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CGH Injury Lawyers represents premises liability victims across Colorado Springs and El Paso County.
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Colorado Springs Premises Liability Lawyers Who Make Property Owners Pay

If you were hurt on unsafe property in Colorado Springs, the Colorado Premises Liability Act decides whether the owner owes you. We prove it, and we recover for you. Serving Colorado Springs from our Denver office. No fee unless we win.

No fee unless we win
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Serving Colorado Springs From Our Denver Office CGH Injury Lawyers 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201 Denver, CO 80205 (303) 209-9395 Se habla espanol
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  • The Colorado Premises Liability Act (C.R.S. 13-21-115) sets a property owner's duty by your visitor status at the time of injury: invitee, licensee, or trespasser.
  • An owner can be liable for a hazard they should have found through reasonable inspection, even without actual knowledge. This is called constructive notice.
  • The deadline to file most premises liability lawsuits in Colorado is two years from the date of injury (C.R.S. 13-80-102). A Colorado Springs case is filed in El Paso County District Court, 4th Judicial District.

If you were injured on someone else's property in Colorado Springs, from a grocery-store fall to a dark apartment stairwell to negligent security, the property owner may be legally responsible. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Colorado Springs and El Paso County from our Denver office, handling the investigation, the insurance claim, the negotiation, and trial when an insurer refuses to be fair. You pay nothing unless we recover for you.

Do you have a case?

Who qualifies for a premises liability claim in Colorado Springs?

Not every injury on someone else's property becomes a valid claim. Colorado law requires that the property owner owed you a duty, breached it, and that the breach caused your injury. Here is what determines whether your situation qualifies.

  • You were on the property lawfully as an invitee or licensee, or you were a child trespasser exposed to an attractive nuisance, such as a pool or construction equipment.
  • The property owner knew about a dangerous condition or should have discovered it through reasonable inspection, and they failed to fix it or warn you in time.
  • The hazardous condition caused your injury. Medical documentation and a documented timeline connecting the fall to your harm are essential.
  • You suffered actual damages, meaning verifiable medical costs, lost wages, or other losses. Premises claims require real, documented harm.

One complication that comes up early in Colorado Springs cases: shared fault. Under Colorado's modified comparative negligence rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111), your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are 20 percent at fault and your damages are $100,000, you recover $80,000. If your share of fault is 50 percent or more, Colorado law bars recovery entirely. Adjusters routinely inflate your fault figure to shrink payouts. We calculate your actual exposure honestly before advising you to proceed.

The law that governs your case

The Colorado Premises Liability Act, decoded for Colorado Springs residents

The Colorado Premises Liability Act, codified at C.R.S. 13-21-115, defines when property owners can be held responsible for injuries on their land. It replaced older common-law rules with a structured framework that ties the owner's duty to why you were on the property and to what the owner knew or should have known about the hazard.

  1. Invitees

    People on the property for a purpose that benefits the owner or under an open invitation to the public, such as customers in stores, diners in restaurants, hotel guests, and shoppers at the retail strips along Powers Boulevard and Academy Boulevard. Owners owe invitees the highest duty of care and must actively inspect for and remediate hazards.

  2. Licensees

    People on the property with permission but primarily for their own purposes, such as a social guest at a friend's home. Owners must warn licensees about known dangers but do not have to inspect for hazards they are unaware of.

  3. Trespassers

    People on the property without permission. Owners owe very limited duties and mainly cannot set traps or intentionally cause harm. The attractive-nuisance doctrine raises that duty for child trespassers near features like swimming pools, construction equipment, and drainage ditches.

Constructive notice: when the owner should have known

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 liable for a danger they should have discovered through reasonable care. That is constructive notice, and it is one of the most important concepts in a premises case.

