IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.
Survivors of sexual assault in Commerce City and across Adams County have the right to seek civil compensation and institutional accountability, on a separate track from any criminal case. CGH Injury Lawyers handles these cases with full confidentiality, a trauma-informed approach, and no fee unless we win. Serving Commerce City from our Denver office.
No fee unless we winYou are in control
There is no obligation and no public record when you reach out. We listen, explain your civil options in Colorado, and move at a pace that respects you. Nothing happens that you have not chosen.
A civil claim for sexual assault is a separate legal action from any criminal case, controlled entirely by the survivor, and available to Commerce City residents regardless of whether criminal charges were ever filed or what any criminal proceeding concluded.
CGH Injury Lawyers represents survivors in Commerce City and across Adams County from our Denver office. We handle the investigation, the discovery process, and the institutions, while you keep control of every decision. Your first consultation is free, confidential, and protected by attorney-client privilege.
Justice beyond the criminal courts
The criminal system and the civil system pursue different goals. Criminal prosecution focuses on punishing an offender. A civil claim focuses on compensating a survivor for real harm and compelling institutions to answer for their failures. Both can exist at the same time, and each is independent of the other.
For many survivors, the criminal process does not produce accountability. Prosecutors may decline to file charges because of evidentiary hurdles, or a high burden of proof may lead to an acquittal even when credible evidence exists. A civil claim is your path, not the state's, and it runs on a different and lower standard of proof.
Commerce City and Adams County institutions, including schools, employers, healthcare facilities, and youth programs, can face civil liability when they failed to prevent foreseeable harm. We evaluate which organizations may bear legal responsibility alongside the individual who caused the assault.
Colorado time limits
Colorado substantially expanded civil filing rights for sexual misconduct and childhood sexual abuse survivors in recent years. If you have thought it was too late to come forward, the answer may surprise you. The safest step is a confidential review of your specific timeline before you assume anything is foreclosed.
These laws recognize what research confirms: survivors often need years, sometimes decades, before they are ready to come forward. The absence of a filing deadline in Colorado sexual misconduct claims reflects a deliberate legislative choice to keep that door open. We will evaluate your specific situation honestly and tell you what your options are.
Institutional accountability
One of the most consequential parts of a civil sexual assault claim is the ability to hold organizations accountable, not only the individual who caused the harm. An institution that employed or supervised an abuser and failed to protect you often carries significant legal responsibility, and often has the resources to provide meaningful compensation.
Theory of liability
Organizations must conduct reasonable background screening before placing someone in a position of trust with vulnerable people. Hiring without checking prior complaints or prior disciplinary history can create liability when harm follows, particularly in schools, healthcare settings, youth programs, and care facilities operating in Commerce City and Adams County.
Theory of liability
Even adequate hiring is not enough if the organization fails to supervise the people it puts in positions of authority. When administrators receive complaints or observe warning signs and fail to investigate or act, they share in the responsibility for what happens next. This is a central theory in cases involving youth organizations, employers, and care facilities in Adams County.
Theory of liability
When an organization learns of misconduct or red flags and continues to keep a person in a role with access to vulnerable people, it becomes liable for what follows. This is especially common where institutions quietly transferred a known problem rather than removing the person from the organization entirely.
Theory of liability
In certain circumstances, an employer can be held responsible for the acts of an employee when the employment relationship itself created the opportunity for abuse. The precise boundaries of vicarious liability depend on the facts of each case, and we analyze which theory applies most strongly to your situation before filing.
Our investigation goes beyond identifying who caused the harm. We trace the chain of institutional responsibility to find which organizations created the conditions that made the harm possible and then failed in their duty to protect you. That work is central to building a claim that reaches the full accountability the law allows.
It is not about reliving what happened. It is about reclaiming control and forcing the institutions that failed you to answer for it.
Local knowledge
A Commerce City sexual assault civil case lives in Adams County: the courthouse where your case would be filed, the hospital that documented your injuries, and the local institutions that may bear responsibility. Here is the ground we work on.
