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Colorado Premises Liability Act

Phil Harding | 1043 Views | 01/27/2015

It’s one of those questions that creeps up in the back of your mind. If I get hurt at someone else’s house, on someone else’s property, maybe at a store parking lot, at the mall, what happens? Is someone else responsible? Well here with the answers, we have Colorado’s best attorney, Phil Harding from Harding & Associates. You’re here every week. We love the legal information that you give us and you’ve educated us on so many different things but when it comes to getting hurt on someone else’s property you get a lot of calls, a lot of questions about this one.

Yeah, now this is probably one of the bigger ones. These used to be called slip-and-fall cases but Colorado has adopted law that’s now called the Premise Liability Act, and it’s also known as its acronym PLA. Now the PLA has different standards depending upon what type of person is on the property. We have graphic and let’s talk about it. First one is a trespasser and we all know what a trespasser is. Now a licensee is the next level up and a licensee is what you are to the landlord if you rent an apartment and are injured inside your apartment.

So he’s the landlord. I’m the licensee if I’m renting from him.

That’s right. You’re considered a licensee under the PLA. Now the highest standard– and let’s talk about licensee. If you’re in your apartment the landlord needs to make safe the property for dangers that he knew about. Next standard up is called an invitee and that’s like when you’re at a store, parking lot, any of that kind of stuff. Now under the PLA an invitee, the property owner needs to make safe the property for either dangerous conditions that they either knew about or should have known about.

Okay so what if you do get hurt though – under this PLA under those parameters – who is going to pay for those medical bills if you’re hurt?

And that’s a great question. I get that all the time. I got to tell you many land owners and store owners have medical coverage that pays for the first $5,000 or $10,000 no matter who’s at fault. Now if you have health insurance, I want you to use your health insurance first and use this Med-Pay to pay your deductibles or other out-of-pocket expenses.

Okay but why do you want to do that? Why wouldn’t you just let them use of all of their money up before you use your own health insurance?

That’s a great question and this is – remember I teach attorneys how to handle cases like this – but this will maximize your recovery because your health insurance gets you certain discounts when you’re treated. Now Med-Pay doesn’t get these discounts all the time. And I want to go over another graphic that we have here so that you can understand what’s going on. And we’re going to look at a hospital bill.

Wow, it looks complicated.

It does and let’s go over this. This is for surgery at Swedish. If you look in the upper right hand, you’ll see the words Explanation of Benefits and everyone calls it by its acronym, EOB. In this case, if you had health insurance, the billing from Swedish was $29,000 now your insurance has reduced the billing by almost $21,000. Now you get this discounted rate because you had health insurance. So if you would have signed a release for the insurance on the other side, they would have seen this $21,000 reduction, and they would have gotten that bill, and now they’re going to want that reduction as well, that $21,000–

So it’s your discount but they’re wanting to basically benefit from your discount?

Right, because if you sign a release for the other side to look at your medical– they don’t care about your medical records, they want to see your medical bills. They want to see this discount. Now when you settle, the other side’s insurance company is going to want to take that discount but they don’t get that discount because remember you’ve been paying years and years and years for health insurance premiums. They’re not going to pay you back for those years and years and years of health insurance premiums.

Right, that’s why we get the deduction but they don’t.

Exactly.

Is that what you’re saying?

Right, and here’s the easiest example. Let’s say you go and you say, “You know what? I want to go to a hotel,” and you call up and you’re like, “How much is it for a night?” And they say, “It’s a $150 a night.” And you’re like, “You know what? I got the AAA how much is AAA discount?” They say, “Well it’s only $99.” The other side didn’t pay for your AAA card so they don’t get this discount.

Exactly, that makes sense.

Now, on that EOB that we saw, they paid out almost $8,500, you’re health insurance did. So you’re going to have to pay that back. Remember the word subrogation?

Yes.

Okay.

You taught us that but bring us up to date again, anyone who doesn’t know subrogation.

All right now let’s talk about subrogation. Essentially, what happens on self-subrogation is your health insurance is going to come back and they’re going to say, “We want that $8,500 paid back.” But there is something that is known as the Make Whole Law and it says, “If you hire an attorney and you hire him on a contingency fee and let’s say you pay a third of that – on the contingency fee – your health insurance has to reduce how much they want back by a third.” So that $8,500 gets reduced down to $5,700. So in this one scenario you started off with this bill – and if you played it right – you only showed them the billed amount. So they saw almost $29,000. They pay you for it. At the end you only have to pay back $5,700. So in this one example alone you would have made over $23,000 on this one billing. Think of all the other billings. That’s why it’s important to get an attorney and follow up on this.

It is important because I mean I kind of got lost because it’s complicated but you don’t get lost. He knows what he’s doing. You make sure that people get the maximum amount and get to keep it and not have to pay it back. I mean that’s the bottom line, right?

Right, and I get people that call me all the time and they say, “I’ve already signed a release and they’ve seen records.” That’s okay. A good attorney can un-ring that bell and they’ll inform the insurance company about the– it’s called the Collateral Source Doctrine. You don’t get to look at the stuff on the right, only on the left.

Yeah, you’re way better than a good attorney. You’re Colorado’s best attorney.

Thank you.

This is why he’s here every week. He has great answers for all of our questions. So go to Coloradosbest.tv, click on his photo. You can send him questions directly. He takes the time to answer them all personally and confidentially. He might even address your issue right here on Colorado’s Best because so many of us have the same questions for you. So you could also call him directly at his office, Harding & Associates. Here’s his number 303-762-9500 and you can get a free consultation any time. You can also get more information by checking out his website it is Hlaw.org. Happy Anniversary Phil.

Thank you, you too. I didn’t get you anything.

You’re here that’s all we need.

