damages caps, such as Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Minnesota, and Colorado’s sister state, Wyoming (New Mexico recently increased its overall damages caps, e.g., from $600,000 to $750,000 for claims against independent providers). The statutory cap on noneconomic damages has made Colorado a defense-friendly jurisdiction, and studies have shown that laws capping non-economic damage payments reduce health care costs. (Hellinger, F. and Encinosa, W., The Impact of State Laws Limiting Malpractice Damage Awards on Health Care Expenditures, AM. J. PUB. HEALTH, (Aug. 2006), https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2005.077883
That is all going to change, effective January 1 of this year. Specifically, the cap is going to grow over the next five years from $300,000 to $875,000. After that, the noneconomic damages cap will be adjusted biennially for inflation. In wrongful death cases caused by medical malpractice, the noneconomic damages cap will increase to $1.575 million over the next five years. It is anticipated that higher damages caps will increase filings in medical malpractice cases, disincentivize settlement, and increase the number of cases that proceed to a jury trial. In light of these new developments, it is all the more important for medical professionals, hospitals, healthcare systems, and related entities to have trial-tested attorneys on hand to defend against inevitably larger claims in the coming years.