A burn at work can start a workers' compensation claim, and it's easy to assume that claim is the only one you have. When an equipment maker, a chemical supplier, or a property owner who isn't your employer had a hand in what went wrong, Colorado law may allow a second claim. CGH Injury Lawyers represents burned workers in Commerce City from our Denver office.
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A splash of caustic chemical, a flash from a pressurized line, or a fire that tears through a plant floor can leave a worker with burns that take months to treat. If you were hurt that way in Commerce City, your employer's workers' compensation carrier may already be calling, and you may be wondering whether that claim is all there is. A Commerce City burn injury lawyer can help sort out which companies played a part.
To talk about your situation, call CGH Injury Lawyers at (303) 209-9395, or reach us in writing on our contact page.
The companies and insurers involved depend on where the burn happened.
A complying employer is generally shielded from a lawsuit, so workers' compensation is generally the only claim against your own employer (C.R.S. 8-41-102). A single job site can have several companies working on it, though. When a chemical supplier shipped mislabeled drums, a property owner who isn't your employer let a gas leak go unrepaired, or a manufacturer built a tank with a faulty valve, an injured worker in Colorado may take workers' compensation and also sue that other company for damages above what workers' compensation provides (C.R.S. 8-41-203(1)(a)).
A delivery truck or passenger car can catch fire after impact, and battery acid or hot fluids can cause burns too. If a negligent driver caused that crash, the claim against the driver can include your burn.
Industrial equipment, welding gear, pressure washers, and household products can all injure someone when they're unsafe. A Colorado product claim can rest on negligence, strict liability, or another legal theory (C.R.S. 13-21-401(2)). With strict liability, the question is about the product: whether it had a defect and whether the defect caused the injury.
A gas leak in a rental house, a water heater with a broken safety valve, or old wiring in an apartment can start a fire. Under Colorado's Premises Liability Act (C.R.S. 13-21-115), the party legally responsible for a property's condition owes duties to people on it, and that party can be a landlord. A tenant's legal status is a question for the court. If the court treats you as an invitee, the landlord's knowledge of a danger, or what the landlord should have known, can support a claim; a licensee generally has to prove the landlord actually knew.
Four parts of Colorado law apply to a burn claim: filing deadlines, shared fault, the damages cap and the duties of property owners.
Colorado negligence and premises claims generally must be filed within two years after they accrue (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a)), and strict liability claims about products carry that same two-year period (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(b)). For a crash involving a delivery truck on a public road, tort claims arising out of the use or operation of a motor vehicle generally have three years (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)). Suing a parts maker on strict liability over a defective vehicle part generally keeps the two-year limit (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)(II)).
For both the two-year and three-year periods, a claim generally accrues on the day you knew, or with reasonable diligence should have known, that you'd been injured and by what (C.R.S. 13-80-108(1)).
Claims tied to government work have their own first step. Written notice must be filed within 182 days after you discover the injury whenever a public entity or one of its employees on the job may be responsible, even before every element of the claim is known. The statute says failing to comply "shall forever bar" the action (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)).
A minor's claim may be subject to separate timing rules. With this many variables, have a lawyer confirm your exact deadline.
Colorado's comparative negligence statute covers negligence claims. It lets you recover when your negligence is less than that of the party you're suing, with the award reduced by your percentage. If your share equals or exceeds theirs, the law directs the court to enter judgment for the defendant (C.R.S. 13-21-111).
Suppose a jury finds a site owner that isn't your employer 70 percent at fault for ignoring a leaking gas line and finds you 30 percent at fault for skipping a lockout step. Your damages would be reduced by 30 percent.
Colorado caps noneconomic damages, which cover things like pain, inconvenience, and emotional stress, at $1.5 million for claims arising on or after January 1, 2025. Wrongful death and medical malpractice cases follow different rules. The cap is set to be adjusted for inflation starting January 1, 2028.
That cap is written for noneconomic loss, so it doesn't restrict recovery of economic damages such as medical expenses and wages you lost (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(3)). The section also leaves compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement unlimited, according to C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5); scarring may be compensated as disfigurement.
The Premises Liability Act divides people on another's land into trespassers, licensees, and invitees. Someone is an invitee when they're on the land to transact business of mutual interest or because the owner indicated the public was expected or intended to enter. Invitees receive the highest level of protection. An invitee may recover when the landowner unreasonably failed to guard against a danger the landowner knew of or should have known of.
Licensees, a group that generally includes a social guest, must show the landowner actually knew about the danger, as C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(b) provides. Even an invitee carries that burden of proving actual knowledge on land classified for property tax purposes as agricultural or vacant (C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(c)(II)). Status is for the court to determine from the facts (C.R.S. 13-21-115(6)).
The court
Adams County lists Commerce City among its cities. The county's Adams County Justice Center is located at 1100 Judicial Center Dr., Brighton, CO 80601. Where a lawsuit is filed depends on the facts. Adams County sits in the 17th Judicial District.
Trauma care
No facility in Commerce City is listed as a Level I to V trauma facility on Colorado's designated trauma facility list. Among the facilities it lists in other cities are HCA HealthONE Mountain Ridge, a Level II facility at 9191 Grant St in Thornton, and Denver Health Medical Center, a Level I facility at 777 Bannock Street in Denver. Ask for your chart from that first visit, wherever it was.
