Joseph F. Bennett, Attorney

Joe has been practicing law since 1986, beginning his legal career as a public prosecutor in Colorado's Ninth and Fifth Judicial Districts.  Since moving to Colorado Springs in 1990, Joe has been primarily involved in civil and personal injury litigation, representing both plaintiffs and defendants.  He presently handles medical and legal malpractice claims, major personal injury lawsuits and civil rights and other governmental liability cases on behalf of persons who have been injured or killed due to the negligence or wrongdoing of others. 

The oldest of nine children, Joe spent four years in the United States Air Force before obtaining his bachelors degree in English Literature with a concentration in Irish Studies from the University of Massachusetts-Boston and his law degree from the University of Colorado School of Law in Boulder.  He worked as a deputy district attorney in the Ninth Judicial District, handling both misdemeanor and felony prosecutions, until 1989.  He then spent two years in the Fifth Judicial District Attorney's office handling all felony prosecutions in Eagle County, which includes the resort town of Vail.    Joe worked for an insurance defense firm in Colorado Springs for four years before leaving with two other attorneys and starting his own firm.  Since 1994, Joe's practice has involved primarily plaintiff's medical malpractice and other personal injury cases.  Joe and Keith have been partners since 1995.

Joe is a member of the Colorado and El Paso County Bar Associations, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association.  He is a member of the ATLA Professional Negligence and Civil Rights Sections, and its Laparoscopic Surgery and Birth Trauma Litigation Groups.  Joe is licened in Colorado, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.  Former Colorado Governor Roy Romer appointed Joe to  the Advisory Board for the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind where he served for several years, including two as the Board's chairman.

In recent years, Joe has been involved in a number of major lawsuits and successfully argued to the Colorado Supreme Court on behalf of the plaintiff in Corsentino v. Cordova, the case that established that emergency vehicle operators could be held legally responsible for deaths and injuries caused by their failure to comply with the provisions of Colorado's emergency vehicle statute.  Joe is an advocate for the underdog and particularly enjoys cases against institutions, governments and corporations.

• State Farm Ins. v. Springle 1993

• Smith v. District Court 1995

• People v. Sutherland 1994

• People v. Hopkins 1989

• Farmers Ins. Co. v. Walther 1995

• Corsentino v. Cordova 2000