NBC 9 News Statutory Cap Monetary Limits Transcript
Colorado Statutory Cap Monetary Limits | Attorney Jim Chalat | Video Transcript
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FEMALE VOICE: At issue tonight, Colorado's statutory cap. It limits the amount of money you can recover when a public employee is negligent. 9 News anchor Jim BENEMANN shows us how that cap is costing one family from Rocky Ford.
DEBI DEHERRERA: Got his head?
TOBY DEHERRERA: When we go, I'm going to pick you up, Tob, ready? Here we go. Alright.
JIM BENEMANN: Debbie and Toby DeHerrera have brought Toby Junior to Denver again, 160 miles from home for another round of medical visits. The boy's almost completely paralyzed after a devastating brain injury 10 months ago.
JIM CHALAT: He was not in a child safety seat in the back of a Jeep Cherokee that was rolled in a one car accident by his teacher.
GRAPHIC: [Various photos of destroyed vehicle]
JIM CHALAT: This is every family's worst nightmare]
GRAPHIC: [Woman kissing child in hospital]
JIM BENEMANN: Under Colorado law, Toby is entitled to a maximum of $150,000 for his injuries.
JIM BENEMANN: His medical bills far exceed that already. And the family's attorney says future care will cost millions.
JIM CHALAT: Toby will live as condemned to a lifetime of poverty; the family is condemned to a lifetime of poverty. The parents will never be able to find the time to have real jobs because their days will be taken up with caring for Toby.
DEBI DEHERRERA: He's going to need care the rest of his life from his mother and his father. Toby will never have a family.
JIM BENEMANN: The current statutory cap may have seemed adequate 20 years ago, when it was passed by the state legislature. But the cap hasn't changed, while the cost of medical care has soared.
JIM CHALAT: If you were to pay or buy $150,000 of medical services in the year 1979, it would cost you more than $.5 million to replace those services today.
DEBI DEHERRERA: It's just unfair to Toby. It's like a second slap in the face for us. Our life is very hard. We struggle a lot.
GRAPHIC: [Photo of boys]
DEBI DEHERRERA: The old life we had is dead; we don't have that kind of life no more.
GRAPHIC: [U.S. Courthouse]
JIM CHALAT: These type of governmental immunity statutes are the ultimate special interest legislation. It's the ultimate gift of the general assembly to the insurance companies of America.
GRAPHIC: [Woman with child in hospital]
JIM BENEMANN: DU law professor Jan Laitos says, limits on liability are a trade off.
JAN LAITOS: The statutory caps perform the legitimate role of saving the taxpayer money. But on the other hand, statutory caps deprive victims, innocent victims of the right to recover full damages from a negligent government with respect to the medical expenses that the victim may have incurred.
And one has to reconsider whether or not that is truly fair and just.
JIM BENEMANN: Toby's parents hope one day he'll walk and talk again.
DEBI DEHERRERA: I believe that's up to God, for God to make that decision. And I hope he does because Toby was a very good church boy. He always went to church, that was very important to Toby. So, I, I beg God every day to please help Toby.
JIM BENEMANN: Jim Benemann, 9 News.
