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CGH Injury Lawyers represents brain injury victims in Boulder, Colorado.
Boulder, Colorado

Boulder Brain Injury Lawyers Who Prove the Injury Insurers Call Invisible

A concussion an insurer dismisses as minor can change how you work, drive, and remember. We represent Boulder brain injury victims and their families, from a single concussion to a severe TBI that needs lifetime care, serving Boulder from our Denver office. You pay nothing unless we win.

No fee unless we win
Call (303) 209-9395 Get my free brain-injury case review

It's More Than Money.

Get my free brain-injury case review

100% confidential. No fee unless we win.

Serving Boulder From Our Denver Office CGH Injury Lawyers 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201 Denver, CO 80205 (303) 209-9395 Se habla espanol
5-star rated on Google ABOTA trial advocate on the team Trial lawyers, not a settlement mill 8 attorneys, bilingual EN / ES
  • Doctors grade a traumatic brain injury 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 label does not mean a minor injury.
  • Colorado caps non-economic damages, but economic losses like medical bills, lost income, and a life-care plan have no cap and often make up the bulk of a serious Boulder TBI claim.
  • Symptoms can surface or worsen weeks after a Boulder crash, and Colorado has filing deadlines (C.R.S. 13-80-101). Talking to an attorney early protects your claim before evidence fades.

If a Boulder car crash, motorcycle wreck, or fall left you with a brain injury, the diagnosis on your chart is the starting point of your case, not the ceiling on what you can recover. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Boulder from our Denver office, minutes down U.S. 36 and the Diagonal Highway. We handle the medical proof, the insurance fight, and trial in the 20th Judicial District when an insurer refuses to value the injury fairly. You pay nothing unless we win.

Why these cases are different

Why a Boulder brain injury claim is harder than other injury cases

A broken bone shows up on an X-ray. A brain injury often does not. That gap is exactly where insurance companies attack, arguing that if a scan looks normal, the injury is not real. The truth is that many brain injuries are functional, not structural, and proving them takes a different kind of evidence.

The negative-scan problem

Standard CT and MRI scans detect bleeding and fractures. They often miss the microscopic axonal tears that cause lasting symptoms after a mild TBI. Adjusters use a clean scan to argue your injury does not exist, even when your daily life says otherwise. We counter that with advanced imaging, neuropsychological testing, and the testimony of people who knew you before the injury.

  • Insurers often label a brain injury minor to justify a small offer, even when symptoms are anything but minor.
  • Cognitive symptoms, headaches, memory problems, and mood changes are real harms a jury can understand once the case is built correctly.
  • Brain injuries rarely happen in isolation, so the right legal pathway depends on how your Boulder injury occurred.
TBI classifications

How doctors grade a traumatic brain injury

Medical teams classify a TBI using the Glasgow Coma Scale, a 15-point assessment of eye, verbal, and motor response usually recorded within hours of the injury. That score becomes a key piece of evidence in your claim, but it describes the first day, not the rest of your life.

  1. Mild TBI (GCS 13 to 15)

    Often called a concussion. It involves brief loss of consciousness, under 30 minutes, or confusion right after impact. Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, memory problems, and sensitivity to light and noise. Mild on paper, these injuries can cause post-concussion syndrome that lasts months or years.

  2. Moderate TBI (GCS 9 to 12)

    Loss of consciousness lasting 30 minutes to 24 hours, often with abnormalities visible on a CT or MRI scan. Victims commonly face cognitive deficits, personality changes, and physical impairments that require months of rehabilitation, hospital stays, and therapy.

  3. Severe TBI (GCS 3 to 8)

    Extended unconsciousness or coma, often with a skull fracture or brain bleeding. Survivors can face permanent disability affecting movement, speech, memory, and executive function. These cases require life-care plans that project decades of medical needs, adaptive equipment, and lost earning capacity.

Your medical classification is the starting point, not the endpoint. A mild TBI that stops a CU Boulder researcher or software engineer from concentrating can warrant more compensation than a moderate TBI in someone who makes a full recovery. What matters is how the injury changes your ability to work and live.

The mild label

Why a mild concussion can still be a serious Boulder case

Mild traumatic brain injury is one of the most misleading phrases in medicine. It describes the GCS score, not the fallout. Insurance companies use the word to argue for a small settlement, sometimes offering a few thousand dollars for an injury that affects you for years.

