Lafayette Brain Injury Lawyer – CGH Injury Lawyers

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A traumatic brain injury from a crash on US 287, Arapahoe Road, or SH 42 in Lafayette can destroy your career, your relationships, and your ability to do the work you spent years building, even when every scan looks normal. The gap between what a standard CT shows and what a brain injury actually costs is exactly where insurers hide their lowball offers.

Medical teams grade a TBI on the Glasgow Coma Scale: mild (GCS 13 to 15, often called a concussion), moderate (GCS 9 to 12), and severe (GCS 3 to 8). A mild classification describes the initial score, not the long-term consequences. Post-concussion syndrome affects an estimated 15 to 30 percent of mild TBI patients and can last months or years.
Colorado caps non-economic damages such as pain and suffering at $1.5 million for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5). Economic damages, including medical bills, lost wages, and life-care plan costs, are never capped and often make up the majority of a serious TBI recovery. Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is also uncapped.
Filing deadlines are unforgiving. Motor vehicle TBI claims must be filed within three years of the crash (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)). If a Lafayette city vehicle or Boulder County vehicle caused your injury, a written government notice must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)), and missing that deadline bars the claim entirely.

CGH Injury Lawyers represents brain injury victims and their families across Lafayette and Boulder County. We serve Lafayette clients from our Denver office, build the neurological evidence an insurer will challenge, and prepare every case for trial in Boulder County Combined Court. No upfront fees. Free first consultation.

The clean-scan trap

Standard CT and MRI scans detect bleeding, fractures, and major structural damage. They routinely miss the microscopic axonal tears that cause persistent headaches, cognitive fog, mood changes, and memory loss after a mild TBI. An adjuster who sees a normal scan will call the injury minor and offer a fraction of what it is worth. Countering that argument requires neuropsychological testing, advanced imaging techniques such as Diffusion Tensor Imaging, and the documented testimony of people who knew you before the crash.

High-speed collisions on US 287 at Dillon Road, a documented fatal-crash corridor, produce the g-force loads most likely to cause rotational brain injuries that standard scans do not detect.
Symptoms can surface or worsen days or weeks after the crash, which is why Good Samaritan Hospital discharge instructions tell TBI patients to return if they notice new symptoms.
Cognitive deficits, emotional volatility, and loss of concentration are real, documentable harms a Boulder County jury can understand once the case is built around objective testing rather than adjuster opinion.

Mild TBI (GCS 13 to 15)

Often called a concussion. Brief loss of consciousness under 30 minutes, or confusion and disorientation right after impact. Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, light sensitivity, memory gaps, and difficulty concentrating. The word mild describes the GCS score, not the consequences. An estimated 15 to 30 percent of people with a mild TBI go on to develop post-concussion syndrome, with symptoms persisting for months or years. For a Lafayette professional whose work depends on mental sharpness, that is a serious economic injury on top of a physical one.
Moderate TBI (GCS 9 to 12)

Loss of consciousness lasting 30 minutes to 24 hours, often with CT abnormalities visible on imaging. Good Samaritan Hospital's Level II Trauma designation means it handles the acute stabilization these patients need, including neurosurgical consultation. Recovery typically involves weeks of inpatient rehabilitation and months of outpatient therapy. Cognitive deficits, personality changes, and physical impairments that limit the ability to return to the same job are common, and each of those consequences is a documented economic loss.
Severe TBI (GCS 3 to 8)

Extended unconsciousness or coma, often with skull fracture or intracranial bleeding. Survivors can face permanent deficits in movement, speech, memory, and executive function that require lifetime care. These cases demand a life-care plan prepared by a certified life-care planner projecting every future medical expense through the victim's life expectancy: ongoing neurology, physiatry, occupational and speech therapy, attendant care, adaptive equipment, and home modification. Craig Hospital in Englewood, one of the nation's top-ranked rehabilitation centers for brain and spinal cord injuries, is 40 minutes from Lafayette and often provides the rehabilitation benchmarks used in Colorado life-care plans.

Adjusters use the initial GCS score to cap their offer before they know your full medical picture. We track the injury from that first score through maximum medical improvement, the point where your condition stabilizes and your true long-term losses can be accurately calculated.

Courthouse

Boulder County Combined Court, 20th Judicial District

A Lafayette brain injury lawsuit is filed in the 20th Judicial District at Boulder County Combined Court, 1777 6th St., Boulder, CO 80302, phone (303) 441-3750 (mailing: PO Box 4249, Boulder, CO 80306). The local jury pool, judicial temperament, and defense firms in Boulder County differ from Denver or Jefferson County. We appear directly in Boulder County Combined Court on behalf of Lafayette clients and handle the case from initial filing through trial without any additional admission requirement.

