Colorado courts handle hundreds of thousands of court cases each year. You may have heard political ads (or talking head TV shows) loudly claiming that personal injury cases (also called "frivolous lawsuits" by these folks) "clog" courts so that they are not able to handle other, apparently more important, court business. Well, it just isn't so in Colorado.

The latest statistics from the Colorado Courts show that foreclosure filings historically represent the highest category of court filings. While that may have been expected from the housing bubble and the Great Recession (in 2003, foreclosures were almost 34% of case filings in Colorado), even as late as 2013, foreclosures were still a high percentage of case filings (19%). Filings for civil restraint orders in Colorado courts actually exceeded foreclosure filings in 2013 (58% of all civil filings were seeking civil restraint orders).

In fact, statistics over the last 10 years show that the number of personal injury lawsuits filed in Colorado has been declining. In 2003 about 13% of court filings were personal injury lawsuits but by 2013, less than 5% of court filings were personal injury cases! Only 2 ½ % of the court filings were for car accident cases.

There are various reasons why lawsuits have to be filed for injuries or wrongful death claims. It is possible that the parties have not been able to negotiate a resolution of those claims within the limited time allowed by statue. Sometimes the claimant's injuries have not stabilized within the time limit allowed to pursue the claim and the lawsuit has to be filed so the parties have more time to understand and evaluate the nature and scope of the injuries. Sometimes injury cases have to be filed because there is a dispute as to who was at fault for the accident, or whether the claimant's injuries were all a result of the accident.

Taking an injury case to court is the exception, not the rule. Experienced injury attorneys, like those at Clawson & Clawson LLP, know that the cost and stress of court proceedings are not needed in every case. At the same time, experienced injury attorneys also know that, sometimes, the court system must be used as the only path to find justice for their clients.