Colorado — Centennial
The Colorado civpro gauntlet.
Ten traps, every one pinned to the loaded corpus — read the unit before relying on the summary.
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TRAP 1
THE CGIA GATE: 182 days, jurisdictional, forever barred
Suing a public entity starts with written notice within 182 days of DISCOVERING the injury. The statute's own words: compliance is a 'jurisdictional prerequisite,' and failure 'shall forever bar any such action.' No other Colorado clock carries that flag.
TRAP 2
THE FEE-SHIFT TRAP: a 12(b) dismissal costs the tort plaintiff fees — mandatorily
Tort actions dismissed before trial on the defendant's Rule 12(b) motion end with the defendant having 'judgment for his reasonable attorney fees.' The verb is shall. Pleading badly has a price tag fixed by statute.
TRAP 3
The 21-day answer — and the counting method lives at the vendor boundary
The clock itself is order-carried: 21 days after service. But Rule 6's roll and service adjustments are NOT in any loaded order — this platform computes raw dates and says so. The trap is trusting any calculator that doesn't tell you where its counting rules came from.
TRAP 4
Professional-negligence cases die without the certificate of review
Sixty days after service to file the certificate against each licensed professional, unless the court finds good cause for more. The claim doesn't get weaker without it — it gets dismissed.
TRAP 5
Two years for torts, three for contracts — and accrual is a discovery rule
The limitation ladder splits at the theory (tort 2, contract 3, liquidated debt 6), and every clock starts when 'both the injury and its cause are known or should have been known by the exercise of reasonable diligence.' Wrongful death accrues at death — its own rule.
TRAP 6
Water matters cannot be heard anywhere else
One water judge per division holds 'exclusive jurisdiction of water matters within the division' — and no other judge may act. A water right pleaded in the wrong court isn't mis-venued; it's outside jurisdiction.
TRAP 7
THE TWO-VERSION ERA: the compilation prints both texts and the wave is coming
The loaded 2025 compilation prints BOTH versions of the deposit-return subsection under its own editor's notes (thirty days is the law now) — and 437 chapters from the 2026 session take general effect August 12, 2026. In Colorado, checking the currency of a section is part of reading it.
TRAP 8
Workers' compensation abolishes the tort case
Against a complying employer, causes of action for employee injury or death 'are abolished except as provided in said articles.' The exclusivity line is the first jurisdictional question in any workplace-injury matter.
TRAP 9
The small-claims room has its own representation statute
Who may commence, defend, and represent in small claims is set by statute — including the bar on assignees who are not real parties. Read 13-6-407 whole before assuming the $7,500 room works like the county court above it.
TRAP 10
Ignoring a traffic infraction IS a conviction
The points statute's own conviction definition includes 'default judgment for a traffic infraction.' The civil matter you skip still lands on the license — and the accumulation thresholds give the department suspension authority.