Hurt on someone else's property in Fort Collins or anywhere in Larimer County? The Colorado Premises Liability Act sets exactly what the owner owed you and what happens when they failed. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Fort Collins from our Denver office. No fee unless we win.
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From the crowded parking lots along College Avenue to the icy stairs of CSU apartment complexes to the outdoor recreation corridors around Horsetooth Reservoir and Cache la Poudre River, Fort Collins generates a predictable set of dangerous property conditions that leave real people with real injuries. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Fort Collins and all of Larimer County from our Denver office, handling the investigation, insurance negotiation, and trial when necessary. You pay nothing unless we recover for you.
If a property owner in Fort Collins failed to keep their space reasonably safe and you were hurt as a result, you may have a claim under Colorado law regardless of where the injury happened.
The Colorado Premises Liability Act, codified at C.R.S. 13-21-115, is the governing law for every property injury claim filed in the 8th Judicial District. It replaced older common-law rules with a structured framework that ties the owner's duty to why you were on the property and what the owner knew or should have known about the hazard.
The Act covers nearly every kind of property in Colorado: retail stores, apartment buildings, restaurants, parking lots, office buildings, and outdoor recreation areas. It covers private owners and business entities alike, including landlords, property management companies, and retailers. Government entities can also be subject to premises liability claims in some situations, though the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (C.R.S. 24-10-109) requires written notice within 182 days of discovering the injury, a jurisdictional prerequisite that can bar the claim entirely if missed.
The central question in every Fort Collins premises case is whether the owner failed the legal duty they owed you. The answer starts with your visitor status at the moment you were hurt.
Colorado law divides property visitors into three categories, each owed a different level of protection.
People on the property for a purpose that benefits the owner or under an open public invitation, such as a customer shopping at a store along College Avenue or a diner in Old Town Fort Collins. Owners owe invitees the highest duty of care and must actively inspect for and fix hazards, not just wait for someone to report a problem.
People on the property with permission but for their own purposes, such as a social guest at a friend's Fort Collins home. Owners must warn licensees about known dangers but are not required to inspect for hidden hazards they are unaware of.
People on the property without permission. Owners owe trespassers very limited duties and mainly cannot set traps or intentionally harm them. The attractive-nuisance doctrine raises that duty for child trespassers near features like pools or construction sites.
Property owners often claim they did not know about the hazard that hurt you. Under Colorado law, actual knowledge is not always required. An owner can be held liable for a danger they should have discovered through reasonable inspection and care. That is constructive notice, and it is how most Fort Collins premises cases are built.
A Fort Collins premises liability case lives in Fort Collins: where you file the lawsuit, where you receive trauma care, and which roads and corridors generate the most injuries. Here is the ground our attorneys work on.
Courthouse
Premises liability cases arising in Fort Collins are filed in the District Court, Larimer County, part of Colorado's 8th Judicial District. Civil matters are heard at the Larimer County Justice Center, 201 LaPorte Avenue, Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO 80521. Local rules, local judges, and local defense counsel are all factors in how a Fort Collins case is handled. We work in this court directly.
Trauma Care
Fort Collins has two designated trauma hospitals. UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital is a Level III Trauma Center, verified by the American College of Surgeons and designated by the State of Colorado. Banner Fort Collins Medical Center holds a Level 4 Trauma designation from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Medical records from either facility document the full extent of your injuries and form the foundation of your damages claim.
High-Hazard Corridors
US Highway 287, also known as College Avenue through the city, carries over 40,000 vehicles per day south of Prospect Road and is a documented high-crash corridor with accident-prone intersections at Drake Road and Horsetooth Road. Interstate 25 runs along Fort Collins' eastern edge and faces frequent winter closures from high winds and blizzards. Colorado State Highway 14 winds west through Cache la Poudre Canyon toward Cameron Pass, a mountain canyon route that generates slip, trip, and outdoor-recreation hazard claims on adjacent private property. Knowing which road corridor is involved helps identify which property owner or entity bears responsibility for your injury.
