What Is the Hardest Injury to Prove in Denver?

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Which Injuries Are Hardest to Prove?

Injuries that can’t be seen on a standard test are often the hardest to prove. A clear fracture on an X-ray leaves little room to argue that an injury happened. With a concussion, a neck strain, or lasting nerve pain, the proof comes from medical records and from the providers who treated you.

When symptoms appear later, an insurer may also question whether the accident caused them at all. The sections below take each of these injuries in turn, then cover the Colorado rules that decide how they are weighed.

A Denver personal injury lawyer can look at what your records already show and what may be missing.

Why a Normal Scan Doesn’t End a Brain Injury Claim

A clean CT scan after a head injury doesn’t mean there’s no concussion. The Acute Concussion Evaluation, a clinician form by Gioia and Collins that the CDC hosts, says concussion “is typically associated with normal structural neuroimaging findings (i.e., CT scan, MRI).”

The same form says concussion brings “physical, cognitive, emotional and sleep-related symptoms” that “may last from several minutes to days, weeks, months or even longer in some cases.” A scan taken in the emergency room can’t show how long those symptoms will last.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) describes what each scan can show:

• CT imaging can show a skull fracture and any brain bruising, bleeding, or swelling.
• MRI “is more sensitive and can pick up more subtle brain changes that a CT scan may miss.”

With a brain injury, MedlinePlus’s traumatic brain injury page notes that “some symptoms may not occur right away and show up a few days or weeks later.” A record of when headaches, memory problems, or sleep trouble began can matter as much as the first scan.

Read more about our work as Denver brain injury lawyers.

Can You Prove Whiplash and Other Soft Tissue Injuries?

Yes, though the proof usually builds over several visits. MedlinePlus’s neck injury page describes whiplash as “a soft tissue injury to the neck” that “is also called neck sprain or strain,” and lists falls and accidents, “including car accidents,” as a common cause of neck pain.

With soft tissue injuries, the evidence usually comes from the treating provider’s exam notes and whether your symptoms were recorded the same way from visit to visit. Gaps in treatment can give an insurer an opening to argue you had recovered.

Whiplash is among the common car accident injuries people bring to an injury lawyer after a crash.

Chronic Pain and CRPS: When There’s No Lab Test

Complex regional pain syndrome shows how an injury can be real without a single confirming test. NINDS’s CRPS page states, “There is no laboratory or blood test for CRPS,” and that the condition is “diagnosed based on a person’s symptoms and a physical exam by a doctor who is familiar with nerve and pain syndromes.”

NINDS calls CRPS uncommon but says it “can happen after an injury or surgery,” and that “a broken bone, especially a broken wrist, is the most common cause of CRPS.”

If pain after an injury “seems unusually severe or lasts longer than expected,” NINDS advises speaking with a doctor. In a claim, that visit and the doctor’s findings can become part of the record documenting the pain.

PTSD and Emotional Harm After an Accident

There’s nothing to scan with a psychological injury. The National Institute of Mental Health says symptoms of PTSD “usually begin within 3 months of the traumatic event, but they sometimes emerge later.”

NIMH notes that people react to trauma in different ways, and “most will recover from their symptoms over time.” That’s why a lasting diagnosis is important in a claim.

NIMH also says a mental health professional, “such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, or clinical social worker,” can determine whether symptoms meet the criteria for PTSD. An adult must have the required symptoms “for at least 1 month.” A diagnosis from a treating provider is often the center of the proof.

Colorado’s rules for emotional distress claims after an injury in Denver go further into when these losses can be recovered.

Pre-Existing Conditions and Colorado’s Aggravation Rule

Insurers often argue that a back or neck problem existed before the accident. Colorado’s pattern civil jury instructions address that argument with an instruction on aggravation of a preexisting condition.

Under it, the injured person first has to prove three things: the earlier condition, the defendant’s negligence, and that the negligence made the condition worse. A jury that can separate the new harm from the earlier condition awards only the part the defendant caused.

If the jury is “unable to separate” them, “the defendant is legally responsible for the entire amount of damages.” Records from before the accident can help show what changed.

When a defendant argues that the injured person was more fragile than most people, a separate “thin skull” instruction tells jurors they can’t reduce damages because a condition made the person “more susceptible to injury, disability, or impairment than an average or normal person.”

What “Proving It” Means in a Colorado Injury Case

Colorado uses a preponderance standard for most claims. The statute says “the burden of proof in any civil action shall be by a preponderance of the evidence,” with a separate rule for punitive damages (C.R.S. 13-25-127).

Much of the dispute over these injuries involves pain and suffering. Colorado defines noneconomic loss as including “pain and suffering, inconvenience, emotional stress, and impairment of the quality of life.”

For claims that arise on or after January 1, 2025, and for cases filed during 2025, those damages are capped at $1.5 million. Claims against health care providers and wrongful death cases follow separate limits (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5).

The same statute says nothing in it limits “compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement.” For how these losses add up in practice, see which car accident injuries pay the most in Denver.

When Symptoms Show Up Late, the Deadline Still Runs

Under C.R.S. 13-80-108, an injury claim accrues on the date when “both the injury and its cause are known or should have been known by the exercise of reasonable diligence.” The main periods that follow are:

Type of claim	General deadline	Starts
Most negligence claims (C.R.S. 13-80-102)	Two years	When the injury and its cause are known or should have been known
Most bodily injury claims from a motor vehicle crash (C.R.S. 13-80-101)	Three years	Same accrual rule
Claims against a public entity, or its employee acting on the job: written notice (C.R.S. 24-10-109)	182 days	When you discover the injury, even if you don’t yet know everything about the claim

Missing the government notice can bar the claim. A lawyer can confirm which deadline applies to your facts.

Records That Help Prove a Hard-to-See Injury

These steps can give a hard-to-see injury a clearer record:

1. See a doctor promptly. Tell every provider about each symptom, including ones that start later.
2. Follow the treatment plan. Keep appointment records, referrals, and test results.
3. Write it down. Keep a short daily note on pain, sleep, and activities you’ve had to stop.
4. Ask the people around you. Family and coworkers can describe what changed after the accident.
5. Gather older records. Treatment notes for the same part of the body from before the accident can show what’s new.

Frequently Asked Questions

Written by CGH Injury Lawyers.

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