The Colorado Supreme Court released today, its opinion in Bedor v. Johnson, No. 10SC65, abolishing the Sudden Emergency Doctrine from Colorado law.

What was the Sudden Emergency Doctrine?

The now former Sudden Emergency Doctrine was a defense sometimes asserted  in negligence lawsuits when a person was confronted with sudden or unexpected circumstances that did not require them to exercise the same judgment of one acting under normal conditions. For example, the driver of a vehicle who hit an icy patch of road and caused injuries to another person, depending on the circumstances of the case, used to be able to assert the Sudden Emergency Defense as an affirmative defense and request at trial that the court give the following instruction to the jury:

“A person who, through no fault of his or her own, is placed in a sudden emergency, is not chargeable with negligence if the person exercises that degree of care that a reasonably careful person would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances.” CJI 9:11 (2012)

Why did the Colorado Supreme Court abolish the Sudden Emergency Doctrine?

The Colorado Supreme Court abolished the Sudden Emergency Doctrine because  its potential to mislead the jury is greatly outweighed by its minimal utility. First, the Court found that the  sudden emergency jury instruction was duplicative because other negligence jury instructions already cover the reasonable care standard under the circumstance, such as CJI 9:6 and 9:8. Second, the Court found the Sudden Emergency instruction misleading because it: (i) failed to instruct the jury to find two important facts before applying the doctrine causing the jury to believe the instruction as an affirmation that a sudden emergency indeed existed; (ii) did not define the term sudden emergency; (3) implied that sudden emergency situations require a reduced standard of care; and (4) focused the jury’s attention on events that transpired during and after the emergency rather than on the totality of the circumstances.

What does this mean for accident victims in Colorado? 

The negligent driver cannot assert the affirmative defense of the Sudden Emergency Doctrine and trial courts may no longer give the sudden emergency jury instruction 9:11 at trial.

The Colorado Supreme Court’s full opinion may be viewed on its website www.courts.state.co.us under Case Announcements or here: Bedor v. Johnson.