Courthouse
A civil sexual assault lawsuit arising in Commerce City is filed in Adams County District Court, housed in the Adams County Justice Center at 1100 Judicial Center Dr., Brighton, CO 80601, in the 17th Judicial District. Protective orders, pseudonymous filings, and sealed records are all procedural tools available in Colorado courts, and Adams County District Court handles each case under state civil procedure rules. CGH Injury Lawyers handles Adams County District Court cases directly from our Denver office. CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Commerce City office. We serve Adams County from Denver and file where your case belongs.
Medical Care
HCA HealthONE North Suburban Medical Center is the Level II Trauma Center designated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in Adams County. Survivors who require emergency medical evaluation in Commerce City may receive initial care at the UCHealth freestanding emergency room in Commerce City, which does not hold a trauma designation, or may be transferred to North Suburban for more serious injuries. Medical records from these facilities become the foundation for documenting physical harm in a civil claim and establishing the economic damages component of a case. We help you gather those records as part of our case-building process.
Commerce City Context
Commerce City is a community of approximately 68,245 people in Adams County. Its mix of industrial employers, distribution centers, schools, healthcare providers, youth programs, and transportation services creates the same institutional landscape where sexual assault civil claims arise across Colorado. Large employers and distribution operations for Amazon, FedEx, UPS, McLane, and Old Dominion employ thousands of Adams County workers. Rideshare and transportation services operating through Commerce City and along Brighton Boulevard, Vasquez Boulevard, and the Brighton corridor create employer duty questions when drivers harm passengers. Schools and youth programs operating near Dick's Sporting Goods Park and throughout the city generate their own duty-of-care obligations. We identify which institutions operated by rules that should have prevented the harm you suffered.
Your privacy and safety
Fear of public exposure stops many survivors from exploring their legal options. Colorado's civil courts provide real privacy protections, and how those tools are used is something we address from the very first conversation.
Anonymity
In many civil sexual assault cases, Colorado courts allow survivors to file under a pseudonym so your real name does not appear in public court documents at Adams County District Court or anywhere else. This protection recognizes that forcing public identification can deter valid claims and cause additional harm to survivors who have already suffered enough.
Protective orders
Courts can seal sensitive documents in an Adams County civil case, limit who may attend depositions, and restrict disclosure of personal information uncovered during discovery. We request these protections at the outset of litigation and push back whenever an opposing party attempts to expose information unnecessarily.
Confidential from the start
Your initial case evaluation is completely confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege. You can explore your civil options and decide whether to move forward with no public record of that conversation and no obligation to us. We will not share what you tell us, and nothing is filed until you choose to proceed.
Trauma-informed
Our team understands that reliving events through litigation can be painful if handled carelessly. We allow support persons, schedule flexibility for difficult testimony, and move at a pace that respects what you are carrying. This approach is not an accommodation; it is how these cases should be handled.
How it works
Every case is different, and you set the pace. These are the stages most civil claims move through, from a private first conversation through trial in Adams County District Court when an institution refuses to be fair.
We listen, explain your civil options under Colorado law, and answer your questions at no cost and with no obligation. What you share is protected by attorney-client privilege. Nothing is filed and nothing is public at this stage. You stay in control of every next step.
Using civil discovery, we obtain records you may not have access to on your own, including complaint histories, personnel files, background check records, and institutional policies. For a Commerce City case, this may mean subpoenas directed at Adams County employers, local school districts, healthcare facilities, youth organizations, or transportation providers. The goal is to establish which institutions knew about a risk and failed to act on it.
We build the complete record of your losses: emergency medical treatment and follow-up care, psychiatric and therapy costs, lost wages and future earning capacity, and the full non-economic impact on your life and relationships. Records from UCHealth Commerce City and HCA HealthONE North Suburban Medical Center, along with records from your ongoing treating providers, form the foundation of the damages claim.
We present a documented demand to the responsible parties and their insurers and negotiate from a position of genuine trial readiness. Many civil sexual assault cases resolve through confidential settlement, which keeps your information out of any further public record. We explain what any proposed settlement covers and what you would be giving up before you decide anything.
If an institution will not be fair, we file in Adams County District Court at the Adams County Justice Center, 1100 Judicial Center Dr., Brighton, CO 80601, in the 17th Judicial District. Courts frequently allow closed proceedings or testimony accommodations for sensitive sexual assault matters, and we prepare you thoroughly so you are never in a courtroom without full support and protection.
