Centennial is one of the few Colorado cities where the county courthouse sits inside the city limits: the Arapahoe County Justice Center on South Potomac Street, in the Eighteenth Judicial District. Its restaurants and bars cluster in planned centers rather than an old main street. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Centennial from our Denver office, with no fee unless we win.
No fee unless we winIt's More Than Money.
Colorado's Dram Shop Act, C.R.S. 44-3-801, lets an injured person sue a licensed bar, restaurant, liquor store or event venue that willfully and knowingly served alcohol to a visibly intoxicated patron, or to anyone under 21, who then caused the harm. The claim is separate from anything you pursue against the intoxicated person, so it can add a second source of recovery where the first one is not enough.
The deadline is the part that catches people. A dram shop action must be commenced within one year after the alcohol was sold or served, under C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II). That is shorter than the two-year deadline that generally applies to injury claims under C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a), and much shorter than the three-year window for motor vehicle claims.
Centennial incorporated in 2001 and was built around arterial roads and planned retail. Almost every patron drives to a venue and drives away from it, which puts the overservice question and the crash question on the same road. 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.
Not every injury at a licensed venue is a dram shop case, and not every dram shop case is the same. These are the situations that come up most often.
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 Centennial premises liability page for how those claims work.
The Act abolished the older common law claim against alcohol vendors and replaced it with a narrow statutory one, so the statute is the whole of the claim. Here is what it actually requires.
This is not an ordinary limitations period that sits in the general statute and can often be tolled. The one-year requirement is written into C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II) as a condition of the claim itself. People frequently wait for the drunk driver's criminal case to finish before speaking to a lawyer, and the window against the venue closes while they wait.
A commercial licensee profits from alcohol sales and can be liable for serving a visibly intoxicated adult. A private social host generally cannot be, with one narrow exception: under C.R.S. 44-3-801(4), a host who knowingly serves alcohol to someone under 21, or knowingly gives a minor a place to drink, can face liability even if the minor did not appear intoxicated. Our statewide Colorado dram shop and restaurant injury page covers the statute in more depth.
The courthouse
Centennial cases arising in Arapahoe County are filed at the Arapahoe County Justice Center, 7325 S. Potomac Street, Centennial, CO 80112, in the Eighteenth 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. Court divisions and filing requirements change, so we confirm them for each case rather than working from a saved note.
Emergency and trauma care
HCA HealthONE Swedish, Englewood: A Level I trauma and burn center and the regional referral center for neurotrauma, minutes north of Centennial. UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital: A Level I trauma center on the Anschutz Medical Campus at 12505 E. 16th Avenue in Aurora, receiving the most complex cases from across the metro. 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.
Where Centennial drinking and dining concentrates
The Streets at SouthGlenn: A walkable town-center development combining restaurants, pubs, a wine bar and a cinema with an in-theater bar, laid out around a central park that hosts summer concerts and seasonal events. The Arapahoe Road corridor: Arapahoe Road carries a long run of chain restaurants, sports bars and taphouses, and it is the road most departing patrons use. The Dry Creek and Yosemite office district: Restaurants serving the Denver Tech Center fringe draw a weekday after-work crowd that leaves directly onto I-25. The Southlands-adjacent eastern edge: Venues on the eastern side of the city serve traffic moving between Centennial and Aurora along Smoky Hill Road and E-470. 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 Centennial injury page.
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.
Forms the western edge of the city and takes most regional traffic north and south.
The principal east-west arterial and the city's densest restaurant corridor.
The tollway along the eastern edge toward Aurora and the airport.
The north-south arterials connecting SouthGlenn to the residential areas.
In practice the risk concentrates where The Streets at SouthGlenn empties onto Interstate 25. The venue, the route and the collision are usually within a few minutes of each other, which is what makes the overservice evidence and the crash evidence worth gathering together rather than separately.
Where a drunk driver is involved, the claim against the driver runs alongside the claim against the venue. Our Centennial DUI accident page explains that side.
If the injury was a fall rather than an overservice case, the evidence is different and so is the deadline. Our Centennial slip and fall page sets out that route.
The treating records are the spine of a damages claim, and gaps in treatment are the first thing an insurer points to.
A report from the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, which provides police services in Centennial creates the contemporaneous record insurers respond to, and one that documents visible intoxication is valuable evidence.
Which venue, and roughly when the last drink was served, drives everything that follows.
Staff turn over and other patrons scatter, often within days.
Early statements are taken to narrow a claim, not to document it.
Video and point-of-sale data are frequently overwritten on a rolling cycle measured in weeks.
