Colorado has landed on yet another list of dubious distinctions: It has been designated a “lawsuit inferno” by a national watchdog group that battles runaway litigation.

As reported by The Denver Gazette, the label was affixed by the American Tort Reform Association, which rates all 50 states on their likelihood of generating lawsuits. Colorado joins New York and West Virginia, among other states on the list of lawsuit infernos, given policies that invite more litigation. A key determinant is the number of laws states pass each year expanding liability.

It’s a glaring reminder of the clout the state’s personal-injury lawyers carry at the state Capitol — and the gut punch their lobby has given the state’s business climate. Where lawyers prey, new business investment stays away. And liability insurance premiums are sure to rise.

During the 2025 session, ruling Democrats at Colorado’s legislature introduced 45 bills creating rights of action for filing lawsuits, or expanding current civil liability, according to the tort reform association’s Legislative HeatCheck index. More than half of those bills were signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis.

“Colorado lawmakers seem hell-bent on making it easier and more lucrative to sue, while doing little to help the people who actually drive their state’s economy,” association President Tiger Joyce said in a news release accompanying the group’s new report. “The sheer volume of liability-expanding bills introduced this year is staggering.”

According to the association, each Coloradan pays nearly $2,000 a year in “tort tax” — money siphoned off the state economy by excessive litigation — the seventh-highest in the nation. 

The legislation that is taking that toll includes measures this year expanding the definition of damages under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, and modifying the state’s wage and hour enforcement laws. In many cases, such legislation involves subtle changes to statutes that can have a big impact on the economy.

“Every dollar spent fighting meritless lawsuits is a dollar not spent on hiring, innovation or serving customers,” Joyce said in the release. “Colorado’s small businesses are being squeezed from every direction, and families ultimately pay the price through higher costs and fewer job opportunities.”

“Colorado’s reputation as a magnet for lawsuits is driving away jobs and investment,” Joyce said.

Even the few Colorado laws passed recently to rein in litigation in some sectors — like the modest reforms to construction liability so that condos could be built again in our state — have come only after epic battles with the trial lawyers’ lobby. It is the 800-pound gorilla at the Capitol.

It’s why more meaningful curbs on Colorado’s vulnerability to litigation are likely out of reach — at least, amid the state’s current political alignment. The unfortunate reality is the party that controls the legislature as well as the Governor’s Office and every other statewide elected office is in thrall to the lawyers’ lobby.

Trial lawyers tend to be A-listers at Democratic Party fundraisers, and they have their checkbooks open and ready. Reciprocity being the rule of politics, all too many elected Democrats return the favor once in office and lavish litigation-friendly laws on the lawyers.

It all syncs with a core philosophy among some center-left lawmakers. They reflexively view employees and consumers as victims of “greedy capitalists” — rather than as beneficiaries of entrepreneurs who create jobs, goods and services.

Until our state shifts course, Colorado policymakers will continue catering to the interests of trial lawyers and scare off society’s producers. And the rest of us will be all the poorer for it.