  • How long the hazard was present matters. A spill in a store aisle for two hours is treated differently from one that appeared seconds before the fall.
  • Visibility and location matter. A broken tile in a busy entrance is more likely to establish constructive notice than one in a rarely-visited back room.
  • Inspection records matter. Owners who cannot produce inspection logs often lose the argument that they inspected at all. We subpoena those records when the owner will not volunteer them.
Local Knowledge

Colorado Springs courts, trauma care, and the property hazards that drive these cases

A Colorado Springs premises case is fought on local ground: the courthouse where it is filed, the trauma centers where the most serious injuries are treated, and the commercial corridors and weather conditions that generate the hazards. Here is what we work with every time we take a Colorado Springs file.

Where cases are filed

El Paso County District Court, 4th Judicial District

A Colorado Springs personal injury lawsuit is filed in El Paso County District Court, the state trial court of general jurisdiction for the 4th Judicial District, housed at 270 S Tejon St, Colorado Springs, CO 80903. Local civil procedure, the jury pool, and the defense firms you face in El Paso County differ significantly from Denver, and we handle 4th Judicial District litigation directly rather than referring cases out.

Where the injured are treated

UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central and the Southern Colorado trauma network

UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central at 1400 E Boulder St is the first and only Level I trauma center in southern Colorado, designated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and verified by the American College of Surgeons. Memorial Hospital North at 4050 Briargate Pkwy serves the north end as a Level III facility. The records generated during trauma treatment document the full scope of your harm and become the backbone of your damages case.

Where falls happen

High-traffic corridors and weather-driven hazard zones

Powers Boulevard (State Highway 21), Academy Boulevard, U.S. Route 24 toward the Ute Pass corridor, and the retail clusters flanking Interstate 25 feed shoppers and commuters onto commercial property every day. Colorado Springs sees hailstorms with large hail documented up to softball size. After snow and hailstorms, unsalted entrances, flooded parking lots, and ice-covered walkways become predictable hazards on these corridors. Fort Carson and Peterson Space Force Base drive significant traffic into adjacent commercial property as well, and military family housing complexes and base-adjacent retail are recurring locations in premises liability claims.

Why CGH

Why Colorado Springs premises liability victims choose CGH Injury Lawyers

Trial-ready attorneys, bilingual representation, statewide Colorado coverage, and no fee unless we win. We do not publish premises liability settlement figures, because every fall is different and a number on a page tells you nothing about your case. What we offer is the work, not a headline.

The Statute

C.R.S. 13-21-115

The Premises Liability Act ties the owner's duty to your visitor status and to what they knew or should have known. We build each case around the track that fits the specific facts.

Local Court Knowledge

We handle El Paso County cases directly.

Your case is filed in El Paso County District Court at 270 S Tejon St. We serve Colorado Springs from our Denver office and try cases in the 4th Judicial District directly rather than referring them out. Local jury pools, local judges, and local defense firms are all familiar ground for us.

Constructive Notice

"We didn't know" is not a defense.

An owner can be liable for a hazard they should have found through reasonable inspection, even without actual knowledge. We prove what they should have found.

Evidence First

We move before footage is erased.

Surveillance video and inspection logs disappear fast. We act quickly to preserve the proof that wins a premises case before the overwrite cycle runs.

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 letter.

Bilingual

Hablamos espanol.

Spanish-speaking staff and attorneys serve Colorado Springs' Spanish-speaking community. Your rights under Colorado law do not depend on the language you speak.

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. If we do not recover, you owe us nothing.

After the Injury

What to do after a fall or injury on property in Colorado Springs

Premises cases are won or lost on evidence that disappears within days of a fall. Take care of your health first, document the scene, report the incident, and call before the insurer calls you.

  1. Get medical care immediately

    UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central at 1400 E Boulder St is the Level I trauma center for southern Colorado. Memorial Hospital North at 4050 Briargate Pkwy also treats serious injuries. Get examined even when the injury seems minor, because soft-tissue and head injuries often appear hours after a fall. Keep every medical record.

  2. Document the scene before it changes

    Photograph the hazard, the absence of warning signs, the lighting, and your visible injuries before anything is cleaned up or repaired. Get the names and contact information of any witnesses present at the time of the fall.