Post-concussion syndrome

Post-concussion syndrome affects an estimated 15 to 30 percent of people with a mild TBI. Symptoms can persist for months or years, including chronic headaches, vertigo, mental fog, emotional volatility, and sleep problems. For people whose careers depend on mental sharpness, such as accountants, teachers, programmers, and healthcare workers, that can end the ability to do essential parts of the job.

Loss of earning capacity

Even if you go back to work after a concussion, you may be owed compensation for diminished earning capacity. If the injury blocks a promotion, forces reduced hours, or pushes you into less demanding work, vocational experts can calculate the lifetime financial impact, an amount that often dwarfs an insurer's first offer.

Local Knowledge

Boulder roads. Boulder trauma care. Boulder courts.

A Boulder brain injury case lives in Boulder: the highway corridor where the crash happened, the hospital that stabilized you, and the courthouse where your case may be filed. Here is the ground we work on.

High-Risk Roads

U.S. 36, U.S. 287, and the Diagonal Highway

The high-speed corridors around Boulder are where the most serious head injuries happen. Boulder County's Vision Zero program documents repeated fatalities on the U.S. 36 Denver-Boulder Turnpike from head-on and single-vehicle crashes, head-on and speed-related crashes on U.S. 287, and curve-related crashes and motorcyclist fatalities on Colorado 119, the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont. Inside the city, the 28th Street and Arapahoe Avenue intersection saw roughly 30 crashes at or near it in 2022 through early December. A crash at highway speed is exactly the kind of force that causes a traumatic brain injury.

Trauma Care

Foothills Hospital, Boulder Community Health

Foothills Hospital at 4747 Arapahoe Avenue is a verified Level II Trauma Center, the first designated Level II Trauma Center in Boulder County. After a serious Boulder crash, the records created there document the full scope of a brain injury, including imaging, neurological assessments, and the Glasgow Coma Scale score that classifies the TBI. Those records become the backbone of your damages claim.

Courthouse

Boulder County Combined Court

Personal injury cases that arise in Boulder County are filed in the District Court for the 20th Judicial District, which serves Boulder County. The combined court sits at 1777 6th St. in Boulder, with an alternate location at 1035 Kimbark St. in Longmont. Local civil procedure and the Boulder County jury pool differ from courts in Denver and the suburbs, which is part of building the case correctly from day one.

Colorado law

Colorado laws that shape your Boulder brain injury case

A few Colorado rules decide how much time you have, how fault affects your award, and which damages have limits. Here is what matters most for a TBI claim filed in Boulder County.

Filing deadline (C.R.S. 13-80-101)

Colorado generally gives you a limited window to file a personal injury lawsuit, and motor vehicle cases can have a longer deadline than other injury claims. Because brain injury symptoms can emerge or worsen months later, do not wait. Talk to an attorney within months of the accident, even while you are still treating, to protect your options.

Comparative fault (C.R.S. 13-21-111)

Colorado follows modified comparative negligence. You can still recover even if you were partly at fault, as long as your share of the fault is less than 50 percent, and your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Insurers push fault onto the injured person to cut payouts, which is why accident reconstruction and early evidence matter.

Damage caps and insurance

  • Colorado caps non-economic damages such as pain and suffering: $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. Two categories are not capped at all: economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, life-care plans) and compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement, which together usually make up the bulk of a severe TBI recovery.
  • Minimum auto insurance is often far too low for a brain injury, where bills can run into six figures. Underinsured motorist coverage lets you tap your own policy when the at-fault driver lacks enough insurance, which matters on high-speed Boulder corridors like U.S. 36 and the Diagonal Highway.
  • If the at-fault party acted with willful and wanton disregard, such as a drunk driver, you may also pursue punitive damages (C.R.S. 13-21-102).
Why CGH

Why Boulder brain injury victims choose CGH Injury Lawyers

Trial-ready attorneys, deep experience proving invisible brain injuries, bilingual help, and no fee unless we win. We do not publish brain injury settlement figures, because every TBI is different and a number on a page tells you nothing about your case. What we offer is the work, not a headline.

The Invisible Injury

A normal scan is not the end.

We build TBI cases with advanced imaging, neuropsychological testing, and the people who knew you before, so a clean CT does not hand the insurer a free defense.

Serving Boulder

A short drive down U.S. 36.