Trauma Care

Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital

Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital at 200 Exempla Cir, Lafayette, CO 80026 is a 234-bed acute-care hospital and a designated Level II Trauma Center. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment first designated it in 2006; the American College of Surgeons recertified it in February 2025. The hospital sits directly at the US 287 and Dillon Road and Northwest Parkway interchange, the same location that has produced documented fatal crashes. For brain injury victims, those initial trauma records and emergency physician notes become foundational documents in the damages case. Neurological assessments performed at Good Samaritan in the hours after a crash often record the first GCS score and document the earliest symptom presentation.

High-TBI-Risk Roads

US 287, SH 7, SH 42, and Dillon Road

The physics that cause traumatic brain injuries, rotational forces and sudden deceleration, are most common in high-speed and high-impact collisions. US Highway 287, the main north-south arterial through Lafayette, carries a mix of commuter traffic and commercial vehicles at posted speeds that produce serious TBI-causing collisions, particularly at the US 287 and Dillon Road intersection, which CDOT and Boulder County identified as a documented fatal-crash corridor requiring safety improvements in 2019. State Highway 7, running as Arapahoe Road west of US 287 and Baseline Road east of US 287, passes directly in front of Centaurus High School, where school-zone conflicts, turning vehicles, and pedestrian crossings create conditions for pedestrian TBI injuries. State Highway 42 along the eastern edge carries freight and commuter traffic to and from the broader Front Range grid, and side-impact collisions at cross streets on SH 42 are a documented TBI mechanism.

Get emergency care at Good Samaritan Hospital

Any head impact or sudden deceleration in a Lafayette crash warrants a trip to the emergency department at Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital, 200 Exempla Cir. The Level II Trauma Center can perform CT and MRI imaging, consult with a neurosurgeon, and record the initial GCS score that anchors your medical record. If an ambulance takes you to a different facility, request a transfer evaluation or outpatient follow-up with a neurologist within 24 to 48 hours of discharge.
Follow every discharge instruction and return when symptoms change

A gap in treatment is one of the most damaging facts in a TBI claim. If symptoms worsen, new headaches appear, or cognitive problems surface days after the crash, go back to the doctor and get it documented. Good Samaritan discharge instructions for TBI patients specifically warn to return for worsening headaches, increasing confusion, or repeated vomiting. Insurers treat gaps in care as evidence that the injury is minor or resolved.
Preserve the scene and gather what you can

If you or someone with you can safely photograph the vehicles, the road surface, skid marks, and traffic signals on US 287 or Arapahoe Road, do it before the scene changes. Get the police report number from the Lafayette Police Department or Colorado State Patrol. Traffic camera footage from businesses along US 287 and CDOT signal data are available for a limited time, sometimes as little as 30 days, and they may be the only objective record of the collision mechanics that caused your TBI.
Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer

Brain injury symptoms include cognitive fog and difficulty recalling sequences of events. A recorded statement given within days of a TBI can produce a description of what happened that contradicts your later, more accurate account. The at-fault driver's insurer is not on your side. Decline a recorded statement until an attorney has reviewed your case. The same rule applies to your own insurer in a UIM claim.
Call a Lafayette brain injury attorney as soon as possible

Colorado's three-year filing deadline for motor vehicle injury claims (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)) seems generous, but evidence collection starts now. If a Lafayette city or Boulder County vehicle was involved, the 182-day government notice deadline (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)) runs from the date you discovered the injury, and missing it ends the claim. A free consultation costs nothing and can protect your ability to recover the full value of a serious TBI.

Neuropsychological testing

A multi-hour assessment administered by a licensed neuropsychologist measures memory, attention, processing speed, executive function, and emotional regulation against age-matched norms. The results produce objective numbers that document the injury when the MRI looks clean. This is often the single most powerful piece of evidence in a mild-to-moderate TBI case, because it translates subjective symptoms into data an adjuster and a Boulder County jury can understand.
Advanced imaging: DTI and functional MRI

Diffusion Tensor Imaging maps white-matter tracts in the brain and reveals the microscopic axonal tears that standard MRIs miss. Functional MRI shows the brain working harder to perform tasks that used to be automatic, providing visual evidence of injury where conventional imaging shows nothing abnormal. These tools are particularly valuable in claims arising from high-speed corridor crashes on US 287 where the mechanism of injury supports a diffuse axonal injury pattern.
Vocational expert and economic damages analysis

A vocational rehabilitation expert reviews your work history, education, and post-injury capabilities to calculate which jobs you can still perform and at what wage level. For a Lafayette professional, teacher, or tradesperson whose cognitive or physical abilities are now limited, that lost earning capacity can represent hundreds of thousands of dollars over a career, an amount economic damages calculators and vocational economists can document with precision.
Life-care planning for moderate and severe TBI

