After a child is burned by a hot surface or scalding water, the weeks that follow bring follow-up visits, bandage changes at bedtime, and worry about scars as your child grows. We help families in Louisville, Colorado, understand who may be responsible and what a claim can include, all from our Denver office.
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Maybe bathwater in your rental came out of the tap far hotter than it should, or your toddler reached for a glass fireplace front at a friend's house, or a server set down a sizzling plate within a small child's reach.
However, if it happened here in Louisville, Colorado (not Louisville, Kentucky), a Louisville burn injury lawyer can help you when you're ready to think about responsibility and costs.
Call CGH Injury Lawyers at (303) 209-9395, or share a few details through our contact page.
A child or an adult can be burned at home, at a restaurant, in a car or by a defective product, and an adult can also be burned on the job.
A water heater turned up too high, a radiator with no cover, or an oven door that gets hot to the touch can burn a child.
When a home's condition caused the burn, Colorado's Premises Liability Act governs what the responsible person owed (C.R.S. 13-21-115). The statute's definition of a landowner includes a person legally responsible for the property's condition, so a landlord can fall within it.
Your family's status on the property is for the court to decide. An invitee can generally recover for dangers the owner knew about or should have known about, while a licensee typically needs to show the owner actually knew.
Think of a gas fireplace with a glass front, a hair tool, an electric kettle, or a phone charger. If a product like that was defective, Colorado recognizes claims against its maker under more than one theory, including negligence and strict liability (C.R.S. 13-21-401(2)).
The strict liability question comes down to whether something was wrong with the product and whether that defect is what burned your child.
MedlinePlus includes car accidents among the causes of burns. Where another driver's negligence caused the crash, your child's burn can be part of a claim against that driver.
If you were the one burned on the job, workers' compensation is generally the only claim against your employer (C.R.S. 8-41-102), and it may pay benefits.
A company outside your employer that caused the burn may still face a separate claim for damages beyond what workers' compensation provides (C.R.S. 8-41-203).
Deadlines, property duties, damage limits, and shared fault all apply to burn claims in Colorado.
Negligence claims, including one over a scald in a rental, are tort claims with a general two-year limit (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a)).
A strict liability claim over a defective kettle, heater, or charger generally has two years as well (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(b)). For a crash, 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)), though a strict liability claim over a defective vehicle part generally keeps the two-year period (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)(II)).
Accrual for those periods generally occurs when the injury and its cause are known, or should have been known with reasonable diligence (C.R.S. 13-80-108(1)). A separate and much shorter step applies to government defendants.
In a claim involving a public entity or one of its employees on the job, written notice must be filed within 182 days after you discover the injury. That's so even while parts of the claim is still unknown, and failing to give that notice forever bars the claim (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)).
A minor's claim can be subject to separate rules that affect the filing deadline. How those rules apply depends on the circumstances, so have a lawyer confirm the date for your child.
The Premises Liability Act sorts a person on someone else's property as a trespasser, a licensee, or an invitee, and the court makes that determination based on the facts. Invitees receive the greatest protection.
Under the Act, an invitee is someone who enters to transact business in which both sides are mutually interested, or who enters because the owner expressly or impliedly represented that the public is requested, expected, or intended to come in.
A family eating at a restaurant may fit that definition, though the court decides.
An invitee may recover for damages caused by the owner's unreasonable failure to exercise reasonable care against dangers the owner actually knew about or should have known about.
Visiting a friend is treated differently. A social guest counts as a licensee, and a licensee generally has to show the owner actually knew about the danger (C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(b)).
For an invitee, actual knowledge is also the test on land classified for property tax purposes as agricultural or vacant, a rule found in C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(c)(II).
For injury claims arising on or after January 1, 2025, Colorado sets a $1.5 million limit on non-economic damages, like pain, emotional stress, and lost quality of life.
The limit is adjusted for inflation starting January 1, 2028. Separate rules govern medical malpractice and wrongful death claims.
Economic damages such as medical care and lost earnings aren't capped (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(3)), since the noneconomic limit applies to only some damages. The statute also provides, at C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5), that nothing in it limits compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement. For a child, scarring may be compensated as disfigurement.
Colorado's comparative negligence statute, C.R.S. 13-21-111, lets an injured person whose negligence was less than the negligence of the party they're suing recover, with the damages reduced by their percentage. If their share is equal to or greater than the other party's, the court enters judgment for the defendant.
Suppose an adult diner was found 10 percent at fault for reaching across a table, and the restaurant 90 percent at fault for serving food on a scorching skillet with no warning. The diner's damages would be reduced by 10 percent.
The court
The City of Louisville appears on Boulder County's list of incorporated municipalities. Boulder County forms Colorado's 20th Judicial District.
Its courthouse in Boulder, the Boulder County Combined Court, is at 1777 6th St., Boulder, CO 80302, and the Judicial Branch also lists Boulder County Combined Court - Longmont. Where a lawsuit is filed depends on the facts.
