Colorado Sexual Abuse Settlement Calculator
Understand Colorado's statute of limitations for childhood and adult sexual abuse claims under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-103.7
How much is a Colorado sexual abuse claim worth? There is no single answer, and no verified, publicly reported settlement figures specific to Colorado to point to here. Value depends on factors such as documented injuries, whether an institution is implicated, and the strength of available evidence. What is clear under Colorado law is whether your claim can be brought at all — and for most claims accruing since 2022, there is no deadline to worry about.
All consultations confidential. Pseudonym filings available to protect survivor identity.
Your Case Details
Answer a few questions to see your estimated range.
PTSD, depression, anxiety, complex trauma — formally diagnosed?
Larger institutions have more resources and higher settlements.
Estimated Settlement Range
$176,400 — $327,600
Abuse settlements vary widely by jurisdiction, institutional resources, and the documented impact. This is a benchmark range based on reported cases.
Revisado Editorialmente — Contenido revisado en cuanto a exactitud utilizando investigación legal publicada, datos gubernamentales y registros judiciales verificados. Vea nuestra metodología
Reviewed by Leonard Goldberg, Editor
Colorado Removed Its Statute of Limitations for Sexual Misconduct Claims
Effective January 1, 2022, Senate Bill 21-073 amended Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-103.7 to remove the civil statute of limitations for claims based on sexual misconduct entirely. The statute now reads that such an action "may be commenced at any time without limitation," and it applies both to abuse suffered in childhood and to sexual assault of an adult. This removal is prospective: it covers causes of action that accrue on or after January 1, 2022, and causes of action that existed before that date but were not yet time-barred as of January 1, 2022.
Colorado separately tried to reach further back. Senate Bill 21-088 created the Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act (CSAAA), a three-year window (open until January 1, 2025) that let survivors of childhood sexual abuse occurring between January 1, 1960, and January 1, 2022, sue "regardless of whether previously available causes of action were time-barred." In June 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court held in Aurora Public Schools v. A.S., 2023 CO 39, that the CSAAA is unconstitutionally retrospective under the Colorado Constitution to the extent it allowed suits on claims whose ordinary statute of limitations had already run. The Act survives only for claims whose deadline had not yet expired as of January 1, 2022 — which is not a revival of anything, since those claims were never time-barred to begin with.
What this means in practice: if your claim accrued on or after January 1, 2022, or if your prior deadline had not yet run as of that date, there is no statute of limitations standing in your way. If your claim was already time-barred before January 1, 2022 — for example, if the old limitations period had expired years earlier — no functioning lookback exists today to bring it back. Some sources still cite Colorado's pre-2022 rules (a six-year window for adult claims, and disability tolling for minors); those rules were repealed and no longer apply.
Colorado's Revival Window: What It Was and Why It No Longer Applies to Time-Barred Claims
Colorado does not currently have an open lookback window comparable to those in some other states. Here is what happened to the one it had, and why the outcome matters for anyone whose claim was already time-barred before 2022:
Colorado Statute of Limitations — Current Rules
Childhood sexual abuse: No time limit. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-103.7(1)(a) states that "any civil action based on sexual misconduct, including any derivative claim, may be commenced at any time without limitation." This covers a "sexual offense against a child" as cross-referenced to Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-3-411 and applies to causes of action accruing on or after January 1, 2022, and to earlier causes of action that were not yet time-barred as of that date.
Adult sexual assault: The same provision removes the deadline for adults. "Sexual misconduct" is defined at Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-103.7(2) to include specified felony and first-degree-misdemeanor sex offenses against a person of any age. As with childhood claims, this applies to causes of action accruing on or after January 1, 2022, or existing causes of action not yet time-barred as of that date.
Attorney Fees in Colorado Sexual Abuse Cases
Colorado has no statutory cap on contingency fees in civil sexual abuse cases. Attorney fees are governed by the general reasonableness standard under Colo. RPC 1.5(a), not a fixed percentage. A separate statute, C.R.S. § 13-64-302, is sometimes miscited as a fee cap — it actually caps damages in medical malpractice cases and has no bearing on sexual abuse claims or attorney fees. (In an unrelated context, Colorado workers' compensation law treats more than 25% of disputed benefits as an unreasonable fee under C.R.S. § 8-43-403(1).) A contingency percentage is a ceiling set by the reasonableness standard, not a fee you should assume applies to your case — ask any attorney you consult what percentage they charge before signing an agreement.
What Determines the Value of a Colorado Sexual Abuse Claim
There are no verified, publicly reported Colorado sexual abuse settlement figures to cite here. Settlement values in these cases are frequently confidential, and outcomes vary enormously by case, so a single number or range would be misleading. Instead, here is what typically shapes value in a claim like this:
Responsabilidad Institucional: Por Qué Ahí Está el Dinero Real
Los agresores individuales a menudo tienen activos limitados. Los demandados institucionales (iglesias, escuelas, organizaciones) tienen bolsillos profundos Y responsabilidad legal por permitir el abuso. Comprender las teorías de responsabilidad institucional explica las recuperaciones masivas.
