What is "gross negligence" in Colorado personal injury cases?

Описание: Top Denver personal injury attorney explains what gross negligence is in accident cases.

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GROSS NEGLIGENCE

Negligence in Colorado is when you breach your legal duty to others. The best way to explain the difference between gross negligence and ordinary negligence is through an example.

Let’s say Tom and Suzie both have cars with broken taillights. But only Tom knows they are broken. Suzie just forgot to check them and assumes they’re still working. Then they both go driving, and each gets rear-ended because of their broken taillights.

In this case, Tom is grossly negligent. He knew the taillights were broken, so he knowingly breached his duty of being a safe driver by going out on the road without them.

Meanwhile, Suzie is only ordinarily negligent. She breached her duty of being a safe driver too by not checking her taillights, but since she did not realize they were broken, she did not intentionally risk anyone’s safety by going out driving.

In short, gross negligence is reckless disregard of others’ safety. Ordinary negligence is just absent-mindedness.

At trial, judges are more likely to award punitive damages in gross negligence cases than in ordinary negligence cases. This is because gross negligence is deliberate risk-taking. And the purpose of punitive damages is to punish defendants for especially harmful behavior.

Three other examples of gross negligence include:

1. Texting while driving,
2. Drunk driving, or
3. Jaywalking on a busy street

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