|
Support SB-115 Sen. Dyer/Rep. Mitchell Limit Pain & Suffering Damages in Contract Disputes The Colorado Supreme Court recently made Colorado one of the only states in the nation that permits non-economic or "pain and suffering" damages in all contractual disputes. This decision threatens to undermine the reliability of contracts in Colorado - and the economic vitality and job creation that depends on healthy contract law. Businesses and individuals sign contracts in order to maintain predictability and stability in business relations. If either party breaches the contract, everyone knows the penalty because it is spelled out in the contract. In the Colorado Supreme Court's recent decision, however, the Court upheld a $900,000 "pain and suffering" award in a $10,000 contractual dispute. The Court's decision creates a potentially huge new loophole in the Legislature's otherwise sound legal reforms of the past 15 years - reforms that have made Colorado a national leader in curbing abusive lawsuit practices and promoting a healthy business environment. Awarding "pain and suffering" damages for breach of contract is an outdated concept and no longer necessary because modern tort law provides a full range of remedies for non-economic damages, including bad faith breach of contract and other remedies - remedies that are not impacted by this legislation. SB04-115 overturns the Court's misguided decision and simply states that non-economic damages in a contract dispute can be recovered only if specifically provided for in that contract. An amendment added by the Senate also continues to permit pain and suffering damages in certain insurance contract disputes where willful and wanton misconduct occurred. |
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
1125 17th Street, Suite 600 - Denver, CO 80202 - Tel 303.628.3313 - Fax 303.293.3236 - info@ccjl.org Copyright © 2008 Colorado Civil Justice League. All rights reserved. The CCJL is an affiliate of the American Tort Reform Association |
|||||||||||||||||||