A certified life-care planner projects every future medical expense from settlement through life expectancy: physician care in neurology, physiatry, and psychiatry; physical, occupational, speech, and cognitive therapies; medications and durable medical equipment; and attendant or nursing care. Craig Hospital protocols in Englewood are frequently cited in Colorado life-care plans to benchmark appropriate care standards and establish that projected costs are medically necessary rather than speculative.
Before-and-after testimony

Coworkers, family members, coaches, and neighbors who knew you before the crash can testify to the specific changes they have observed since. Combined with day-in-the-life documentation that records the daily difficulties of managing a TBI, this testimony helps a Boulder County jury understand not just the medical diagnosis but the human impact of the injury on work, relationships, and daily life in Lafayette.

Economic damages (no cap)

Emergency care and hospitalization at Good Samaritan Hospital
Neurology, physiatry, and neurosurgery costs
Neuropsychological testing and ongoing cognitive therapy
Lost wages and lost income during recovery
Loss of future earning capacity for those unable to return to the same work
Life-care plan costs through life expectancy for moderate and severe TBI
Home modifications, adaptive equipment, and attendant care

Non-economic and other damages

Pain and suffering (capped at $1.5 million for claims on or after January 1, 2025, under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5)
Loss of enjoyment of life
Emotional distress and mental anguish
Permanent physical impairment and disfigurement (not capped)
Loss of consortium for a spouse or partner
Punitive damages when the defendant acted with willful and wanton disregard, such as a drunk driver on US 287 (C.R.S. 13-21-102)

Comparative fault: what happens if you were partly at fault

Colorado follows a modified comparative negligence rule under C.R.S. 13-21-111. You can recover damages from a Lafayette brain injury claim as long as your share of fault is less than 50 percent. Your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Insurers on high-speed corridors like US 287 frequently push fault onto the injured person to reduce or eliminate the payout. An attorney who can reconstruct the crash with CDOT data, police narratives, and witness accounts changes what those percentage numbers look like.

Colorado brain injury lawyers: statewide guide

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How it works

How a Lafayette brain injury claim moves from crash to resolution

TBI cases take longer than straightforward injury claims because maximum medical improvement, the point at which your condition stabilizes and future costs can be projected, often takes a year or more to reach. Settling too early locks in a number that does not account for complications that appear later. We manage that timeline and prepare every case as if it will be tried in Boulder County Combined Court.

Free case evaluation

We review the facts of your Lafayette injury, explain your rights under Colorado law, and identify the specific evidence strategy your TBI case requires. No cost, no obligation.
Investigation and evidence preservation

We gather Good Samaritan Hospital records, the Lafayette Police or Colorado State Patrol crash report, CDOT corridor data, traffic camera footage from businesses along US 287 and Arapahoe Road, and witness statements. We issue litigation holds to preserve electronic evidence before it is overwritten.
Build the medical and economic proof

We coordinate neuropsychological testing, advanced imaging referrals, treating physician records, and life-care planning. We work with vocational experts and economic analysts to calculate lost earning capacity, not just current wages. This process continues until maximum medical improvement is reached.
Demand and negotiation

We send a comprehensive demand package that includes medical records, expert reports, economic analyses, and life-care plans to the at-fault insurer. We negotiate from a position of trial readiness, which produces better offers than willingness to settle at whatever the adjuster first proposes.
Filing in Boulder County Combined Court when needed

If the insurer refuses to fairly compensate a Lafayette TBI victim, we file suit in the 20th Judicial District at Boulder County Combined Court, 1777 6th St., Boulder, CO 80302. Managing Partner Kevin Cheney has tried over 25 cases to verdict and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Trial readiness is not a bluff; it is how we achieve full recovery for clients with serious brain injuries.

Your team

The team handling your Lafayette brain injury case

CGH Injury Lawyers is a eight-attorney Colorado firm founded in 2016, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard. 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. Every Lafayette brain injury case is handled by a licensed Colorado attorney, not a paralegal. CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Lafayette office; we serve Lafayette clients from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, and come to you when needed.

ABOTA member on the team Tim Tarr: Best Lawyers in America since 2023 Over 25 cases to verdict Boulder County Combined Court Bilingual EN / ES Free consultation No fee unless we win

Meet our attorneys

How long do I have to file a brain injury lawsuit after a Lafayette crash?

For brain injuries arising out of a motor vehicle crash in Lafayette, Colorado gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit under C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n). A shorter deadline applies when a government entity is involved. If a Lafayette city vehicle, a Colorado State Patrol unit, or any other government-operated vehicle caused the crash, a written notice of claim must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury under C.R.S. 24-10-109(1). Missing the government notice deadline typically bars the claim entirely, regardless of how serious the TBI is. Because brain injury symptoms can emerge or worsen over days or weeks, consulting an attorney early, while the evidence is still available, is critical.