We serve Boulder from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, and we handle cases filed in the 20th Judicial District for Boulder County. Your attorney does the work, not a call-center intake screen.

Lifetime Cost

We project decades, not days.

Life-care planners and vocational economists value future care and lost earning capacity, not just today's bills.

Uncapped Damages

The biggest numbers are not capped.

Economic damages and physical impairment damages have no cap in Colorado, which is the heart of a serious TBI claim.

Trial-Ready

8 attorneys, prepared for trial.

Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and has tried over 25 cases to verdict. Timothy G. Tarr has been recognized by Best Lawyers every year since 2023. When attorneys are genuinely ready to try a case, insurers respond differently to a demand.

Bilingual

Hablamos espanol.

Spanish-speaking staff and attorneys serve Boulder's Spanish-speaking community.

No Win, No Fee

Contingency only.

You pay nothing out of pocket for legal fees. We advance costs and collect only from a settlement or verdict.

One honest thing we will tell you up front: we do not sign brain injury cases we cannot honestly stand behind. If the medical evidence does not support a TBI claim, or the law does not put fault where it needs to be, we will say so in the free review rather than sign you up and let the case stall. When the proof is on your side, we fight hard. When it is not, you deserve to hear that early, for free.

After the injury

What to do after a brain injury in Boulder

Take care of your health first, get the injury documented, protect the evidence, then call before you talk to the insurer. Here is the path we walk with you.

  1. Get medical care

    Foothills Hospital in Boulder is a Level II Trauma Center equipped for serious head injuries. Even when you feel fine, get evaluated, because concussion symptoms often surface days later. Keep every record.

  2. Track your symptoms

    Write down headaches, memory lapses, mood changes, sleep problems, and trouble at work. This day-to-day record helps prove an injury that scans can miss.

  3. Document the crash

    Get the police report, photograph the vehicles and scene, and collect names and contact information for witnesses. On corridors like U.S. 36 and Colorado 119, the crash dynamics often tell the story of the force involved.

  4. Call before insurance does

    The at-fault insurer may call quickly. Do not give a recorded statement or accept any offer before speaking with us. Call (303) 209-9395.

  5. We build the medical proof

    We coordinate neuropsychological testing, advanced imaging, and treating-physician records to document the injury, then locate every insurance policy in play.

  6. Negotiate or litigate

    Most cases settle. When insurers refuse a fair offer, we file in the 20th Judicial District for Boulder County and try your case.

Settling before you reach maximum medical improvement, the point where your condition stabilizes, often leaves money on the table because future complications have not yet appeared. We tell you honestly where your case stands at every stage.

Compensation

What compensation can you recover after a Boulder brain injury?

A serious TBI is rarely just a hospital bill. Colorado law recognizes two broad categories of damages, and in a brain injury case the uncapped categories usually carry the most value.

Economic damages (no cap)

  • Medical bills, past and future
  • Lost wages and lost income
  • Loss of future earning capacity
  • Life-care plan and long-term care costs
  • Rehabilitation and therapy
  • Home modifications and equipment

Non-economic and family damages

  • Pain and suffering (subject to the Colorado cap)
  • Loss of enjoyment of life
  • Permanent impairment and disfigurement (not capped)
  • Loss of consortium for a spouse
  • The family's loss of companionship and support

Here is the distinction that drives value in a brain injury case. 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), with inflation adjustments starting in 2028. But economic damages and compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement are not capped at all, and in a moderate or severe TBI those uncapped categories, future care and lost earning capacity, often make up the bulk of the recovery. We structure the claim so that no category of harm you suffered is left on the table.

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Insurer defenses

Defenses insurers use against a TBI claim, and how we answer them

Insurers defend brain injury claims hard, arguing symptoms are exaggerated, pre-existing, or unrelated to the crash. A winning TBI case is built in layers, combining objective testing with the human story of how your life changed.

  1. "Your scan is normal, so there is no injury"

    Standard CT and MRI scans miss the microscopic axonal tears behind many mild TBIs. We answer with neuropsychological testing that measures memory, attention, and processing speed against age-matched norms, and with advanced imaging such as Diffusion Tensor Imaging that can map white-matter damage a routine scan does not show.

  2. "You were already like this"

    Insurers argue the symptoms pre-date the crash. We answer with before-and-after proof: coworkers, family, and friends who knew you before the injury testify to the change, and day-in-the-life documentation shows the daily struggle the medical chart alone cannot capture.

