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Broomfield, Colorado. CGH Injury Lawyers represents restaurant and bar injury victims across Broomfield, Colorado.
Broomfield, Colorado

Broomfield Restaurant Injury Lawyers Who Know Its Own County Courthouse

Broomfield is its own city and county, with its own courthouse on Descombes Drive, sitting inside the Seventeenth Judicial District alongside Adams County. Its dining runs from the FlatIron Crossing center to the Arista district. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Broomfield from our Denver office, and the first consultation is free.

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When someone leaves FlatIron Crossing after being served past the point of visible intoxication and then hurts somebody, the venue can be answerable for it. That is the effect of C.R.S. 44-3-801, Colorado's Dram Shop Act, which reaches any holder of a Colorado liquor license: bars, restaurants, taprooms, liquor stores and event venues alike.

What surprises most people is the timing. The statute requires the action to be commenced within one year of the sale or service (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)). Ordinary injury claims in Colorado generally run two years (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a)), and motor vehicle claims run three, so the shortest clock in the case is usually the one nobody is watching.

Broomfield's venues are concentrated in planned retail and mixed-use districts rather than an old downtown, so nearly everyone arrives and leaves by car. That shapes both where injuries happen and which insurer ends up involved. CGH Injury Lawyers moves early in these cases, because video and point-of-sale records are usually the proof and they do not sit waiting to be collected.

  • One year to sue the venue. A dram shop action must be commenced within one year of the alcohol being sold or served (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)). It is a condition of the claim, not an ordinary limitation period.
  • Two years for the premises claim. An injury caused by a hazard on the premises generally runs two years (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a)) under the Colorado Premises Liability Act (C.R.S. 13-21-115). The same evening can carry both clocks.
  • The venue's share is capped. Total dram shop liability is limited to $465,730 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2026 and before January 1, 2028 (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(c)). Recovery from the intoxicated person sits outside it.
  • The person who was drinking cannot bring the dram shop claim. C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(b) bars an action by the person served, or by their estate, guardian, or dependent.
  • Broomfield cases are heard in the City and County of Broomfield, at the Broomfield Combined Courts. We serve Broomfield from our Denver office and appear there.

Who we help

What a Broomfield restaurant or bar claim actually looks like

The label on the incident matters less than which statute it falls under. These are the Broomfield fact patterns we see, grouped by the law each one runs on.

  1. Harm caused by someone the venue kept serving

    • Crashes caused by a driver who was served past visible intoxication before leaving a licensed Broomfield venue
    • Pedestrians and cyclists struck near FlatIron Crossing at the hour the venue was empty.
    • Assaults by a patron the venue kept serving after the signs were plain
    • Harm caused by someone under 21 who was served by a licensee

  2. Dangerous conditions and food on the premises

    • Slips and falls caused by spills left unattended, worn treads or an unsalted Broomfield entrance in winter
    • Attacks that adequate security would have stopped, inside or in the lot outside
    • Foodborne illness from unsafe handling, storage or cross-contamination
    • Burns from hot surfaces or service, and injuries from objects falling on a guest

One limit matters more than any other. Colorado does not allow the intoxicated person to sue the venue for their own injuries, because C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(b) bars a claim by the person served or by their estate, guardian or dependent.

A premises claim by an injured guest is not subject to that bar, which is why the two routes are pleaded differently. See our Broomfield premises liability page for how those claims work.

The law that governs your case

Colorado dram shop law, decoded for Broomfield victims

Colorado abolished the common law action against alcohol vendors, so there is no fallback theory sitting behind the statute. Everything a Broomfield claim needs comes from the section itself.

  1. Three things the claim has to establish

    • A Colorado liquor license. The duty attaches to the license, not to the kind of business, so a taproom, a nightclub and a bottle shop are treated alike. A private host is outside this branch of the statute.
    • Service that was willful and knowing. Carelessness is not the test. The venue has to have served in the face of what it could see, which is why point-of-sale timing and footage decide so many of these cases.
    • Visible intoxication, or a patron under 21. There is no legal blood alcohol threshold here. The question is what a reasonable person would have observed: unsteadiness, slurred speech, glassy eyes.

