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97 Denver L. Rev. F. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/dnvrlwfv97 and id is 1 raw text is: NAVIGATING THE ROADWAYS OF AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY INSURANCE MONICA L. C. LESTER, ESQ. OFMCELROY, DEUTSCH, MULVANEY & CARPENTER, LLP Motor vehicle financial responsibility statutes vary from state to state, but every state requires motorists to purchase some form of automobile liability insurance.' Pursuant to the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibil- ity Act, Colorado requires automobile owners purchase automobile liability insurance for losses arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle.2 Motor vehicle includes automobiles, low-pow- ered scooters, trailers, and semitrailers.3 Motor vehicle does not include toy vehicles, snowmobiles, off-highway vehicles, or vehicles designed to be used primarily on rails.4 Liability insurance provides coverage for bodily injury to another person or property damage to another person's vehicle or property.' Colo- rado is a tort state, meaning fault determines who is liable for injuries resulting from an auto accident.6 Minimum Coverages The minimum liability insurance coverages required in Colorado in- clude: • $ 25,000 for bodily injury or death to any one person not at fault for an accident; • $ 50,000 for bodily injury or death to all persons not at fault for an accident; • $ 15,000 for property damage in any one accident.7 Motorists may purchase automobile liability policies providing cover- ages more extensive than the minimums.8 MedPay 1. Jeffrey W. Stempel, The Insurance Policy as Social Instrument and Social Institution, 51 WM. & MARY L. REV. 1489, 1497-98, (Mar. 2010) ([E]very state effectively requires auto insur- ance in order to license a car.). 2. C.R.S. § 42-7-101, etseq.; C.R.S. § 10-4-635(1)(a). 3. C.R.S. § 10-4-601(6); C.R.S. § 42-7-103(8). 4. C.R.S. § 10-4-601(6). 5. C.R.S. § 42-7-103(2). 6. Trevor M. Gordon, To Reform or Repudiate? An Argument on the Future of No-Fault Auto Insurance, 17 QUINNIPIAC HEALTH L.J. 63, 75, 2013-2014. 7. C.R.S. § 10-4-620; C.R.S. § 42-7-103(2). 8. C.R.S. § 10-4-621(1).