Trauma care
On the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's list of designated trauma facilities, AdventHealth Avista, at 100 Health Park Drive in Louisville, is designated Level III. The same list shows Good Samaritan Hospital, at 200 Exempla Circle in Lafayette, as Level II. Keep every record from the emergency room, follow-up visits, and your pediatrician.
The fire district
The Louisville Fire Protection District is based at 895 Via Appia Way in Louisville. Its website lists services including ambulance service, car seat inspections, CPR and first-aid classes, and wildfire home assessments. If the district responded to your emergency, its records may help show what happened.
Our office
CGH works from 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, in Denver.
A burn's value depends on its depth, its size, where it is on the body and how it changes a person's life. For that reason, we don't publish burn settlement figures.
Medical economists, burn surgeons, and vocational experts work with us to prepare a Life Care Plan that sets out the future costs of your child's care.
If the other side argues the family or the injured person caused the burn, we respond with fire origin analysis, maintenance records, and expert testimony.
We'll let you know plainly if the facts or the law don't support a claim.
CGH Injury Lawyers, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, was founded in Denver in 2016 and prepares each case as if it will be tried. Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
Spanish-speaking families can call (303) 835-9177.
Call 911 in an emergency. MedlinePlus points out: "Burns on the face, hands, feet, and genitals can be particularly serious."
Take pictures of the faucet, stove, fireplace, plate, or product, along with the room or table where it happened.
Don't return or discard a device that may have caused the burn.
Notify the landlord, restaurant manager, or store in writing, and ask for a copy of any incident report.
Before you give a recorded statement to an insurance company, you can ask to speak with a lawyer first. You can reach CGH at (303) 209-9395.
Keep a journal of treatments, sleep, school absences, and your child's mood, and photograph the healing skin regularly.
What a claim can include depends on its facts.
Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement. Compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement aren't limited by the noneconomic cap (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5)).
Maximum recovery amounts apply to claims against government bodies, and the Colorado Secretary of State adjusts them every four years (C.R.S. 24-10-114).
An adjuster may describe the injury as small. MedlinePlus observes that "The most serious burns can be painless," which is one reason to have a doctor examine and record the injury.
In a negligence claim, shared fault reduces damages by the injured person's percentage. It prevents recovery only when that share is equal to or greater than the defendant's.
The court determines a person's status under the Premises Liability Act based on the facts. A social guest counts as a licensee, and a licensee generally has to show the owner actually knew about the danger (C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(b)).
Keep the paperwork from each of these sources together, since more than one may be involved in the same claim.
A scald or burn claim against a landlord, business or product maker generally has two years in Colorado (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a), 13-80-102(1)(b)).
A much earlier step applies to government defendants. Written notice must be filed within 182 days after you discover the injury when the responsible party is a public entity or one of its employees on the job, and failing to give it forever bars the claim (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). Have a lawyer confirm the deadline for your situation.
Louisville is in Boulder County, the 20th Judicial District. Where a lawsuit is filed depends on the facts. For Boulder County, the Colorado Judicial Branch lists court locations at 1777 6th St. in Boulder and at 1035 Kimbark St. in Longmont.
Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement, and Colorado's damages statute leaves compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement outside its cap (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5)). That $1.5 million cap covers noneconomic damages such as pain, for claims arising on or after January 1, 2025, while medical malpractice and wrongful death claims are handled under different rules. Medical bills aren't noneconomic damages, so they fall outside that cap.
Possibly. Colorado permits recovery when the injured person's negligence was less than the negligence of the party being sued, with damages reduced by that percentage (C.R.S. 13-21-111). If that share is equal to or greater than the other party's, recovery is barred.
No. Our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. Call us at (303) 209-9395.
Possibly. Colorado has separate rules for minors that can change how a filing deadline runs (C.R.S. 13-81-103), and how they apply depends on the circumstances. Ask a lawyer to confirm the exact dates for your child.
It may be. A customer may be an invitee under the Premises Liability Act, though the court decides status based on the facts, and an invitee may recover for dangers the business actually knew about or should have known about when it unreasonably failed to exercise reasonable care (C.R.S. 13-21-115). In a negligence claim, shared fault reduces damages by your percentage and bars recovery if your share is equal to or greater than the business's.
Emergency room and follow-up records describe the burn's depth and size. MedlinePlus says, "A burn's size can also be determined based on the total body surface area (TBSA) they cover." Photos of the injury over time, the product or scene that caused it, incident reports, fire district records if responders came, and receipts for every expense all help document the loss.
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When your family is ready, call (303) 209-9395 or reach us through the contact page. We'll listen to what happened, explain how Colorado law may apply, and give you our honest assessment.
Learn more on our Louisville personal injury lawyers page.
Learn more from our Colorado burn injury attorney overview and our Denver burn injury lawyer page. For a burn at a home or business, see our Louisville premises liability lawyer page, and for a crash, our Louisville car accident lawyer page.
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