  2. The one-year deadline is part of the statute

    The one-year period is part of the claim, not a general limitations rule applied to it, which is why the usual arguments for extending a deadline tend not to help. In Broomfield the most common way it is lost is waiting: for the criminal case, for treatment to finish, for an insurer to respond.

  3. Licensed vendors and private hosts are treated differently

    The line runs along the license. A licensee that sells alcohol can answer for serving a visibly intoxicated adult. A private host generally cannot, and the only real exception in C.R.S. 44-3-801(4) concerns minors: knowingly serving someone under 21, or knowingly giving them somewhere to drink, carries liability whether or not they appeared drunk.

Our statewide Colorado dram shop and restaurant injury page covers the statute in more depth.

Local knowledge

Broomfield courthouses, trauma care and drinking districts

Courthouse

The courthouse

Broomfield cases arising in the City and County of Broomfield are filed at the Broomfield Combined Courts, 17 Descombes Drive, Broomfield, CO 80020, in the Seventeenth Judicial District. Which court hears the case decides the local rules, the judges and, in practice, the defense firms and adjusters on the other side.

The court's listed number is 303-464-5020. Court details change, so we confirm the division and filing requirements for each case rather than working from a saved note.

Emergency And Trauma Care

Emergency and trauma care

Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital, Lafayette: Corroborated as a Level II trauma center, reverified by the American College of Surgeons and designated by the state. It is the closest Level II facility to Broomfield's eastern side.

St. Anthony Hospital, Lakewood: A Level I trauma center designated by the State of Colorado, and the receiving facility when injuries exceed Level II capability.

Trauma designations in Colorado are made by the state health department, and hospitals are periodically redesignated and renamed. We confirm the current designation for each case rather than relying on an older listing.

Broomfield Drinking And Dining Concentrates

Where Broomfield drinking and dining concentrates

FlatIron Crossing: The north metro's largest shopping, dining and entertainment complex, with more than 175 stores and restaurants across enclosed and open-air sections and a cinema. Its redevelopment is adding further restaurant and entertainment capacity, including a bowling and arcade venue with a rooftop patio.

The Arista district: A mixed-use district with taprooms and restaurants beside an events venue, which produces concentrated arrival and departure peaks tied to the schedule rather than to normal closing time.

The Interlocken area: Restaurants and bars serving the office park draw a weekday after-work crowd that leaves directly onto the U.S. 36 corridor.

The 120th Avenue corridor: Chain restaurants and sports bars along 120th Avenue serve the residential north side and feed onto Broomfield's fastest arterials.

We name districts here, not individual businesses. Whether any particular venue overserved anyone is a question of evidence in a specific case, not a general statement about a street. More on how we work in this city is on the Broomfield injury page.

The routes that matter

The roads a Broomfield case tends to end up on

An overservice claim and a crash claim usually meet on the road between the venue and wherever the patron was going. These are the routes that matter here.

  • U.S. 36, the Denver-Boulder Turnpike. Runs directly past FlatIron Crossing and Interlocken and carries most departing traffic.
  • Northwest Parkway and E-470. The tollway link across the northern metro.
  • Wadsworth Boulevard (State Highway 121). The main north-south arterial through the city.
  • 120th Avenue and Interlocken Loop. The local arterials connecting the dining districts to the highways.

U.S. 36, the Denver-Boulder Turnpike and Northwest Parkway and E-470 carry most of the traffic leaving FlatIron Crossing, and they carry it at the hours venues close. That timing is why a Broomfield case so often has two defendants and two insurers rather than one.

Where a drunk driver is involved, the claim against the driver runs alongside the claim against the venue. Our Broomfield DUI accident page explains that side.

After the injury

After the injury: a Broomfield checklist

  1. See a doctor, and keep seeing one

    Continuity of treatment is what an adjuster reads as severity, and a fortnight's gap becomes their argument rather than yours.

  2. Get it on the record with the Broomfield Police Department

    An agency report made close to the event carries weight that a later account does not.

  3. Note the venue by name and the time as closely as you can

    In a district like FlatIron Crossing an evening can cross several licensees, and the order matters.

