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

Colorado Springs Restaurant Injury Lawyers Who Try Cases in the Fourth District

Downtown Colorado Springs concentrates dozens of bars, restaurants and clubs within walking distance along Tejon Street, and the El Paso County Judicial Building sits on the same street at number 270, in the Fourth Judicial District. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Colorado Springs from our Denver office, and the first consultation is free.

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When someone leaves Downtown and the Tejon Street spine 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.

Colorado Springs has two established nightlife districts rather than one, and they behave differently. Downtown draws a dense walking crowd along a single spine, while Old Colorado City sits west along a historic strip with its own traffic pattern. 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.
  • Colorado Springs cases are heard in El Paso County, at the El Paso County Judicial Building. We serve Colorado Springs from our Denver office and appear there.

Who we help

Colorado Springs cases we handle, and how each is proved

The label on the incident matters less than which statute it falls under. These are the Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs venue
    • Pedestrians and cyclists struck near Downtown and the Tejon Street spine at the venue 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 Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs premises liability page for how those claims work.

The law that governs your case

How Colorado dram shop law applies in Colorado Springs

Colorado abolished the common law action against alcohol vendors, so there is no fallback theory sitting behind the statute. Everything a Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs 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

Local knowledge: Colorado Springs courts, care and corridors

Courthouse

The courthouse

Colorado Springs cases arising in El Paso County are filed at the El Paso County Judicial Building, 270 S. Tejon Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80903, in the Fourth 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 (719) 452-5490. 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

UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central: Designated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and verified by the American College of Surgeons as a Level I trauma center, and the only Level I facility in southern Colorado. Its records typically anchor a serious damages claim.

Children's Hospital Colorado, Colorado Springs: Provides pediatric emergency care in the region, which matters when a child is injured at a family restaurant.

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.

Colorado Springs Drinking And Dining Concentrates

Where Colorado Springs drinking and dining concentrates

Downtown and the Tejon Street spine: Tejon Street is the main artery of downtown and packs independent restaurants, cocktail bars, sports bars, dive bars and clubs into a few walkable blocks, most of them within a short walk of one another.

Old Colorado City: The historic district west of downtown along West Colorado Avenue carries its own concentration of bars and restaurants and a separate late-evening crowd.

The North Tejon blocks: The stretch north of the downtown core holds several long-standing music and dive bars that keep later hours than the restaurant blocks to the south.

The Powers Boulevard retail corridor: Chain restaurants and sports bars on the fast-growing east side serve an entirely driving clientele feeding onto a high-speed arterial.

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 Colorado Springs injury page.

The routes that matter

The roads a Colorado Springs 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.

  • Interstate 25. Runs north-south through the city, immediately west of downtown.
  • Powers Boulevard (State Highway 21). The high-speed eastern arterial serving the newer retail and restaurant development.
  • West Colorado Avenue (U.S. 24). Carries traffic through Old Colorado City and west toward the mountain communities.
  • Academy Boulevard. The long north-south arterial linking the city's residential and retail districts.

Interstate 25 and Powers Boulevard (State Highway 21) carry most of the traffic leaving Downtown and the Tejon Street spine, and they carry it at the hours venues close. That timing is why a Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs DUI accident page explains that side.

After the injury

The steps that protect a Colorado Springs claim

  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 Colorado Springs 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 Downtown and the Tejon Street spine 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 Colorado Springs slip and fall page sets out that route.

How the case moves

What happens after you call us

A Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs 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 El Paso County Judicial Building

    Where the response does not match the loss, we file in the Fourth Judicial District at the El Paso County Judicial Building 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

What can be recovered after a Colorado Springs injury

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

The arguments Colorado Springs bars and restaurants make

  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 Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs car accident page.

Who actually pays

Who actually pays a Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs, 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 Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs Police Department serves a different purpose again and is worth making too.

Why CGH

Who handles your Colorado Springs claim

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 Colorado Springs from Denver, and we do not have a Colorado Springs office

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

Questions

Colorado Springs restaurant and bar injury questions, answered

Is a Colorado Springs case handled differently from a Denver case?

The statute is the same statewide, but the venue, the judges, the local rules and the defense firms are not. El Paso County cases go to the Fourth Judicial District at the El Paso County Judicial Building, 270 S. Tejon Street.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have an office in Colorado Springs?

No. We work from a single office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205 and serves Colorado Springs clients from there. We file and appear in the Fourth Judicial District. There is no Colorado Springs office and no local phone number.

Most downtown venues are within walking distance. Does that help or hurt?

It cuts both ways. A patron who visited several venues makes the service history harder to reconstruct, but it also means more cameras, more transaction records and more witnesses along one short stretch.

What is the deadline for suing the bar?

One year from the sale or service, under C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II). The two-year general tort deadline in C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a) does not extend it.

Can a military member or dependent bring the same claim?

Colorado's dram shop statute applies without regard to a claimant's employment or military status. Where an incident occurs on federal property, different rules can apply to that location, which is worth raising early.

What is the cap on the venue's liability?

$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 bar says the person did not look drunk. Does that end it?

No, it frames the dispute. Visible intoxication is judged on observable signs a reasonable person would recognise, and it is proved with video, transaction records and witnesses rather than with the venue's own characterization.

More general answers are on our frequently asked questions page.

Keep reading

Related pages

Colorado Springs

It's More Than Money.

Talk to a lawyer before the one-year window closes

If you were hurt by someone a Colorado Springs 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 Colorado Springs from our Denver office