Local Hazard Context
Fort Collins presents a distinct hazard profile that shapes premises cases here. The city's approximately 170,927 residents include roughly 35,000 Colorado State University students who generate heavy foot traffic around off-campus housing in older building stock. Old Town Fort Collins draws dense pedestrian and vehicle traffic that creates slip-and-fall risk on historic sidewalks. Winter storms close I-25 and US 287 and leave ice on commercial walkways that owners must clear. Larimer County is ranked the most hazardous county in Colorado for wildfires, and post-wildfire burn areas west of the city, including the Cameron Peak Fire scar, increase flash flood risk in canyons adjacent to private property. Each of these conditions can create property owner liability when maintenance and inspection standards are not met.
We serve Fort Collins from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. Trial-ready attorneys, bilingual help, no upfront fees. We do not publish premises liability settlement figures on this page because every case turns on its own facts, and a number on a screen tells you nothing about what your case is worth. What we offer is the investigation and the advocacy.
The Law
The Colorado Premises Liability Act is the statute that defines what the Fort Collins property owner owed you and whether they failed it. We build every case from the statute up.
8th Judicial District
Fort Collins cases are filed in the District Court, Larimer County, 8th Judicial District, at the Justice Center on LaPorte Avenue. We appear in Colorado courts statewide and handle Larimer County cases directly, not through local co-counsel.
Honest Case Reviews
If your situation does not give rise to a viable premises claim under C.R.S. 13-21-115, we tell you in the free review. You deserve the truth early, for free, rather than months of false hope.
Evidence Moves Fast
Most commercial properties overwrite security footage within 24 to 72 hours. We move immediately to preserve it with a spoliation letter before the evidence is gone.
Trial-Ready
Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and has tried over 25 cases to verdict. Timothy G. Tarr has been recognized by Best Lawyers every year since 2023. When a Fort Collins property owner's insurer knows we are genuinely ready to try the case in Larimer County District Court, settlements respond accordingly.
Bilingual
Spanish-speaking staff and attorneys serve Fort Collins' Spanish-speaking community across Larimer County.
No Win, No Fee
You pay nothing upfront. We advance investigation costs and collect a fee only from a settlement or verdict. If we do not recover, you owe nothing.
Premises cases are won or lost on evidence that disappears quickly. These steps protect your health and your claim at the same time.
Go to UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital or Banner Fort Collins Medical Center for any injury that may be serious. Do not wait. Both hospitals are designated trauma centers. Every medical record you generate documents the extent of your injury and becomes part of the damages claim.
Tell the property manager or business owner that you were hurt and ask for a written incident report. Get a copy before you leave. If the property owner tries to discourage a report, make a note of that too.
Photograph the condition that caused your injury before it is fixed or cleaned up. Take photos from multiple angles and distances. If there are witnesses, get their names and phone numbers. The hazard's appearance at the time of injury is often the most important evidence in the case.
The shoes you were wearing, the coat you had on, and any clothing with visible damage can all become evidence. Set them aside and do not wash them. Defense attorneys sometimes use worn or inappropriate footwear to argue you were partly at fault.
The property owner's insurer may contact you quickly with a friendly offer. Do not give a recorded statement and do not accept any offer before speaking with us. Initial offers are almost always below the full value of a claim. Call (303) 209-9395.
We send a spoliation letter to preserve surveillance footage, subpoena inspection logs and maintenance records, engage experts when needed, identify every applicable insurance policy, and calculate the full value of what you are owed before a demand goes out.
Colorado law recognizes two broad categories of damages. Both apply in premises liability cases, and understanding how the caps work tells you what the law protects.
Economic damages have no cap in Colorado. Non-economic damages are capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5 at $1.5 million for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, with inflation adjustments starting in 2028. Lower, inflation-adjusted caps apply to older claims depending on when the claim accrued. Compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement are not capped at all under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5). We calculate the full value of your claim, including future medical care and long-term impact, before any settlement is discussed.
When a Fort Collins property injury is caused by a government entity such as a city-owned facility, the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (C.R.S. 24-10-114) caps recovery. For claims accruing on or after January 1, 2026, those caps are $505,000 per person and $1,421,000 aggregate, as certified by the Colorado Secretary of State. Critically, a written notice of claim must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109). Missing that notice deadline bars the claim entirely regardless of its merits.
