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Commerce City, Colorado. CGH Injury Lawyers represents restaurant and bar injury victims in Commerce City from our Denver office.
Commerce City, Colorado

Commerce City Restaurant Injury Lawyers Who Chase Every Insurance Layer

Commerce City combines stadium event crowds, highway-side restaurants, and a heavy freight corridor in a way few Colorado cities do. Adams County cases are filed at the Adams County Justice Center in Brighton, in the Seventeenth Judicial District. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Commerce City from our Denver office, and there is no fee unless we win.

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Serving Commerce City 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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Before anything else: the deadlines and limits

  • 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.
  • Commerce City cases are heard in Adams County, at the Adams County Justice Center. We serve Commerce City from our Denver office and appear there.

There are two claims hiding in most Commerce City restaurant and bar injuries, and they run on different rules. One is against whoever caused the harm directly. The other is against the licensed venue that kept serving them, under Colorado's Dram Shop Act at C.R.S. 44-3-801.

They also run on different clocks. The claim against the venue must be filed within one year of the service itself (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)), while the general injury deadline is two years (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a)) and the motor vehicle deadline is three. Missing the short one does not affect the others, which is precisely why it gets missed.

Event nights change the risk picture here. A stadium crowd concentrates thousands of departures into a narrow window on roads that carry commercial truck traffic the rest of the week. 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.

Who we help

The kinds of Commerce City injuries that lead to a claim

Two different bodies of law are in play, depending on whether the harm came from a person the venue overserved or from the state of the premises itself.

Harm caused by someone the venue kept serving

  • Injuries caused by a driver a Commerce City venue served while visibly intoxicated
  • People struck on foot near the stadium district off Quebec Parkway, where venues and traffic share the same blocks
  • Violence by a patron whose intoxication the venue had already seen and served through
  • Cases where the person served was under 21, which the statute treats separately

Dangerous conditions and food on the premises

  • Falls caused by standing water, poor lighting, uneven flooring or an icy walkway
  • Assaults a venue could have prevented with the security its own crowd called for
  • Illness traced to how food was stored, handled or prepared
  • Scalds, burns and crush injuries from equipment or fittings on the premises

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 Commerce City premises liability page for how those claims work.

What the law requires you to prove in Commerce City

Because C.R.S. 44-3-801(1) abolished the common law claim against vendors, the statute is not one route among several. It is the only route, and its requirements are strict.

  1. Three things the claim has to establish

    • The venue holds a Colorado liquor license. That single fact brings it inside the statute, whatever the venue calls itself. Social hosts are handled under a separate subsection.
    • The service was willful and knowing rather than merely careless. Proving it means showing what the venue had in front of it at the moment it poured.
    • The patron was visibly intoxicated at the time of service, or was under 21. Visible intoxication is judged on observable signs, and a blood alcohol figure taken hours later does not answer the question by itself.

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

    Because the year is written into C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II) itself, it behaves like a condition of the claim rather than a limitations period. The practical consequence is blunt. A claim that would have succeeded on the evidence fails on the calendar, and nothing about the merits changes that.

  3. Licensed vendors and private hosts are treated differently

    Hosts and licensees are not held to the same duty. Serving a visibly intoxicated adult exposes a licensee but generally not a private host. Where the drinker is under 21, C.R.S. 44-3-801(4) reaches the host too, and the adult's apparent sobriety is beside the point. Our statewide Colorado dram shop and restaurant injury page covers the statute in more depth.

Where Commerce City cases are filed, treated and fought

The courthouse

The courthouse

Commerce City cases arising in Adams County are filed at the Adams County Justice Center, 1100 Judicial Center Drive, Brighton, CO 80601, 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 303-659-1161. 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

Denver Health Medical Center: The Level I trauma center at 777 Bannock Street in Denver, and the closest Level I facility for the most seriously injured Commerce City patients. UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital: A Level I trauma center at 12505 E. 16th Avenue on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, serving the eastern side of 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 Commerce City drinking and dining concentrates

Where Commerce City drinking and dining concentrates

The stadium district off Quebec Parkway: The city's major sports and concert venue draws large event crowds whose arrival and departure is compressed into a short window, with licensed concessions inside and bars and restaurants nearby. The Vasquez Boulevard corridor: Long-standing neighborhood bars and restaurants sit along the U.S. 6 and 85 corridor, mixed directly into commercial and freight traffic. The 120th Avenue retail area: Chain restaurants and sports bars in the northern retail development draw a driving crowd from across northern Adams County. The Northfield-adjacent southern edge: Venues near the city's southern boundary serve traffic moving between Commerce City, Denver and the Central Park area. 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 Commerce City injury page.

The roads a Commerce City 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.

  1. Interstate 270

    The freight-heavy connector between I-25 and I-70 that runs through the city.

  2. U.S. Highways 6 and 85, Vasquez Boulevard

    The main north-south commercial corridor and the road most local venues sit on.

  3. Quebec Parkway and 104th Avenue

    The arterials carrying event traffic to and from the stadium district.

  4. Interstate 76

    Runs northeast out of the metro and carries departing regional traffic.

The pattern in Commerce City is consistent: patrons leave The stadium district off Quebec Parkway and join Interstate 270 within minutes. Reconstructing that short window, rather than the whole evening, is usually what decides whether the venue is answerable.

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

What to do in the days after a Commerce City injury

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

  1. Prioritize treatment and keep the paperwork

    The medical file is the damages case, and untreated weeks are read as uninjured weeks.

  2. Make a report to the Commerce City Police Department

    It fixes the date, the location and the account while everything is fresh.

  3. Record which venue and when

    If the night involved more than one licensee, the sequence of service is the whole question.

  4. Get witness details immediately

    In The stadium district off Quebec Parkway a meaningful share of any crowd will not be findable a week later.

  5. Say nothing recorded to the venue's insurer until you have taken advice

  6. Send preservation letters at once

    Video and point-of-sale records are the proof, and both are on a deletion cycle.

How we build a Commerce City overservice case

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

  1. Screening the case

    CGH Injury Lawyers establishes who may be liable, what has to be proved and how much time is left. There is no fee for this stage and no commitment.

  2. Preservation, immediately

    Written preservation demands go out and the liquor license is pulled to confirm which entity served. Delay here is usually irreversible, because footage is overwritten on a rolling cycle. The license check matters as much as the footage, since the business trading under a name is not always the entity that holds the license.

  3. Establishing what the venue knew

    The transaction record, the footage and the accounts of staff and other patrons are put together to show the patron's visible condition at the point of service. Where an evening crossed several venues, the same exercise establishes which licensee served someone who was already showing it.

  4. Documenting the injury

    Records, imaging and wage evidence are collected as care progresses, with expert opinion on future treatment and earning capacity where it is needed. Consistent treatment is part of the proof, not just part of the recovery.

  5. Demand and response

    Every identified insurer receives a demand, including any separate liquor liability carrier. What is actually payable turns on each policy's terms and limits, and the first response is rarely the measure of what a claim is worth.

  6. Litigation at Adams County Justice Center

    If negotiation does not produce a fair result, the case is filed at the Adams County Justice Center in the Seventeenth Judicial District. Managing Partner Kevin Cheney, a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, leads the firm's trial work.

Compensation, caps and what actually gets paid

What can be recovered divides along a single line: losses with a receipt behind them, and losses without one. Each is subject to its own cap.

  1. 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

  2. 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.

What the defense will say, and the evidence that answers it

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

  1. Denial that the intoxication was visible

    The response is documentary: till timing, footage, and the accounts of people who were present.

  2. Blame shifted to another venue

    Multiple licensees can share responsibility, and establishing the sequence is routine investigative work.

  3. An allegation of comparative fault

    C.R.S. 13-21-111 makes this financially significant, since damages fall with your share and stop entirely once it matches the defendant's.

  4. An argument that the danger spoke for itself

    The Premises Liability Act (C.R.S. 13-21-115) still holds a venue to the invitee standard for a paying customer.

Who actually pays a Commerce City claim

There is usually more than one policy behind a venue. General liability is standard and liquor liability is common, but coverage is decided by the terms, exclusions and limits of each policy rather than by the certificate that records its existence.

The realistic picture in Commerce City is layered: the venue's insurer, a liquor liability insurer, the drinker's motor insurer and your own uninsured or underinsured motorist cover. Mapping the layers early is what determines whether a serious loss is actually recoverable.

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

Reporting overservice in Commerce City, separately from your claim

Separate from anything you file in court, a licensee answers to the bodies that grant its license. Colorado runs a two-tier system: a state licensing authority in the Department of Revenue, and a local licensing authority for the city or county where the venue sits.

The Commerce City local authority is the one that reviews conduct at renewal; the state Liquor Enforcement Division deals with enforcement. Complaining to either is not a substitute for a claim, and it does not extend the one-year deadline by a single day.

Do it anyway. An agency record made close to the event is independent of both sides and can matter later. A report to the Commerce City Police Department covers different ground and is worth making as well.

Why injured people in Commerce City call us

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.

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

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

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Questions

Commerce City restaurant and bar injury questions, answered

My case happened in Commerce City. Why is the courthouse in Brighton?

Because Commerce City is in Adams County, and the county's district and county courts sit at the Adams County Justice Center, 1100 Judicial Center Drive, Brighton, in the Seventeenth Judicial District. The drive is longer than the city line suggests.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have an office in Commerce City?

No. Our single office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205, and we serve Commerce City clients from there. We appear at the Adams County Justice Center in Brighton. There is no Commerce City office.

Who is liable for overservice at a stadium?

Potentially the concessionaire holding the liquor license, and that is often a different company from the venue operator and from the team. Sorting out which entity served is early work, and the one-year deadline does not pause while that is done.

Does it matter that trucks use the same roads?

It can matter a great deal to the size of the loss and to the insurance available. A commercial vehicle involved in the same crash brings its own policy and its own carrier into the case.

What are the deadlines?

One year from the sale or service for a dram shop claim under C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II), and generally two years for a premises liability claim under C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a).

How much can I recover from the venue itself?

Dram shop liability is capped at $465,730 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2026 and before January 1, 2028. Recovery from the intoxicated person is separate from that cap.

What if the venue says a third party ran the bar that night?

That is a common answer and it is checkable. The liquor license, the event permit and the point-of-sale records identify who actually served, which is why those documents are requested first.

More general answers are on our frequently asked questions page.

Keep Reading

Related pages

Commerce City

It's More Than Money.

Talk to a lawyer before the one-year window closes

If you were hurt by someone a Commerce City 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.

Call (303) 209-9395 Get my free case review

Prefer to read first? See how Colorado dram shop and premises liability law works.

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