Negligent hiring
Contratación negligente: la institución contrató a un agresor a pesar de señales de alerta (quejas previas, antecedentes penales, advertencias del sector). Responsable por verificaciones de antecedentes inadecuadas e ignorar referencias.
Negligent supervision
Supervisión negligente: la institución no supervisó adecuadamente al agresor dado su rol y contacto con poblaciones vulnerables. Aplica a maestros, clero, entrenadores, cuidadores.
Negligent retention
Retención negligente: la institución mantuvo al agresor en el personal después de conocer conductas preocupantes. Esta es la teoría del 'traslado del sacerdote' — mover a los agresores entre ubicaciones sin tomar acción.
Respondeat superior
Responsabilidad del principal (respondeat superior): el empleador es vicariamente responsable por los actos del empleado cometidos en el curso del empleo. Más limitado para actos intencionales, pero aún aplica a muchos escenarios de abuso.
Breach of fiduciary duty
Incumplimiento del deber fiduciario: las relaciones especiales (clero-feligrés, maestro-estudiante, consejero-cliente) crean deberes reforzados. El incumplimiento crea responsabilidad más allá de la negligencia.
Fraudulent concealment
Ocultamiento fraudulento: la institución ocultó activamente el abuso de las fuerzas del orden, nuevas víctimas o padres. A menudo habilita daños punitivos y extiende el plazo de prescripción (el plazo comienza desde el descubrimiento del ocultamiento).
Colorado Sexual Abuse Settlement FAQs
I was abused as a child in Colorado years ago. Can I still file a claim?
It depends on when your claim would have expired under the old rules. If your cause of action accrued on or after January 1, 2022, or if it had not yet become time-barred as of that date, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-103.7 removes the deadline entirely — you can file at any time. If your claim was already time-barred before January 1, 2022 — for example, because the prior limitations period had run years earlier — the state's attempt to revive those older claims (the CSAAA lookback window) was struck down as unconstitutional by the Colorado Supreme Court in 2023, and no functioning lookback exists today. An attorney can review the dates specific to your situation.
What happened to Colorado's three-year lookback window for child sexual abuse claims?
Senate Bill 21-088 created the Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act (CSAAA), which opened a three-year window (claims had to be filed before January 1, 2025) for childhood sexual abuse occurring between January 1, 1960, and January 1, 2022 — including claims that were already time-barred under prior law. In Aurora Public Schools v. A.S., 2023 CO 39 (decided June 20, 2023), the Colorado Supreme Court held that this retroactive reach violated the Colorado Constitution's prohibition on retrospective legislation: "we hold that the CSAAA amounts to unconstitutional retrospective legislation as applied to the plaintiffs' claim under the Act against the defendants here." The CSAAA remains valid only for claims that had not yet expired as of January 1, 2022 — meaning it no longer functions as a true revival window for older, already time-barred claims.
I was assaulted as an adult in Colorado. Is there a deadline?
For most adult sexual assault claims, no. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-103.7(1)(a) removes the statute of limitations for civil actions based on sexual misconduct, defined at § 13-80-103.7(2) to include specified sex offenses against a person of any age. This applies to claims accruing on or after January 1, 2022, and to existing claims that had not yet expired as of that date. If your claim was already time-barred under the older limitations rules before 2022, it is not automatically revived by this change — speak with an attorney about your specific timeline.
Will I have to pay a percentage of my settlement in attorney fees?
Colorado does not set a statutory cap on contingency fees in sexual abuse cases; fees are governed by a general reasonableness standard under Colo. RPC 1.5(a) rather than a fixed percentage. A different statute, C.R.S. § 13-64-302, is sometimes confused with a fee cap but actually limits damages in medical malpractice cases, not attorney fees. Ask any attorney you consult to state their fee percentage in writing before you sign a representation agreement.
How much is my Colorado sexual abuse case worth?
There is no reliable published figure or range to give you, and any specific number would not be based on verified Colorado data. Case value depends on factors including the nature and duration of the abuse, documented physical or psychological harm, whether an institution is implicated and what evidence exists of that, and how strong the available evidence is. Because Colorado no longer imposes a deadline on most of these claims, there is generally no urgency to settle for less than a case is worth — an attorney experienced in Colorado sexual abuse litigation can evaluate your specific facts.
Primary Sources
- cases.justia.com/colorado/supreme-court/2023-22sc824.pdf
- law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-13/limitation-of-actions/article-80/section-13-80-103-7
- leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2023-title-13.pdf
Other State Sexual Abuse Calculators
California
3 revival windows (AB 218/2777/250)
New York
CVA + ASA + NYC GMVA (open Jul 2027)
New Jersey
Age-55 + 7-yr discovery rule
Maryland
No SOL for childhood + 2025 cap cut
All States — Main Calculator
Nationwide settlement ranges + institutional liability overview
Related
Other Calculators for Colorado
Each Colorado calculator reflects state-specific laws (caps, statutes of limitations, comparative-negligence rules) and uses Colorado verdict data where available.
Sexual Abuse Settlement Calculators by State
Lookback windows and settlement ranges for survivors vary by state: