Boulder Jury Holds a Distracted Driver Accountable After a Rear-End Crash
Result Snapshot
| Case type | Rear-end car accident caused by a distracted driver |
|---|---|
| Injury | Lower-back (lumbar) spine injury, rated at 15% permanent physical impairment |
| Location | Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado |
| Resolution | Jury verdict for our client after the defense denied fault for years and contested his injuries at trial. Verdict: $564,058.38. |
| Attorneys | Jordan Travis and Todd A. Travis |
| Year | 2023 |
Overview
A rear-end crash takes a second. The fight over who pays for it can take years. After a distracted driver hit our client from behind on a Boulder road, the at-fault driver’s side denied responsibility, questioned whether he was really hurt, and pushed the case toward a jury rather than pay what it was worth. Rampart Injury Lawyers tried the case in Boulder County and the jury returned a verdict of $564,058.38.
This was not a quick claim. It was a lower-back injury the other side spent years insisting was not their fault, a stack of medical bills the insurer would not cover, and a future the defense tried to shrink down to nothing. The case turned on proof, not sympathy, and the proof held.
Here is what happened and how the case was built.
What Happened
On July 16, 2019, our client was traveling on a Boulder road when the driver behind him, distracted by his cell phone, failed to stop and rear-ended him. The driver was behind the wheel in connection with a local Boulder auto dealership, and that dealership’s own policy prohibited using a phone while driving. A basic rule of the road is to leave room to stop. A rear-end crash is what happens when a driver does not, and when a phone is the reason, the cause is not a mystery.
Injuries and Medical Impact
The crash injured our client’s lower back. He treated with his own physicians over a period of years, and a doctor assigned a 15% permanent physical impairment. In plain terms, that is a measurable, lifelong loss of function that does not go away when the case ends. At trial, the court instructed the jury that our client had a remaining life expectancy of 36.3 years, a figure drawn from the life-expectancy tables that are part of Colorado law. A 15% impairment carried across that many years is not a temporary setback. It is a permanent change to how a person lives and works.
Legal and Insurance Challenges
The defense did not make this easy, which is the point of bringing in trial lawyers who are willing to finish.
- Years of denial. The defense denied fault for roughly four years and admitted it only 28 days before trial.
- A causation fight. The defense argued a lower-speed crash could not have caused lasting harm and leaned on our client’s prior back condition to suggest the crash changed nothing.
- A coverage refusal. The at-fault driver’s insurer would not cover our client’s medical bills and losses, which forced the case toward a jury.
- A one-minute exam. The defense hired a doctor who examined our client for about a minute and used that to counter the physicians who had followed him for years.
- Colorado law the defense could not get around. In Colorado, a defendant cannot reduce damages just because an injury aggravated a pre-existing condition, and cannot reduce them because an injured person was more fragile than average. That second rule is the long-settled “eggshell plaintiff” principle. Both are built into Colorado’s pattern jury instructions.
How Rampart Built the Case
Trials are won in the preparation. This one came down to four things the defense could not answer.
The distraction was on the record. The at-fault driver admitted in his deposition that he had been distracted by his cell phone. His employer’s own policy banned phone use while driving. The story of fault was not built on argument, it was built on the defendant’s own words and the company’s own rule.
The medical contrast did the work. On one side stood our client’s treating physicians, who had cared for him over years. On the other stood a defense doctor who spent about a minute with him. Juries understand the difference between someone who treats you and someone hired to disagree. We let that contrast speak.
The economic case was built on probabilities, not guesses. Colorado lets an injured person recover the future earning capacity the injury takes away. We grounded that loss in real data, then exposed the defense’s own contradiction: it tried to inflate what our client could have earned in order to attack him, then turned around and argued he was barely impaired. A jury that is held to deciding on what is more probably true than not can see both halves of that argument do not fit together.
We tried it. Both Jordan Travis and Todd A. Travis tried the case to verdict in Boulder County. The willingness to put a case in front of a jury, and to do it well, is the difference between a claim an insurer can wait out and one it has to answer for.
The Result
In 2023, a Boulder County jury returned a verdict of $564,058.38 for our client. The number mattered to a man facing a permanent injury and bills no one would pay. What it represented mattered too: a jury rejecting a years-long denial and a one-minute exam, and deciding the case on the evidence. Every case is different and depends on its own facts. This outcome does not predict or guarantee a result in any other case.
Colorado Injury Law Takeaway
If an insurance company has told you your injury claim is worth little or nothing, a few things are worth knowing about how Colorado law actually works:
- A denial is a position, not a verdict. Insurers deny and minimize as a matter of strategy. A jury, not the insurer, decides what a claim is worth.
- You can recover more than this week’s bills. Colorado allows recovery for future medical care, for loss of earning capacity (the income an injury takes off your future), and for noneconomic harms like pain and loss of enjoyment of life.
- A prior condition does not end your claim. A defendant cannot shrink your damages because the crash aggravated a pre-existing problem, or because you were more susceptible to injury than an average person.
- A “minor” crash can still cause a permanent injury. Speed and visible damage are not the measure of harm. Medical proof is.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. An insurer’s denial is its opening position, not the final word. If the evidence shows the crash caused your injury, a jury can award damages even after the insurer refuses to pay. In this case, the insurer would not cover the bills, and a Boulder County jury still returned a verdict for our client.
Lost wages are the specific income you missed while you were out. Loss of earning capacity is broader: it is the reduction in your ability to earn going forward because of a lasting injury. Colorado allows you to recover that future loss when the evidence supports it.
No. Colorado law does not let a defendant reduce your damages just because a crash worsened a condition you already had, or because you were more fragile than average. The defendant takes you as you are.
Not always. Many claims resolve without one. But when an insurer refuses to pay a fair amount, the credible willingness to try the case, and the track record to back it up, is often what moves it. This case went the distance and was tried to a jury.
Talk to a Colorado Injury Lawyer
If you were seriously injured in a crash in Boulder or the surrounding county and an insurer is denying or lowballing your claim, Rampart Injury Lawyers can review your case. Call (303) 766-8766. There is no fee to talk, and our injury cases are handled on a contingency fee basis, which means you owe no attorney fee unless we recover for you.
Disclaimers
Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Every case is different and depends on its own facts.
This page is attorney advertising and general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Rampart Injury Lawyers is a trade name of Travis Legal Offices, LLC. Responsible attorney: Todd A. Travis. Call (303) 766-8766.
Injury cases are handled on a contingency fee basis. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fee. You may be responsible for case costs. Fee and cost terms are set by your written agreement.
