There’s no fixed formula written into Colorado law, but two methods dominate in practice. The multiplier method takes your medical bills and lost wages and multiplies that total by a number, usually between one and five, based on how severe and lasting the injury is. The per diem method instead assigns a daily dollar value to your pain and multiplies it by the number of days you were affected.
What actually moves the number up or down
How well documented the injury is, whether it’s permanent or resolves fully, how much it disrupted your daily life and work, and how clearly the other driver is at fault. Two people with similar injuries can land on very different numbers depending on how thoroughly each case is documented.
Where the cap comes in
Colorado law caps non-economic damages, the legal term covering pain and suffering, at a statutory dollar amount, which applies regardless of which calculation method produces a higher number. That cap used to be $250,000, but HB24-1472 raised it substantially: for civil actions filed on or after January 1, 2025, the cap on non-economic damages is $1.5 million under C.R.S. § 13-21-102.5, and it adjusts for inflation every two years starting January 1, 2028. (A separate, higher cap applies in wrongful death cases — $2.125 million under that same bill.)
What to do next
If this is where you are right now, call Mile High Legal at (720) 853-5779 for a free consultation. We handle Colorado car accident and injury claims on contingency, meaning you pay nothing upfront and nothing at all unless we recover money for you.