  4. Collect names and numbers that night if you can

    Bar staff move on and other customers are strangers to everyone involved.

  5. Decline the recorded statement until you have advice

    It is an evidence-gathering exercise, and it is not being run for your benefit.

  6. Ask for preservation in writing, quickly

    Footage and till data are routinely cycled within weeks, and a request afterwards recovers nothing.

If the injury was a fall rather than an overservice case, the evidence is different and so is the deadline. Our Broomfield slip and fall page sets out that route.

How the case moves

From first call to the courtroom in Broomfield

A Broomfield case moves through six stages. The first two are the ones that decide most cases, and they both happen in the first weeks.

  1. The first conversation

    CGH Injury Lawyers maps the claims, the defendants and above all the deadlines, because in Broomfield cases the shortest one is often already running. The consultation is free.

  2. Locking down the proof

    We identify the license holder and put every party holding footage on written notice not to destroy it. This happens first, not last, because the evidence has a shelf life measured in weeks. A licensee that has been put on notice and destroys material anyway is in a materially worse position than one that was never asked.

  3. Reconstructing the night

    Till records, door and interior footage, staff rosters and witness accounts are used to establish what the venue could see when it served, and where in the evening the line was crossed. Timing is the whole argument here, because the statute asks what was visible at the moment of service rather than how the patron ended up.

  4. Proving the loss

    Medical records, imaging and earnings evidence are gathered as treatment progresses, with expert input on future care where the injury is permanent. Building it contemporaneously matters, because a record assembled after the fact invites the argument that the injury was not as serious as claimed.

  5. Presenting the claim

    Demands go to each carrier on the risk, which frequently means more than one policy and more than one insurer. Coverage always depends on the policy's own terms, exclusions and limits, so part of this stage is establishing what each policy actually covers rather than what a certificate suggests.

  6. Suit at Broomfield Combined Courts

    Where the response does not match the loss, we file in the Seventeenth Judicial District at the Broomfield Combined Courts and prepare the case properly for trial. Kevin Cheney, Managing Partner and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, heads that work.

Compensation

The money side: damages, caps and sources

Damages fall into two groups. Economic losses can be added up from documents. Non-economic losses cannot, and the law treats the two very differently when it comes to limits.

Economic losses

  • Emergency treatment, hospital stays, surgery and rehabilitation
  • Future medical care and assistive equipment where it is supported by evidence
  • Lost income, and lost earning capacity where the injury is lasting
  • Out-of-pocket costs, including transport and, where it applies, air transfer

Non-economic losses

  • Pain and suffering
  • Emotional distress
  • Inconvenience and loss of quality of life
  • Permanent impairment and disfigurement

Two caps apply. Total liability in a dram shop action against the venue is capped by statute at $465,730 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2026 and before January 1, 2028, under C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(c) as certified by the Colorado Secretary of State. That figure is adjusted for inflation every two years.

Separately, non-economic damages in most Colorado civil actions are capped at $1.5 million for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(3)(a)(II). Economic losses are not capped by that section, and a recovery from the intoxicated person is not limited by the dram shop cap. Which caps apply, and to what, depends on the facts of the individual case.

Premises claims follow a different framework again, set out on our statewide premises liability page.

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How the defense fights back

Common defenses in a Broomfield overservice case

  1. That the patron showed no signs

    Expect this first. It is answered with footage, the pace and volume on the tab, and what other people in the room actually saw.

  2. That the drinking happened elsewhere

    In a district like Broomfield that is often partly true and rarely a defense, because more than one licensee can be liable.

  3. That you contributed to your own injury

    C.R.S. 13-21-111 reduces damages by your share and bars recovery once it equals the defendant's, so insurers press it hard.

  4. That the hazard was obvious

    Under C.R.S. 13-21-115 a paying customer is an invitee, and the venue is answerable for what it knew or should have known about.

Where the same night involves a vehicle, the driver's own liability is handled in parallel. See our Broomfield car accident page.

Who actually pays

Who actually pays a Broomfield claim

Licensed venues usually hold general liability cover, and many hold a separate liquor liability policy on top of it. A certificate of insurance records that cover was reported on a date. It is not the policy, and it does not establish that this loss is payable.

