Burn costs can continue after the wound closes. A graft that needs another surgery, scar treatment, and months of therapy can come up long after the first hospital stay. We help burn survivors in Englewood count those later costs, working from our office in Denver.
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Maybe a pot of boiling water tipped off a restaurant counter, or a coffee urn with a loose spigot emptied onto your arm at a shop during your lunch break.
A scald like that brings blisters today and months of worry: whether the skin will scar, whether a surgeon will talk about grafting, and who ends up covering all of it. An Englewood burn injury lawyer can walk you through where you stand under Colorado law while those questions are still new.
Call (303) 209-9395 to reach CGH Injury Lawyers, or send the details through the form on our contact page when calling isn't convenient.
Some scalds look small on the first day, and others leave a mark right away. Either way, the record made early on, in your photos, in the ER chart and in the business's own incident report, can matter to a claim.
Colorado law treats each of these situations under a different set of rules.
Hot water from a heater set far too high, an outlet that sparked for weeks before anyone fixed it, a gas stove with a leak the owner ignored. Colorado's premises statute (C.R.S. 13-21-115) reaches whoever is legally responsible for a property's condition. What that person owed you turns on your status on the property, a question for the court. If you're an invitee, the owner can generally be liable for dangers it knew about or should have known about; if you're a licensee, the owner generally must have actually known (C.R.S. 13-21-115).
Pressure cooker lids, phone chargers, heaters, and hot plates can all fail in ways that burn. Colorado lets a product liability claim rest on negligence, strict liability, or another legal theory (C.R.S. 13-21-401(2)).
Strict liability looks squarely at the item itself, asking two things: did it have a defect, and did that defect cause the burn?
Line cooks, mechanics and building maintenance crews work around steam, fryer oil, solvents and live current. Workers' compensation is generally the only claim against your own employer (C.R.S. 8-41-102). A company that isn't your employer, say the maker of a faulty fryer, is another matter: the statute allows a workers' compensation claim plus a separate claim against that company for damages beyond those benefits (C.R.S. 8-41-203).
A collision can split a fuel line, short a battery, or throw scalding coolant. A crash burn can be part of a claim against a driver whose negligence caused the crash, and Colorado sets a separate filing period for those claims.
Englewood follows the same state statutes as the rest of Colorado.
Noneconomic damages pay for harm without a bill attached, like pain, emotional stress, and a changed quality of life. Colorado caps them at $1.5 million for claims arising on or after January 1, 2025, a figure adjusted for inflation starting January 1, 2028. Claims for medical malpractice and wrongful death follow different rules.
The noneconomic limit applies to only some damages. Treatment costs and wages are economic, and C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(3) caps only noneconomic damages. Under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5), the section places no limit on compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement. Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement, and fingers that won't fully close again may qualify as physical impairment under that provision.
The Act recognizes invitees, licensees, and trespassers, and each gets a different level of protection, with invitees at the top. By the statute's definition, an invitee is a person who comes onto the land to do business both sides care about, or who comes because the owner indicated the public was expected.
An owner can be liable to an invitee for unreasonably failing to take reasonable care against a danger it knew of or should have known of. Licensees get less: a social guest counts as a licensee, and a licensee's claim generally depends on proof that the owner actually knew of the hazard (C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(b)). Invitees face that same actual-knowledge requirement on land classified for property tax purposes as agricultural or vacant (C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(c)(II)). Which group you belong to is the court's call, based on what happened.
In a negligence claim, Colorado divides fault by percentage. The state's comparative negligence statute lets you recover while your slice of the blame stays smaller than the other party's, with your award reduced by your percentage. A slice equal to or bigger than theirs means no recovery.
Say you leaned over a café counter and the café had kept a coffee urn with a cracked spigot in service for a week. A jury that put 15 percent on you and 85 percent on the café would reduce your damages by that 15 percent.
Where the burned person is a child, other rules can change the timing. And for the two- and three-year periods, counting generally begins on the date you knew, or reasonably should have known, of the injury and of its cause (C.R.S. 13-80-108(1)). Because the answer shifts with who is responsible and how the burn happened, get your own deadline confirmed by a lawyer.
The courthouse
Englewood is among the cities and towns in Arapahoe County, part of the 18th Judicial District. Of the district's two Arapahoe County buildings, district court sits at the Arapahoe County Justice Center, 7325 S. Potomac Street, Centennial, CO 80112; the second is the Arapahoe County Courthouse - Littleton. Where a lawsuit is filed depends on the facts.
The hospital
HCA HealthONE Swedish sits at 501 E Hampden Ave in Englewood, and Colorado's list of designated trauma facilities shows it as Level I. Request your chart from each visit, beginning with the ER, since those pages record the burn as it looked on day one.
The fire department
Fire and emergency calls in Englewood are answered by the Denver Fire Department, which says it serves the city through contract agreements. A report from the crew that responded may help pin down how the fire began.
Our office
You'll find us at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205, and we represent Englewood clients from there.
A burn's value depends on its depth, its size, where on the body it landed and how it changes your working life. Those details vary, so we don't publish burn settlement figures.
An early offer can be built around the stack of bills you already have. Scar revisions, repeat grafts, pressure garments and counseling may still be coming. A child who is scalded may need garments refitted as they grow, and an adult may need time off for each follow-up procedure. Working with vocational experts, medical economists and burn surgeons, we put together a Life Care Plan listing those later expenses.