Can I have a brain injury even if my CT scan and MRI came back normal at Good Samaritan Hospital?

Yes. Standard CT and MRI scans detect structural damage: bleeding, fractures, and large contusions. They routinely miss the microscopic axonal tears that cause persistent headaches, cognitive fog, memory problems, and mood changes in mild TBI cases. Colorado courts recognize that a normal initial scan does not mean no injury occurred. Your case may require advanced imaging such as Diffusion Tensor Imaging, neuropsychological testing, and expert testimony to prove functional impairment despite normal emergency department scans. This evidence gap is exactly why insurers use clean scans to undervalue TBI claims, and why building the right evidence layer matters so much in a Lafayette brain injury case.

What if I was partly at fault for the Lafayette crash that caused my TBI?

Colorado follows a modified comparative fault rule under C.R.S. 13-21-111. You can recover damages from a brain injury claim as long as your share of fault is less than 50 percent. Your total award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you cannot recover anything. On high-volume corridors like US 287, insurance companies routinely investigate the injured party's conduct, arguing that a following distance, a lane change, or a signal was the contributing factor. An attorney can counter those arguments with crash reconstruction, police reports, CDOT data, and witness statements before the percentage of fault is locked in by an adjuster working alone.

Does Colorado cap brain injury damages?

Colorado caps non-economic damages such as pain and suffering at $1.5 million for brain injury claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5. Two categories are not capped at all: economic damages, including medical bills, lost wages, life-care plan costs, and future care, and compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement. For serious TBI cases, economic damages often far exceed the non-economic cap, particularly when a life-care plan accounts for decades of medical expenses and a vocational expert documents the loss of earning capacity over a career. Those uncapped categories are usually the core of a serious Lafayette TBI recovery.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have a Lafayette office?

No. CGH Injury Lawyers has one office: 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We serve Lafayette and all of Boulder County as a service area from that office. We appear directly in Boulder County Combined Court in the 20th Judicial District on behalf of Lafayette clients without any additional admission requirement. We travel to Lafayette clients as needed. You are not paying for a storefront on US 287; you are paying for the legal work, which is the same regardless of where a firm's office is located.

What is post-concussion syndrome and how does it affect a Lafayette TBI claim?

Post-concussion syndrome is a set of symptoms that persist for months or years after a mild TBI, affecting an estimated 15 to 30 percent of people who sustain one. Symptoms include chronic headaches, dizziness, mental fog, irritability, and sleep disruption. For people in knowledge-based jobs common in Lafayette's Front Range economy, including tech workers, educators, and healthcare professionals, post-concussion syndrome can prevent them from performing essential job functions and supports a separate claim for diminished earning capacity. An adjuster who offers a few thousand dollars for what they call a minor concussion is not accounting for post-concussion syndrome. Neuropsychological testing documents the ongoing functional deficits that turn a brief GCS score into a claim worth pursuing.

Lafayette

Practice Area

Boulder County

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Lafayette Brain Injury Lawyers Who Prove What the Scans Miss

Why a brain injury claim in Lafayette is harder than a typical personal injury case

The clean-scan trap

How the Glasgow Coma Scale grades your injury and shapes your Lafayette claim

Mild TBI (GCS 13 to 15)

Moderate TBI (GCS 9 to 12)

Severe TBI (GCS 3 to 8)

Lafayette courts. Lafayette trauma care. Lafayette roads where TBIs happen.

Boulder County Combined Court, 20th Judicial District

Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital

US 287, SH 7, SH 42, and Dillon Road

What to do after a brain injury from a Lafayette crash

Get emergency care at Good Samaritan Hospital

Follow every discharge instruction and return when symptoms change

Preserve the scene and gather what you can

Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer

Call a Lafayette brain injury attorney as soon as possible

How we prove a brain injury that insurance companies say they cannot see

Neuropsychological testing

Advanced imaging: DTI and functional MRI

Vocational expert and economic damages analysis

Life-care planning for moderate and severe TBI

Before-and-after testimony

What a Lafayette brain injury victim can recover under Colorado law

Economic damages (no cap)

Non-economic and other damages

Comparative fault: what happens if you were partly at fault

How a Lafayette brain injury claim moves from crash to resolution

Free case evaluation

Investigation and evidence preservation

Build the medical and economic proof

Demand and negotiation

Filing in Boulder County Combined Court when needed

The team handling your Lafayette brain injury case

Frequently asked questions about Lafayette brain injury claims

Related pages

You or someone you love suffered a brain injury in Lafayette. We handle everything else.