All right.

By: Phil Harding

Colorado Premises Liability Act

It’s one of those questions that creeps up in the back of your mind. If I get hurt at someone else’s house, on someone else’s property, maybe at a store parking lot, at the mall, what happens? Is someone else responsible? Well here with the answers, we have Colorado’s best attorney, Phil Harding from Harding & Associates. You’re here every week. We love the legal information that you give us and you’ve educated us on so many different things but when it comes to getting hurt on someone else’s property you get a lot of calls, a lot of questions about this one.

Yeah, now this is probably one of the bigger ones. These used to be called slip-and-fall cases but Colorado has adopted law that’s now called the Premise Liability Act, and it’s also known as its acronym PLA. Now the PLA has different standards depending upon what type of person is on the property. We have graphic and let’s talk about it. First one is a trespasser and we all know what a trespasser is. Now a licensee is the next level up and a licensee is what you are to the landlord if you rent an apartment and are injured inside your apartment.

So he’s the landlord. I’m the licensee if I’m renting from him.

That’s right. You’re considered a licensee under the PLA. Now the highest standard– and let’s talk about licensee. If you’re in your apartment the landlord needs to make safe the property for dangers that he knew about. Next standard up is called an invitee and that’s like when you’re at a store, parking lot, any of that kind of stuff. Now under the PLA an invitee, the property owner needs to make safe the property for either dangerous conditions that they either knew about or should have known about.

Okay so what if you do get hurt though – under this PLA under those parameters – who is going to pay for those medical bills if you’re hurt?

And that’s a great question. I get that all the time. I got to tell you many land owners and store owners have medical coverage that pays for the first $5,000 or $10,000 no matter who’s at fault. Now if you have health insurance, I want you to use your health insurance first and use this Med-Pay to pay your deductibles or other out-of-pocket expenses.

Okay but why do you want to do that? Why wouldn’t you just let them use of all of their money up before you use your own health insurance?

That’s a great question and this is – remember I teach attorneys how to handle cases like this – but this will maximize your recovery because your health insurance gets you certain discounts when you’re treated. Now Med-Pay doesn’t get these discounts all the time. And I want to go over another graphic that we have here so that you can understand what’s going on. And we’re going to look at a hospital bill.

Wow, it looks complicated.

It does and let’s go over this. This is for surgery at Swedish. If you look in the upper right hand, you’ll see the words Explanation of Benefits and everyone calls it by its acronym, EOB. In this case, if you had health insurance, the billing from Swedish was $29,000 now your insurance has reduced the billing by almost $21,000. Now you get this discounted rate because you had health insurance. So if you would have signed a release for the insurance on the other side, they would have seen this $21,000 reduction, and they would have gotten that bill, and now they’re going to want that reduction as well, that $21,000–

So it’s your discount but they’re wanting to basically benefit from your discount?

Right, because if you sign a release for the other side to look at your medical– they don’t care about your medical records, they want to see your medical bills. They want to see this discount. Now when you settle, the other side’s insurance company is going to want to take that discount but they don’t get that discount because remember you’ve been paying years and years and years for health insurance premiums. They’re not going to pay you back for those years and years and years of health insurance premiums.

Right, that’s why we get the deduction but they don’t.

Exactly.

Is that what you’re saying?

Right, and here’s the easiest example. Let’s say you go and you say, “You know what? I want to go to a hotel,” and you call up and you’re like, “How much is it for a night?” And they say, “It’s a $150 a night.” And you’re like, “You know what? I got the AAA how much is AAA discount?” They say, “Well it’s only $99.” The other side didn’t pay for your AAA card so they don’t get this discount.

Exactly, that makes sense.

Now, on that EOB that we saw, they paid out almost $8,500, you’re health insurance did. So you’re going to have to pay that back. Remember the word subrogation?

Yes.

Okay.

You taught us that but bring us up to date again, anyone who doesn’t know subrogation.

All right now let’s talk about subrogation. Essentially, what happens on self-subrogation is your health insurance is going to come back and they’re going to say, “We want that $8,500 paid back.” But there is something that is known as the Make Whole Law and it says, “If you hire an attorney and you hire him on a contingency fee and let’s say you pay a third of that – on the contingency fee – your health insurance has to reduce how much they want back by a third.” So that $8,500 gets reduced down to $5,700. So in this one scenario you started off with this bill – and if you played it right – you only showed them the billed amount. So they saw almost $29,000. They pay you for it. At the end you only have to pay back $5,700. So in this one example alone you would have made over $23,000 on this one billing. Think of all the other billings. That’s why it’s important to get an attorney and follow up on this.

It is important because I mean I kind of got lost because it’s complicated but you don’t get lost. He knows what he’s doing. You make sure that people get the maximum amount and get to keep it and not have to pay it back. I mean that’s the bottom line, right?

Right, and I get people that call me all the time and they say, “I’ve already signed a release and they’ve seen records.” That’s okay. A good attorney can un-ring that bell and they’ll inform the insurance company about the– it’s called the Collateral Source Doctrine. You don’t get to look at the stuff on the right, only on the left.

Yeah, you’re way better than a good attorney. You’re Colorado’s best attorney.

Thank you.

This is why he’s here every week. He has great answers for all of our questions. So go to Coloradosbest.tv, click on his photo. You can send him questions directly. He takes the time to answer them all personally and confidentially. He might even address your issue right here on Colorado’s Best because so many of us have the same questions for you. So you could also call him directly at his office, Harding & Associates. Here’s his number 303-762-9500 and you can get a free consultation any time. You can also get more information by checking out his website it is Hlaw.org. Happy Anniversary Phil.

Thank you, you too. I didn’t get you anything.

You’re here that’s all we need.

All right.

By: Phil Harding