For a family in Castle Rock, a serious burn can mean weeks of dressing changes at the kitchen table, a string of follow-up appointments, and someone at home rearranging a work schedule to help. We help Castle Rock families add up what that long recovery costs, working from our Denver office.
No fee unless we winIt's More Than Money.
Maybe a fire pit flared at a neighbor's party, or a friend's propane grill caught your sleeve. Now you or your child is home with a burn that needs tending every day, and the question of who should pay for it keeps coming back. Speaking with a Castle Rock burn injury lawyer is one way to get a straight answer.
Our number at CGH Injury Lawyers is (303) 209-9395. If typing it out feels easier tonight, the contact page works too.
Colorado applies different rules to a burn at someone's home, on the job, in a crash, and from a product.
The screen was missing from the fire pit. The grill hose had a split in it. The landlord never fixed the water heater that ran scalding hot. Problems like these are conditions of property, and Colorado's Premises Liability Act governs what the owner owed you because of them. Its reach extends to whoever is legally responsible for the property's condition, and that can include a landlord. The court decides your status from the facts. As an invitee, you can generally recover for hazards the owner knew about or should have known about. As a licensee, you generally have to show the owner actually knew.
Some burns start with an object that failed: a propane valve stuck open, a patio heater that toppled, a phone charger that melted on a nightstand. Colorado product claims can rest on more than one legal theory, negligence and strict liability among them (C.R.S. 13-21-401(2)). Under strict liability, the focus stays on the item, specifically whether it had a defect that caused your burn.
Hot metal, spilled fuel and fire can all follow a collision. A crash burn can be part of a claim against a driver whose negligence caused the crash. Your own auto coverage may also come into play.
Workers' compensation is generally the only claim against your own employer (C.R.S. 8-41-102). A job-site burn can still involve a company you don't work for, like the maker of a defective torch, or a property owner who isn't your employer. Colorado lets you receive workers' compensation and, separately, seek damages from that outside company for losses the compensation doesn't cover (C.R.S. 8-41-203(1)(a)).
These rules deal with property status, shared blame, the damages ceiling, and the calendar.
Colorado's Premises Liability Act sets different standards depending on why you were there. It places each injured person in one of three groups: trespasser, licensee, or invitee. A social guest, like the friend at a backyard cookout, counts as a licensee. Invitees are people on the land for business both sides have a stake in, or people who came because the owner signaled that the public was expected.
The invitee group gets the strongest protection, reaching dangers "the landowner actually knew about or should have known about." Licensees stand on narrower ground, since a licensee generally must prove actual knowledge (C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(b)). Subsection (4)(c)(II) of C.R.S. 13-21-115 applies that same actual-knowledge test to an invitee on land classified for property tax purposes as agricultural or vacant.
Suppose your host knew the grill hose was split and lit it for you anyway. A licensee's claim generally depends on proof of that knowledge. Which group you fall into is a question the court decides from the facts (C.R.S. 13-21-115(6)).
In a negligence claim, a judge or jury in Colorado can assign a percentage of fault to the person who was hurt as well as the person being sued (C.R.S. 13-21-111). When the injured person's percentage is lower than the defendant's, that person's damages are reduced by that percentage. When it matches or tops the defendant's, the injured person recovers nothing.
Picture a guest leaning over the fire pit at the moment the host squirts lighter fluid onto the coals. If the jury put 25 percent on the guest and 75 percent on the host, the guest's damages would be reduced by 25 percent.
Pain and suffering, emotional stress, and lost quality of life are non-economic damages, and Colorado caps them at $1.5 million for claims arising on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5). Wrongful death and medical malpractice claims are governed separately. That dollar amount is adjusted for inflation starting January 1, 2028.
Doctor bills and missed paychecks aren't noneconomic damages, so the ceiling doesn't touch them. Subsection (5) also shields compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement from the section's limits, and scarring may be compensated as disfigurement.
Those two- and three-year clocks generally start once you know about, or reasonably should have known about, both the injury and its cause, under C.R.S. 13-80-108. If your child is the one who was burned, separate rules can change how the deadline runs. Have a lawyer confirm your deadline.
Courthouse
Where a lawsuit is filed depends on the facts, including who is being sued. Castle Rock is the Douglas County seat, according to the county. The Douglas County Courthouse stands at 4000 Justice Way, Ste. 2009, Castle Rock, CO 80109, and the county belongs to the 23rd Judicial District.
Trauma care
The state health department's trauma facility list designates AdventHealth Castle Rock, at 2350 Meadows Blvd., as Level III. Ask each provider who treated you for a copy of your chart, beginning with the emergency visit.