Fire response
The South Adams County Fire Department says it serves all residents within Commerce City plus areas of unincorporated Adams County. The Brighton Fire Rescue District also includes part of Commerce City in the area it protects. The South Adams County Fire Department posts an open records request page with request forms, including a HIPAA release of medical information.
Our office
We're based at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, in Denver, and we don't have a location in Commerce City.
We don't publish burn settlement figures. The value of a claim depends on the burn, your job and what you can no longer do.
A burn to the hands, arms, or face can keep you out of a trade you spent years learning. Vocational experts, medical economists, and burn surgeons work with us on a life care plan, which puts in writing the treatment, equipment, and lost earning power a claim needs to account for.
A company may say you caused your own injury. We respond with fire origin analysis, maintenance records, and expert testimony.
CGH Injury Lawyers, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, was founded in Denver in 2016. On a workplace burn claim, as on any other, the firm prepares each case as if it will be tried. Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
If Colorado law or the facts won't support a case, we'll say that directly.
Our Spanish line is (303) 835-9177.
Call 911 in an emergency. MedlinePlus states, "The most serious burns can be painless."
Put it in writing and keep a copy. Note the date, the location on the site, and the names of any other companies working there.
Record the chemical or equipment involved, any warning labels, and who was nearby, while the details are clear.
Keep burned clothing, gloves, and boots. Photograph your injuries, and ask in writing that any equipment involved be kept as it is rather than repaired or discarded.
Before you give a recorded statement to an insurance company, you can ask to talk with a lawyer first. Commerce City workers can call us at (303) 209-9395.
Workers' compensation letters, medical bills, pay records, and notes about missed shifts all help show what the burn has cost.
Which losses apply depends on how the burn happened and who was responsible. Keep in mind that the noneconomic limit applies to only some damages.
Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement. Under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5), the noneconomic cap doesn't limit compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement.
A claim against a government body is subject to its own maximum recovery amounts, recalculated by the Colorado Secretary of State on a four-year cycle (C.R.S. 24-10-114).
A workers' compensation carrier or an outside company's liability insurer may argue any of the following.
Workers' compensation is generally your only claim against your own employer, but Colorado keeps the door open to a claim against an outside company that caused the burn (C.R.S. 8-41-203(1)(a)).
In a negligence claim, carrying part of the fault lowers your damages by your percentage, and the claim ends only when your part matches or exceeds the other party's. We answer these arguments with maintenance records, fire origin analysis, and expert testimony.
Benefits from workers' compensation may not cover everything a burn costs over time. A Life Care Plan documents future treatment and lost earning capacity.
Payment in a Commerce City burn case can come from more than one place, depending on the facts.
The general limit for a Colorado negligence lawsuit is two years (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a)). Tort claims arising out of the use or operation of a motor vehicle generally have three years (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)), and a claim against a government body starts with a written notice requirement whose deadline is far shorter (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). Your correct deadline depends on your facts, so have a lawyer confirm it.
Possibly, depending on who you're suing. Against a negligent driver, tort claims arising out of the use or operation of a motor vehicle generally have three years under C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n). Bringing strict liability claims against the manufacturer of a faulty fuel system or battery generally keeps you on the two-year schedule instead (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)(II), 13-80-102(1)(b)). Have a lawyer confirm the deadline for your claim.
Commerce City is in Adams County, part of the 17th Judicial District. The county's court, the Adams County Justice Center, is located in Brighton at 1100 Judicial Center Dr. Whether your lawsuit would be filed there turns on the facts of your case.
You may. C.R.S. 13-21-111 permits recovery in a negligence claim when your negligence is less than the negligence of the party you're claiming against, with your damages reduced by your percentage. If your share equals or exceeds theirs, you recover nothing.
Under C.R.S. 8-41-102, workers' compensation is generally the only claim against your own employer. An outside person or company that caused the burn is another matter: you may accept workers' compensation and still seek losses in excess of that compensation from them (C.R.S. 8-41-203(1)(a)).
That can happen. If workers' compensation has paid benefits, its insurer may have a right to be repaid from what you recover from the outside party (C.R.S. 8-41-203). Ask about it early, since it can affect what you keep.
No. Our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. Reach our team by phone at (303) 209-9395.
That depends on how the burn happened. A job site burn may bring workers' compensation benefits. In a crash, the negligent driver's auto liability coverage is a starting point, and your UM or UIM coverage may help if that driver was underinsured or had no insurance. A fire at a rental or a business may be covered by liability insurance on the property. Keep every bill, because medical expenses are economic damages that Colorado's noneconomic cap does not limit.
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In a phone call, we can start looking at whether an outside company may share responsibility for your burn. Reach us at (303) 209-9395 or through the contact page, and we'll explain what Colorado law may allow and give you our honest assessment.
Learn more on our Commerce City personal injury lawyers page.
For further reading, there's our Colorado burn injury attorney overview and our Denver burn injury lawyer page, plus pages about working with a Commerce City premises liability lawyer or a Commerce City car accident lawyer, which cover property hazards and crashes in more depth.
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