A single Broomfield incident can therefore reach several policies at once: the venue's own cover, its liquor liability cover, the intoxicated person's motor insurer, and any uninsured or underinsured motorist cover you hold yourself. Finding all of them early is often worth more than arguing about any one of them.

Related ground is covered on our statewide slip and fall page.

Reporting overservice

Reporting overservice in Broomfield, separately from your claim

Colorado licenses alcohol sales at two levels. The state licensing authority sits within the Department of Revenue, and a local licensing authority covers the city or county where the premises stands. Both have a say in whether a license continues.

For a Broomfield venue, the local authority is the one with leverage at renewal, while the state Liquor Enforcement Division handles enforcement. Neither process is your lawsuit, and neither of them stops the one-year clock under C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II).

Making the complaint is still sensible. It produces an independent record close to the date, created by an agency with no stake in your claim. A report to the Broomfield Police Department serves a different purpose again and is worth making too.

Why CGH

What you get when we take a Broomfield case

CGH Injury Lawyers is an eight-attorney Colorado firm founded in 2016, operating as Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, LLC d/b/a CGH Injury Lawyers. The practice is contingency-based, bilingual in English and Spanish, and run by trial attorneys rather than a settlement operation.

Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and serves as Treasurer of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association. Timothy G. Tarr has been recognized by Best Lawyers from 2023 through 2026.

Tim Galluzzi and Nicole Greene have each been named Super Lawyers Rising Stars, Ms. Greene in 2025. Those are the awarding bodies and years as published, and we name no ranking without them.

Every case is handled by a licensed Colorado attorney. You can read more about the firm or look through our case results.

Where we work from

We serve Broomfield from Denver, and we do not have a Broomfield office

CGH Injury Lawyers has one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We do not have a Broomfield office, a Broomfield mailing address or a separate Broomfield phone number, and we will not tell you otherwise to look local. We travel to the Broomfield Combined Courts and meet clients where it suits them.

Questions

Broomfield restaurant and bar injury questions, answered

Broomfield is its own county. Where is my case filed?

At the Broomfield Combined Courts, 17 Descombes Drive, Broomfield, CO 80020. Broomfield is a consolidated city and county and sits in the Seventeenth Judicial District together with Adams County, so the district is shared but the courthouse is local.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have an office in Broomfield?

No. The firm operates from one office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205 and serves Broomfield clients from there. We appear at the Broomfield Combined Courts. There is no Broomfield office.

Who is responsible in a mall or food-hall setting?

It depends on who held the liquor license and who controlled the area where the injury happened. Those are often different entities, and an early investigation is what separates them before the one-year dram shop deadline runs.

Does an event venue face the same rules as a restaurant?

Yes, if it holds a Colorado liquor license. C.R.S. 44-3-801 applies to licensees generally, which includes concert and event venues as well as bars, restaurants and liquor stores.

What is the cap on a claim against the venue?

$465,730 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2026 and before January 1, 2028, as certified by the Colorado Secretary of State under C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(c). The figure is adjusted for inflation every two years.

I slipped on ice outside a Broomfield restaurant. Is that the same claim?

No, that is a premises liability claim under C.R.S. 13-21-115 rather than a dram shop claim, and it generally carries a two-year deadline. The two can arise from the same evening and are pursued separately.

Will my own drinking be used against me?

Insurers raise it. Under C.R.S. 13-21-111 your damages are reduced by your share of fault and barred if that share is as great as the defendant's, so the response is evidence about the venue's conduct rather than argument about yours.

More general answers are on our frequently asked questions page.

Keep reading

Related pages

Broomfield

It's More Than Money.

Talk to a lawyer before the one-year window closes

If you were hurt by someone a Broomfield venue kept serving, the clock started the night the alcohol was poured. A conversation with CGH Injury Lawyers costs nothing and there is no fee unless we win. Call (303) 209-9395 or request a free case review.

You can also reach us through our contact page.

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CGH Injury Lawyers · 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205 · Serving Broomfield from our Denver office