  3. Report the incident and get a copy

    Tell the store manager, landlord, or property owner and ask for a written incident report. Get a copy if they will provide one. An official record created at the scene is harder for an insurer to dispute later.

  4. Call us before the insurer calls you

    The property owner's insurer may call within 24 to 48 hours. Do not give a recorded statement or accept any offer before speaking with us. Recorded statements are used to lock you into versions of events favorable to the insurer. Call (303) 209-9395.

  5. We preserve the evidence

    We move immediately to secure surveillance footage, incident reports, inspection logs, and maintenance records. We send litigation-hold letters when needed and subpoena records the owner will not voluntarily produce. After 30 days, overwrite cycles often destroy the footage that would have won your case.

Compensation

What compensation can you recover in a Colorado Springs premises liability case?

Colorado law lets injured people recover both the documented financial costs of an injury and the human cost of living with the lasting consequences.

Economic damages (no cap)

  • Medical expenses, past and future, including surgery, physical therapy, and long-term care
  • Lost wages and lost earning capacity
  • Rehabilitation and assistive device costs
  • Out-of-pocket expenses caused by the injury

Non-economic damages (capped for most)

  • Pain and suffering
  • Loss of enjoyment of life
  • Physical impairment or disfigurement (not capped)
  • In fatal cases, funeral costs and loss of companionship for surviving family

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 beginning in 2028. Damages for physical impairment or disfigurement are not subject to that cap under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5). We calculate the full value of your claim, including long-term medical needs and lasting income loss, before any settlement is discussed.

What the other side argues

Property owner defenses in Colorado Springs cases, and how we challenge them

Owners and their insurers raise the same defenses in nearly every premises case. Knowing what to expect helps you understand when you are being treated unfairly.

  • Open and obvious. Owners claim a hazard was too apparent to warrant a warning. Colorado courts apply this narrowly. A danger that is unreasonably hazardous, or that appears in a location where customers are focused on displays rather than the floor, can still create liability.
  • Comparative fault. Under C.R.S. 13-21-111, your recovery is reduced by your share of fault. You can still recover as long as you are less than 50 percent responsible. Adjusters routinely overstate your fault to reduce the payout figure.
  • Lack of notice. The owner says they did not know about the hazard. We answer with proof of how long the condition existed, the owner's inspection procedures, and whether the location required regular monitoring that the owner skipped.
  • Assumption of risk. Common in recreational settings like ski runs or fitness facilities, but it does not excuse a danger created by the owner's own negligence, such as a defective piece of equipment the operator knew was broken.
  • Liability waivers. Waivers can be enforceable in Colorado, but they must be specific and clearly written, and waivers for gross negligence or willful misconduct are generally unenforceable under Colorado law.

Defeating these defenses requires investigation, expert analysis, and documentation, including surveillance footage and inspection logs we can subpoena. The defense looks strongest before discovery begins and weakest once the evidence is out.

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How the money actually moves

Premises liability claims run against the property's insurance, not the owner personally

Many people hesitate to pursue a premises claim because the property is a store they like, a landlord they know, or a city facility they rely on. Understanding how the claim and payment process works usually removes that hesitation.

  • In most cases you file a claim against the property owner's liability insurance, such as commercial general liability, homeowner, or renter coverage, not against their personal assets.
  • Businesses, landlords, and property managers in Colorado typically carry liability coverage built to respond to exactly these injuries. We confirm the policy terms before assuming what is available.
  • The insurer pays the settlement or judgment up to the policy limits. Liability insurance exists specifically to protect injured people and policyholders alike.
  • Government property is different. If you were hurt on property owned or operated by the City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado Springs Utilities, or another government entity, the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act applies.