There is no right timeline for being ready to come forward. Some survivors act soon after; others take years. Colorado law's elimination of the statute of limitations for sexual misconduct civil claims reflects that reality. What matters is that when you are ready, you understand your options clearly and completely.
Compensation and comparative fault
Colorado civil law allows a survivor to seek compensation for the full range of harm caused by sexual assault. We evaluate both the immediate impact and the long-term consequences on your health, relationships, earning capacity, and quality of life.
In cases involving egregious conduct, such as an institutional cover-up, deliberate indifference to a known abuser, or repeated failures to act on documented complaints, Colorado courts may also award punitive damages (C.R.S. 13-21-102). These are not meant to compensate you for your harm. They are meant to punish the wrongdoer and deter the same conduct by others.
Colorado follows a modified comparative negligence rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111). In a civil sexual assault claim, a defendant may attempt to argue that the plaintiff bears some portion of fault. You can still recover as long as your share of fault is determined to be less than 50 percent. If you are found 49 percent at fault, you recover 51 percent of your full damages. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. We evaluate those arguments before they are raised and build the record to counter them.
Your team
CGH Injury Lawyers is a eight-attorney Colorado personal injury firm founded in 2016, formerly Cheney Galluzzi and Howard. 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. Every Commerce City sexual assault civil case is handled by a licensed Colorado attorney with institutional litigation experience, not a paralegal. CGH Injury Lawyers does not maintain a Commerce City office. We serve Commerce City and Adams County from 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205, and appear in Adams County District Court when your case requires it.
Frequently asked questions
Not necessarily. Colorado eliminated the statute of limitations for civil claims based on sexual misconduct effective January 1, 2022 (C.R.S. 13-80-103.7). That means claims can now be filed at any time for abuse that occurred on or after January 1, 2022. Older claims that had not yet expired by that date may also be open under the same statute. Because the analysis of older claims depends on specific facts and dates, a confidential case evaluation is the way to determine where your situation stands. Do not assume it is too late without speaking with us first.
No. CGH Injury Lawyers has one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We serve Commerce City and all of Adams County from that office, file cases in Adams County District Court at the Adams County Justice Center in Brighton, and meet clients wherever is most comfortable for them. You can reach us confidentially at (303) 209-9395.
Yes. A civil claim and a criminal prosecution are separate legal proceedings with different standards of proof and different parties in control. A criminal case is brought by the state and requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. A civil claim is brought by the survivor and requires proof by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning it is more likely than not that the assault occurred and caused you harm. You can pursue a civil claim whether criminal charges were declined, dropped, or resulted in an acquittal, and the two processes are completely independent of each other.
Often yes. Schools, employers, healthcare facilities, religious organizations, youth programs, transportation companies, and care facilities in Commerce City and Adams County may be held liable if they failed to conduct adequate background checks, ignored prior complaints, failed to supervise properly, or otherwise created or allowed conditions that enabled the assault. Institutional liability claims can be the most significant part of a civil sexual assault case, both because they provide meaningful compensation and because they force organizational change. We investigate the full chain of responsibility, not just the individual who caused the harm.
In many civil sexual assault cases, courts allow survivors to file under a pseudonym such as Jane Doe or John Doe so your real name does not appear in public court documents at Adams County District Court or elsewhere. Courts can also issue protective orders that seal sensitive records and limit who may attend depositions. Your first conversation with us is confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege, with no public record at all. We discuss the specific privacy protections available in your case before anything is filed.
Colorado civil law allows recovery for economic damages including medical and therapy expenses, psychiatric care, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity. Non-economic damages cover pain and suffering, emotional distress including PTSD, anxiety and depression, and loss of enjoyment of life. In cases involving egregious institutional conduct such as deliberate cover-ups or repeated failures to address known complaints, punitive damages may also be available. We evaluate both the immediate harm and the long-term impact on every aspect of your life to make sure nothing is left out of your claim.
IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.
Free, confidential consultation. No fee unless we win. Serving Commerce City and Adams County from Denver, in English and Spanish.
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CGH Injury Lawyers · Serving Commerce City and Adams County from 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205
