Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Monday signed a law that will increase statutory caps on noneconomic damages for wrongful death and injury claims, as part of a deal to avoid a ballot-box fight between medical providers and personal injury lawyers.

Under the new law and for claims filed on or after Jan. 1, 2025, noneconomic damages for general liability claims will be capped at $1.5 million, up from $729,000, while the new limit for wrongful death claims will be $2.125 million, compared to the current limit of about $642,000. Adjustments will be made for inflation every two years, according to the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association (CTLA).

The law also raises separate noneconomic damages limits for injury and death claims stemming from medical malpractice over a period of five years. By 2029, the cap for injuries caused by a healthcare professional will increase to $875,000, and $1.575 million for wrongful death claims, up from the current limit of $300,000.

The CTLA proposed initiatives in January that, if approved by voters, would have done away with limits on noneconomic damages for injury and death, including claims stemming from medical malpractice. The group also sought to expand the medical records that patients can access following an incident that caused or could have caused injury or death.

A coalition representing medical professionals, Coloradans Protecting Patient Access (CPPA), responded with proposals to limit contingency fees from wrongful death or personal injury suits and to require attorneys representing clients on such claims to disclose a "good faith estimate" of litigation and court costs in writing.

The groups agreed to withdraw their competing proposals with the passage of H.B. 1472, which Polis signed into law on Monday afternoon.

"Thanks to this bipartisan legislation we are preventing costly and divisive ballot measures that would be bad for the future of Colorado. This law will protect patient rights while saving Coloradans money on healthcare, creating a more affordable future for all of us," Polis said in a statement after the signing.

CTLA president Kari Jones Dulin, who is also a partner at the personal injury firm Dulin McQuinn Young LLP, said the compromise will increase damages caps "substantially."

"Going to the ballot, which we were 100 percent intending to do, isn't without risk and not without cost. So I think it makes common sense that we can accomplish our goal by coming to the table," said Jones Dulin. "We are walking away feeling that we made generational changes in cap increases for Coloradans, and they will only continue to increase with inflation in the future."

That doesn't mean CTLA won't bring another fight over damages caps in the future, she said.

"Never say never," Jones Dulin said.

Dr. Omar Mubarak, president of the physician group Colorado Medical Society, said CTLA's original proposal would have increased healthcare costs for people across the state.

"Instead, the medical community did the right thing by our patients and compromised on the numbers in order to preserve the cap, protect confidentiality and stabilize our healthcare system as a whole," Mubarak said in a news release.

CPPA and other health industry groups also sponsored a separate bill, S.B. 24-130, that would have raised the cap for medical malpractice claims to $500,000, but abandoned the proposal after the compromise was reached.

H.B. 1472, which was backed by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, also allows a sibling to bring a wrongful death action if the deceased person did not have a surviving spouse, heirs, or designated beneficiary and had no surviving mother or father.

Polis and lawmakers announced the deal to avoid the ballot measure fight on May 5.

Republican State Sen. Bob Gardner, one of the sponsors of H.B. 1472, believes the law will result in "somewhat higher rates for people who have liability insurance policies" but also balances the interests of people seeking to recoup damages after injuries.

"I have voted against raising noneconomic damages caps on multiple occasions in my sixteen sessions of the Legislature, so to be able to vote on a very real compromise that I think made both sides equally unhappy and happy at the same time is a good solution," Gardner said.