Fire protection
The Castle Rock Fire and Rescue Department covers a 66-square-mile area that takes in the Town of Castle Rock and the Castle Rock Fire Protection District in Douglas County, per the Town's facility listing. Notes from the crew that answered your call can shed light on where a fire began.
Our office
CGH Injury Lawyers has no Castle Rock location. We work from our office in Denver.
We don't publish burn settlement figures. The burn's depth, size, and placement, along with its effect on your life, bear on the value of a claim.
MedlinePlus sorts burns into superficial, partial-thickness, and full-thickness. In its words, "Full-thickness burns (formerly known as third-degree burns) affect the deep layers of skin."
A first offer can be based on the emergency bill and little else. At home, heavier expenses may still be coming: another graft, scar treatment, therapy, counseling, or a job that no longer fits what your hands can do. A life care plan, built with medical economists, burn surgeons, and vocational experts, attaches numbers to those needs.
An insurer's theory about how the fire started gets tested against fire origin analysis, maintenance records, and expert testimony.
When the facts or the law are against a claim, you'll hear that from us.
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 and prepares each case as if it will be tried.
Call 911 in an emergency. According to MedlinePlus, "Major burns need urgent medical care."
Set aside the grill, the fire pit screen, the fuel can, and any scorched clothes, and ask the homeowner to hold on to anything else involved.
Photograph the spot where it happened on day one, then photograph the burn as it changes.
Get names and numbers for the host and the other guests.
An adjuster may ask for one. 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.
Keep receipts for gauze, creams, and prescriptions; track the miles driven to appointments, and jot a few lines each day about sleep, pain, and missed plans.
Colorado's noneconomic limit applies to only some damages, and the facts decide what a claim can include.
The noneconomic ceiling doesn't limit these compensatory damages (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5)).
Government defendants are handled differently. Colorado sets separate maximum recoveries for claims against them, and the Secretary of State adjusts those amounts every four years (C.R.S. 24-10-114).
Licensee status does change the test, and a social guest counts as a licensee. It still leaves room to recover for a danger the host actually knew about, and the court, applying the statute, decides your status.
In a negligence case, your percentage of fault reduces the award, and if it equals or exceeds the other side's, you can't recover. We answer with the physical evidence of how the fire started.
A number built on week-one bills may not reflect the care still ahead, which is what a Life Care Plan sets out to document.
Sometimes more than one source is involved.
Two years is the general rule for a tort claim, while 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)). Under C.R.S. 24-10-109, a claim against a public entity, or against one of its employees on the job, carries a 182-day written notice rule that starts when you discover the injury. Ask a lawyer to confirm the date that fits your burn.
Douglas County's courthouse sits in Castle Rock itself, at 4000 Justice Way, Ste. 2009, within the 23rd Judicial District. The facts of a case determine the proper court.
Noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering, are capped at $1.5 million for claims arising on or after January 1, 2025, except in medical malpractice and wrongful death claims, which follow different rules. Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement, and the statute leaves compensatory damages for disfigurement or physical impairment outside that cap (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5)). Medical bills and lost wages aren't subject to it either.
Not necessarily. Under C.R.S. 13-21-111, you can still recover if your share of negligence is below the other party's share, with your damages reduced by your percentage. An equal or larger share means you can't recover.
No. Our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. You can reach us by phone at (303) 209-9395.
It can depend heavily on what your friend knew. Under the Premises Liability Act, a social guest counts as a licensee, whose claim generally requires proof of the owner's actual knowledge of the danger (C.R.S. 13-21-115). Your status is the court's call. Coverage for this kind of claim may come from the owner's liability insurance.
Start with medical records from the first treatment on, which can record the burn's depth and the share of your body it covers. Location counts too, so make sure the chart notes every area that was burned. Add dated photos, any fire department report, pay records showing missed work, and receipts for supplies at home.
The answer turns on how the burn happened. A work burn may bring workers' compensation benefits. After a collision, your uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may help if the driver at fault had too little insurance or none. In a premises claim, the owner's or landlord's liability coverage may respond. Save each bill so the claim can account for it.
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It's More Than Money.
If you want to talk through the legal questions, reach us at (303) 209-9395 or through the contact page, and describe what happened. You'll get a clear explanation of how Colorado law may apply, along with our honest opinion. Spanish speakers can call (303) 835-9177.
Learn more on our Castle Rock personal injury lawyers page. You can also see how a Colorado burn injury attorney handles these claims, or compare our Denver burn injury lawyer page. If a property condition or a crash is behind your burn, the Castle Rock premises liability lawyer and Castle Rock car accident lawyer pages go deeper.
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