MedlinePlus sorts burns by depth into superficial, partial-thickness and full-thickness, and it measures size against total body surface area. Its entry reads: "Full-thickness burns (formerly known as third-degree burns) affect the deep layers of skin." We read your chart with those terms in mind.
Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). CGH Injury Lawyers, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, was founded in Denver in 2016. The firm prepares each case as if it will be tried.
A scald on a parent's hands can mean missed shifts, help with child care and rides to appointments. A scald on a child can mean a parent missing work for every dressing change. We ask about those effects early so they can be documented as they happen.
When the facts or the law work against a claim, you'll hear that from us.
Our Spanish-language line is (303) 835-9177.
In the words of MedlinePlus, "The most serious burns can be painless." Call 911 in an emergency. Tell the ER staff how the burn happened.
If a restaurant, café or store was involved, ask a manager to write up what happened, request a copy, and jot down names of employees and customers who saw it. Note the time on your receipt, what you ordered, and whether the lid, cup, carafe or urn looked damaged.
Shoot the burn every few days as it blisters, peels and scars, plus the counter, urn, floor or appliance involved.
Clothing, the cup or container, the appliance and your receipt can all matter later.
Before you give a recorded statement to an insurance company, you can ask to talk with a lawyer first. Our line is (303) 209-9395.
Hold on to bills, prescription receipts, parking stubs from appointments and a note of every shift you missed. A simple notebook works: date, what you paid for, and how the burn affected that day, including sleep, work and time with family.
The facts of your case control what's recoverable. Knowing the categories, and that the noneconomic limit applies to only some damages, makes it easier to spot an offer with gaps.
A scar on your face or hands may be compensated as disfigurement, and C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5) says nothing in that section limits compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement.
Suits against government bodies follow a separate structure with their own dollar maximums, updated every four years by the Colorado Secretary of State (C.R.S. 24-10-114).
A scar can change how you work, dress and go out in public. Colorado treats disfigurement separately from the noneconomic limit, and we put the day-to-day effect of a scar on the record. Dated photos taken over several months, notes from follow-up visits and your own journal about wearing long sleeves in July or skipping a family event can all show that effect in concrete terms.
An adjuster may argue you caused the burn. In a negligence claim, if your share of fault is smaller than the other side's, your award is reduced by your percentage, and if it's equal or larger, you can't recover (C.R.S. 13-21-111). We answer with evidence such as expert testimony, maintenance records and fire origin analysis.
A paid hospital bill doesn't cover future surgery or scar care. A Life Care Plan documents those future costs.
Against your employer, that's generally so. A fryer maker or other company outside your job that caused the burn can still face a claim. 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).
Two years is the general limit for tort claims in Colorado (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)). A claim involving a public entity or one of its employees on the job adds a step: written notice must be filed within 182 days after you discover the injury, and a missed notice forever bars the claim (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). Have a lawyer confirm your deadline.
Arapahoe County, where Englewood sits, belongs to the 18th Judicial District. District court for the county is held at the Arapahoe County Justice Center on S. Potomac Street in Centennial, and the district also operates the Arapahoe County Courthouse - Littleton. Where a lawsuit is filed depends on the facts.
Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement, and C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5) keeps compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement outside the section's limit. The cap that does exist, $1.5 million for claims arising on or after January 1, 2025, applies to noneconomic losses such as pain and emotional stress, and your medical expenses and lost wages fall outside it.
It's possible. Colorado's premises law can reach a landlord, if the landlord is the person legally responsible for the property's condition (C.R.S. 13-21-115). Your status on the property, which the court determines, sets the standard. If you're an invitee, the question is generally whether the owner knew or should have known about the danger. If you're a licensee, it's generally whether the owner actually knew (C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(b)). The company that made the appliance may share responsibility.
No. Our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. Start with a call to (303) 209-9395.
It may. Separate Colorado rules for minors can change how the deadline runs (C.R.S. 13-81-103), and how they apply depends on the circumstances. Please don't rely on a general rule; ask a lawyer to confirm your child's date.
A business can be responsible when a condition on its property causes a burn. Colorado's Premises Liability Act treats as an invitee someone who comes in to do business of mutual interest or because the public was invited, and invitees get the most protection (C.R.S. 13-21-115). The court makes the final call on status. If the burn came from a product the store sold, Colorado generally limits product liability claims against a seller that didn't make the product (C.R.S. 13-21-402). Exceptions include a seller that knew about the defect, and a principal distributor or seller when a court can't get jurisdiction over the manufacturer (C.R.S. 13-21-401(1), 13-21-402).
It depends on how the burn happened. If the burn happened at work, workers' compensation may pay benefits. If a driver with too little insurance caused a crash, your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may help. For a scald at a café or a fire in a rental, look to the liability insurance of the business owner or landlord, which may respond. Keep every bill, including ones for future care, because those costs belong in the claim.
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It's More Than Money.
It's fine not to know yet whether what happened is a legal claim. Tell us the story at (303) 209-9395 or through the contact page, and we'll talk through how Colorado law may treat it and what we honestly think.
Learn more on our Englewood personal injury lawyers page. A statewide overview is on our Colorado burn injury attorney page, and burns in Denver are covered by our Denver burn injury lawyer page. When a property's condition caused the burn, our Englewood premises liability lawyer page goes deeper, and for crashes there's our Englewood car accident lawyer page. We're based at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205.
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