2021 Colorado Code
Title 13 - Courts and Court Procedure
Article 21 - Damages
Part 1 - General Provisions
§ 13-21-107. Damages for Destruction or Bodily Injury Caused by Minors

1. The state or any county, city, town, school district, or other political subdivision of the state, or any person, partnership, corporation, association, or religious organization, whether incorporated or unincorporated, is entitled to recover damages in an amount not to exceed three thousand five hundred dollars in a court of competent jurisdiction from the parents of each minor under the age of eighteen years, living with such parents, who maliciously or willfully damages or destroys property, real, personal, or mixed, belonging to the state, or to any such county, city, town, or other political subdivision of the state, or to any such person, partnership, corporation, association, or religious organization or who maliciously or willfully damages or destroys any such property belonging to or used by such school district. The recovery shall be the actual damages in an amount not to exceed three thousand five hundred dollars, in addition to court costs and reasonable attorney fees.
2. Any person is entitled to recover damages in an amount not to exceed three thousand five hundred dollars in a court of competent jurisdiction from the parents of each minor under the age of eighteen years, living with such parents, who knowingly causes bodily injury to that person, including bodily injury occurring on property belonging to or used by a school district. The recovery shall be the actual damages in an amount not to exceed three thousand five hundred dollars, in addition to court costs and reasonable attorney fees.

History. Source: L. 59: P. 376, § 1. CRS 53: § 41-2-7 . C.R.S. 1963: § 41-2-7 . L. 69: P. 331, § 1. L. 77: Entire section amended, p. 802, § 1, effective July 1. L. 79: Entire section amended, p. 766, § 1, effective July 1. L. 83: Entire section amended, p. 617, § 1, effective April 12; entire section amended, p. 618, § 1, effective July 1. L. 84: (1) amended, p. 1117, § 7, effective June 7.

For restitution by delinquent children under the “Colorado Children's Code”, see § 19-2-918 .

Law reviews. For article, “The Enterprise Liability Theory of Torts”, see 47 U. Colo. L. Rev. 153 (1976). For article, “Recovery of Interest: Part I -- Personal Injury”, see 18 Colo. Law. 1063 (1989). For article, “Parental Financial Liability for Juvenile Delinquents”, see 37 Colo. Law. 49 (Nov. 2008).

When willful destruction of property results. In the context of this section a willful destruction of property results from an action done for the purpose of causing such injury or with knowledge that the injury is substantially certain to follow. Crum v. Groce, 192 Colo. 185 , 556 P.2d 1223 (1976).

Subsection (2) and § 19-2-703 (4) do not limit a parent's restitution obligation to $3,500 per delinquent act; rather, the “one delinquent act” limitation in that statute, when read in conjunction with the “any person” language in subsection (2) provides that parental restitution payments cannot exceed $3,500 to each person entitled to restitution as a result of each delinquent act. People in Interest of J.L.R., 895 P.2d 1151 (Colo. App. 1995).