  3. "You can still work, so you are fine"

    Returning to work does not erase the loss. A vocational rehabilitation expert reviews your work history and post-injury capabilities to show which jobs you can still do and at what wage, translating medical limits into real economic loss, including diminished earning capacity.

  4. "You were partly to blame"

    Under Colorado's modified comparative negligence rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111), insurers try to push fault onto you to cut the payout, since fault of 50 percent or more bars recovery entirely. We answer with accident reconstruction and early evidence to keep fault where it belongs.

The insurance fight

Finding every policy that covers a Boulder brain injury

A severe TBI can generate medical bills well into six figures. The single biggest threat to a fair recovery is running out of insurance, so finding every available policy is part of the job.

  • Colorado's minimum auto liability limits are often far too low for a brain injury, where bills can run into six figures.
  • Underinsured motorist coverage lets you tap your own policy when the at-fault driver lacks enough insurance, which is common after high-speed crashes on U.S. 36, U.S. 287, and the Diagonal Highway.
  • When more than one driver or party contributed to the crash, several policies may apply at once. We identify each one before assuming the at-fault driver's limits are all there is.
  • If the at-fault party acted with willful and wanton disregard, such as a drunk driver, punitive damages may be available (C.R.S. 13-21-102). Having counsel is how you make the insurer meet its obligation.
Questions

Boulder brain injury, frequently asked questions

Can I have a brain injury if my MRI is normal?

Yes. Standard MRI and CT scans often miss the microscopic axonal injuries that cause persistent symptoms in mild TBI cases. The absence of visible structural damage does not mean the absence of injury. Your Boulder case may require advanced imaging such as Diffusion Tensor Imaging, neuropsychological testing, and expert testimony to prove functional impairment despite normal initial scans.

Do I need a lawyer for a concussion from a Boulder crash?

Even a mild concussion is worth a free consultation if symptoms last beyond a few weeks or affect your ability to work. Insurers routinely undervalue concussion claims. An attorney can determine whether your case needs neuropsychological testing, vocational assessment, or advanced imaging to prove the full extent of your damages, steps you likely would not know to request on your own.

How long do I have to file a brain injury claim in Boulder?

Colorado sets filing deadlines for personal injury lawsuits (C.R.S. 13-80-101), and motor vehicle cases can have a longer deadline than other injury claims. Because brain injury symptoms can emerge or worsen months after a Boulder crash, do not wait. Talk to an attorney within months of the accident, even while you are still treating, so your specific deadline can be confirmed and evidence preserved.

Does Colorado cap damages in a brain injury case?

Colorado caps non-economic damages such as pain and suffering: $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. Two categories are not capped at all: economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, life-care plans) and compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement, which together usually make up the bulk of a severe TBI recovery.

What if I was partly at fault for the crash that caused my brain injury?

Colorado follows a modified comparative negligence rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111). You can still recover as long as your share of fault is less than 50 percent, and your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Insurers aggressively investigate your conduct to inflate that percentage, so early legal representation preserves the evidence that counters those arguments.

Where is a Boulder brain injury lawsuit filed?

Personal injury cases that arise in Boulder County are filed in the District Court for the 20th Judicial District, which serves Boulder County. The combined court sits at 1777 6th St. in Boulder, with an alternate location at 1035 Kimbark St. in Longmont. Most claims settle before a lawsuit is filed, but where a case would be filed affects the local rules, the jury pool, and the adjusters and defense firms you face. We handle these cases directly while serving Boulder from our Denver office.

What is post-concussion syndrome?

Post-concussion syndrome is a set of symptoms that linger 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, emotional volatility, and sleep problems. For people whose work depends on concentration and memory, post-concussion syndrome can prevent them from performing essential job functions, which supports a claim for lost earning capacity.

What should I do right after a brain injury in Boulder?

Get medical care, ideally at a trauma center like Foothills Hospital, even if you feel fine, because concussion symptoms can surface days later. Track your symptoms day to day, get the police report, photograph the scene, and collect witness information. Then speak with an attorney before giving any recorded statement to an insurer. You can reach our team at (303) 209-9395, serving Boulder from our Denver office.

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CGH Injury Lawyers · 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205 · Serving Boulder, Colorado