Government property claims: special rules apply

If your injury happened on property owned by a Colorado government entity, such as a city sidewalk, a public park, a government building, or a facility operated by Colorado Springs Utilities or a public school, the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (CGIA) governs the claim. Two rules matter most:

  • Notice deadline. Under C.R.S. 24-10-109, you must serve written notice of your claim on the government entity within 182 days after the date of discovery of the injury. Missing that deadline generally bars the claim entirely, and it runs much faster than the standard two-year statute of limitations.
  • Damage caps. For claims accruing between January 1, 2026 and January 1, 2030, the CGIA caps recovery at $505,000 per person and $1,421,000 per occurrence under C.R.S. 24-10-114(1)(b). These figures are set by Secretary of State certification and differ from the standard noneconomic damages cap.

If you were hurt on a government-owned or government-managed property in Colorado Springs, call us immediately. The 182-day clock is already running.

Questions

Premises liability in Colorado Springs, frequently asked questions

How long do I have to file a premises liability lawsuit in Colorado Springs?

The general statute of limitations for premises liability claims in Colorado is two years from the date of injury under C.R.S. 13-80-102. Exceptions exist for cases involving minors and for injuries that were not immediately discoverable. If the property is government-owned, the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act requires written notice within 182 days after the discovery of the injury, which is a much tighter deadline. Missing either threshold generally ends the right to compensation, which is why early consultation matters.

Where is a Colorado Springs premises liability lawsuit filed?

A personal injury lawsuit arising from a Colorado Springs property injury is filed in El Paso County District Court, the 4th Judicial District, housed at 270 S Tejon St, Colorado Springs, CO 80903. Most premises claims settle before a lawsuit is filed, but where a case would be filed affects local rules, the jury pool, and the defense firms involved. We handle El Paso County District Court litigation directly while serving Colorado Springs from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205.

Can I recover if I was partly at fault for my fall?

Yes, as long as your share of fault is less than 50 percent. Under Colorado's modified comparative negligence rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111), your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are 20 percent at fault and your total damages are $100,000, you recover $80,000. If your fault reaches 50 percent or more, Colorado law bars recovery entirely. Insurance adjusters routinely assign inflated fault percentages to claimants specifically to reduce or eliminate payouts. We calculate your actual exposure before advising you to proceed.

Is a property owner automatically liable when someone gets hurt?

No. You must prove the owner owed you a duty based on your visitor status under C.R.S. 13-21-115, that the owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition, that they failed to take reasonable action, and that the failure caused your injury. An injury on someone's property does not automatically equal liability. The law requires establishing each of those elements.

I slipped on ice at a Colorado Springs business after a snowstorm. Do I have a claim?

Possibly. Colorado recognizes that owners cannot clear snow and ice continuously during an active storm, but once precipitation stops, they must take reasonable steps to clear walkways and entrances within a reasonable time. Colorado Springs sees heavy snowfall and some of the most frequent large-hail events in the state. Letting ice accumulate for days after a storm has ended can establish constructive notice. The timing between when the storm ended and when your fall occurred, along with evidence of when the property was last treated, are usually the key facts.

What if I was hurt on government property in Colorado Springs, such as a city sidewalk or park?

Claims against the City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado Springs Utilities, or other government entities are governed by the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act. Under C.R.S. 24-10-109 you must serve written notice on the government entity within 182 days after the discovery of the injury. The CGIA also caps damages at $505,000 per person and $1,421,000 per occurrence for claims accruing between January 1, 2026 and January 1, 2030 under C.R.S. 24-10-114(1)(b). Government claims have a shorter clock and different rules. Call us right away.

Does a wet-floor warning sign protect the property owner from all liability?

Not automatically. A sign can help an owner meet the duty to warn, but it does not eliminate liability if the hazard itself is unreasonably dangerous or if the problem required repair rather than a warning. Placing a cone over a leak that has been present for weeks is not the same as fixing the leak. Courts look at whether the warning was adequate and whether a reasonable owner would have fixed the problem entirely rather than relying on a sign.

What compensation is available in a Colorado Springs premises liability case?

Colorado allows recovery for medical expenses past and future, lost wages and lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and physical impairment or disfigurement. In fatal cases, surviving family members can recover funeral expenses and loss of companionship. Economic damages such as medical bills and lost income have no cap. 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, but physical impairment and disfigurement awards are not subject to that cap under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5).

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