A Centennial case moves through six stages. The first two are the ones that decide most cases, and they both happen in the first weeks.
CGH Injury Lawyers works out which claims exist, which deadlines are already running and whether more than one licensee may be involved. There is no charge for this and no obligation to continue.
Preservation letters go to the venue and to anyone else holding footage, and we pull the liquor license to identify the entity that actually served. Video and point-of-sale data are commonly overwritten within weeks, so this stage cannot wait for the medical picture to settle.
Server and patron statements, transaction timing, security records and the sequence of venues visited are assembled into a picture of what the licensee knew when it poured. Where several venues served the same person, the order matters as much as the total.
Treatment records, imaging, wage documentation and, where the injury is lasting, expert opinion on future care and lost earning capacity. Gaps in treatment are the first thing an insurer uses, so the record is built as care happens rather than afterwards.
A demand goes to every carrier identified, which can include the venue's general liability insurer, a separate liquor liability insurer and the intoxicated person's own insurer. Whether a particular loss is covered depends on the policy terms and limits.
If the offer does not reflect the loss, suit is filed at the Arapahoe County Justice Center in the Eighteenth Judicial District and the case is worked up for trial. Managing Partner Kevin Cheney, a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, leads the firm's trial practice.
Colorado separates economic losses, which are measurable, from non-economic losses, which are not. Both can be recoverable, and they are capped differently.
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.
Where the same night involves a vehicle, the driver's own liability is handled in parallel. See our Centennial car accident page.
This is the most common answer, and it is met with video, transaction timing and witness accounts rather than with the venue's own characterization.
More than one licensee can be responsible, and reconstructing the order of service across venues is ordinary early work.
Under C.R.S. 13-21-111 damages are reduced by a claimant's share of fault and barred once that share is as great as the defendant's, so this argument is worth real money to an insurer.
On the premises side, the Colorado Premises Liability Act at C.R.S. 13-21-115 makes a paying customer an invitee, and a venue answers for dangers it knew about or should have known about.
Most licensed venues carry general liability cover and many carry separate liquor liability cover. Whether a particular loss is covered depends on the policy terms, its exclusions and its limits, so a certificate of insurance shows that cover was reported at a point in time rather than proving that this claim is payable.
In practice a case can involve the venue's liability carrier, a separate liquor liability carrier, the intoxicated person's auto insurer, and your own uninsured or underinsured motorist cover. Identifying every layer early is usually what changes the outcome.
Related ground is covered on our statewide slip and fall page.
A civil claim is not the only route, and the two run independently. Colorado liquor licenses are issued and renewed under a two-tier system: a state licensing authority within the Department of Revenue, and a local licensing authority for the city or county where the premises sits.
That local authority is the body that can act on a licensee's conduct in Centennial, including at renewal, and the state Liquor Enforcement Division handles enforcement on the state side. A complaint to either does not start your civil case and does not pause the one-year deadline.
It is still worth doing. An enforcement record created close to the event can become useful evidence later, and it is generated by an agency rather than by a party to your case. Report the incident to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, which provides police services in Centennial as well, because the police record and the licensing record serve different purposes.
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.
CGH Injury Lawyers has one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We do not have a Centennial office, a Centennial mailing address or a separate Centennial phone number, and we will not tell you otherwise to look local. We travel to the Arapahoe County Justice Center and meet clients where it suits them.
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Yes, for most Arapahoe County matters. The Arapahoe County Justice Center at 7325 S. Potomac Street sits inside Centennial and serves the Eighteenth Judicial District, which also hears cases from Aurora's Arapahoe County portion and from Littleton.
No. The firm has one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205, and serves Centennial clients from there. We appear at the Arapahoe County Justice Center. There is no Centennial office or local phone number.
It is the venue's own transaction record showing what was ordered, on which tab, and at what time. It is often the clearest evidence of how much alcohol went to one patron and how quickly, which is central to proving willful and knowing service.
If it holds a Colorado liquor license, yes. C.R.S. 44-3-801 reaches licensees generally, and an in-theater bar or an entertainment complex bar is no different from a stand-alone bar.
One year from the sale or service for the dram shop claim, under C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II). Waiting for a criminal DUI prosecution to conclude will normally exhaust it.
Yes. Dram shop liability is capped at $465,730 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2026 and before January 1, 2028. Separately, non-economic damages in 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.
A passenger is generally a third party rather than the person served, so the statutory bar in C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(b) does not usually apply. The facts matter, and comparative fault can still be argued.
More general answers are on our frequently asked questions page.
It's More Than Money.
If you were hurt by someone a Centennial 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.
Prefer to read first? See how Colorado dram shop and premises liability law works.
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