Fort Collins property owners and their insurers run the same playbook. Recognizing these arguments helps you see when you are being unfairly blamed for your own injury.
Beating these defenses in the 8th Judicial District requires investigation, witness statements, expert testimony, and records the owner would prefer you never see. We use subpoenas to get them when the owner refuses to produce them voluntarily.
The most common reason injured people hesitate to pursue a premises claim is that the property belongs to a neighbor, a landlord they still need, or a business they regularly visit. Understanding where the money comes from usually puts that concern to rest.
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The deadline for most premises liability cases in Colorado is two years from the date of injury under C.R.S. 13-80-102. Exceptions exist for claims involving minors and injuries whose cause was not immediately discoverable. If the property belonged to a government entity, an additional written notice of claim must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109), and missing that notice deadline permanently bars the claim. Do not wait to consult an attorney. Evidence disappears quickly and the government notice window is far shorter than the general two-year period.
Not always. If you were an invitee, such as a customer at a College Avenue store or a guest at a restaurant in Old Town, the owner must actively inspect for and correct hazards. An owner can be held liable for a danger they should have discovered through reasonable inspection, a concept called constructive notice. If a spill sat in a grocery aisle for two hours, or ice remained on a sidewalk for three days after a storm cleared, the owner likely had constructive notice even without anyone reporting the problem to them.
Yes, under Colorado's modified comparative negligence rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111). Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, but you can still recover as long as you are less than 50 percent responsible. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, recovery is barred entirely. Property insurers often try to inflate your fault percentage to reduce what they pay. We document the evidence to keep the allocation accurate.
Premises liability cases arising in Fort Collins are filed in the District Court, Larimer County, Colorado's 8th Judicial District. Civil matters are heard at the Larimer County Justice Center, 201 LaPorte Avenue, Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO 80521. Most premises cases settle before a lawsuit is ever filed, but where a case would be tried affects local rules, jury pool, and how defense counsel responds to a demand. CGH handles Larimer County District Court cases directly from our Denver office.
Yes. As a tenant or authorized guest you are typically an invitee or at minimum a licensee. The landlord owes you a duty to maintain common areas, stairwells, and shared spaces in reasonably safe condition. Broken handrails, burned-out lights in stairwells, and long-unrepaired flooring defects all fall within the duty the Colorado Premises Liability Act (C.R.S. 13-21-115) imposes on residential property owners. If the defect was one the landlord knew about or should have discovered through routine inspection and they failed to fix it, they may be liable for your injuries.
Colorado courts recognize that property owners cannot continuously clear walkways during an active storm. But once snow and ice stops falling, they must take reasonable steps within a reasonable time to remove the accumulation. Fort Collins experiences severe winter storms and blizzard conditions that close I-25 and US 287 regularly. If a business on College Avenue left ice uncleared on its sidewalk entrance for an extended period after the storm ended, that can establish constructive notice and premises liability. How much time is reasonable depends on the accumulation, the type of property, and the traffic volume at the location.
Not necessarily. Liability waivers can be enforceable in Colorado, but they must be clear and specific about what risks you are assuming. Waivers do not protect property owners from gross negligence or willful misconduct, which are generally unenforceable under Colorado law. The language, context, and the specific hazard that caused your injury all matter. A waiver that fails to clearly identify the risk that hurt you, or one attached to conduct the operator had an independent duty to prevent, may offer the owner no protection at all. Have an attorney review the waiver before concluding your claim is barred.
Colorado law allows recovery for medical expenses past and future, lost wages and lost earning capacity, rehabilitation and therapy costs, pain and suffering, disability, and loss of enjoyment of life. In fatal premises cases families can recover funeral expenses and loss of companionship. Economic damages are not capped. Non-economic damages are capped at $1.5 million for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025 under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5, with inflation adjustments starting in 2028. Compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement are not capped at all under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5).
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Prefer to read first? See how Colorado's premises liability law works statewide.
CGH Injury Lawyers · 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205 · Serving Fort Collins and Larimer County
