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US 550 north of Durango, Colorado. CGH Injury Lawyers represents brain injury victims across La Plata County.

IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.

Durango Brain Injury Lawyers Who Prove What a Scan Cannot Show

A traumatic brain injury from a crash on US 550, a fall on the Animas River Trail, or any other accident in La Plata County can produce symptoms an insurer calls invisible and a scanner misses entirely. CGH Injury Lawyers represents TBI victims and their families across Durango and La Plata County from our Denver office. We build the neurological proof, pursue the full value of your claim, and file in the District Court, La Plata County, 6th Judicial District when the insurer will not be fair. You pay nothing unless we win.

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A traumatic brain injury in Durango or anywhere in La Plata County often produces symptoms that look normal on an emergency scan but change every part of a person's ability to work and live. The adjuster's first move is to use that clean CT to argue the injury is not real. CGH Injury Lawyers handles Durango TBI claims from our Denver office, building the neurological evidence an insurer cannot explain away, and we file in the District Court, La Plata County, 6th Judicial District when a fair resolution cannot be reached another way.

  • Medical teams grade a TBI using the Glasgow Coma Scale: mild (GCS 13 to 15), moderate (GCS 9 to 12), and severe (GCS 3 to 8). A mild score does not mean a minor claim. Post-concussion syndrome affects an estimated 15 to 30 percent of mild TBI victims and can persist for months or years, affecting the ability to work in ways that a first settlement offer will never account for.
  • Colorado caps non-economic damages such as pain and suffering at $1.5 million for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5). Economic losses including medical bills, lost wages, and lifetime care have no cap, and compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is also entirely uncapped. For a serious TBI, those two uncapped categories usually carry the most value.
  • There is no CGH office in Durango. The firm's only physical office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We serve La Plata County clients from there, travel to Durango as the case requires, and file directly in the District Court, La Plata County, 6th Judicial District.

Why these cases are different

Why a Durango brain injury claim is harder to win than most injury cases

Mountain road crashes on US 550 and US 160 frequently produce high-force impacts that cause brain injuries the roadside emergency scan never fully captures. The insurer's defense in almost every Durango TBI case starts with the same two words: normal scan. Our job is to answer that defense with the kind of neurological evidence that makes a La Plata County jury understand what really happened inside the skull.

The negative-scan problem in La Plata County cases

Standard CT scans and routine MRIs detect skull fractures and active bleeding. They do not detect the microscopic axonal tears that cause the headaches, memory failures, and cognitive slowdowns that follow a mild or moderate TBI. CommonSpirit Mercy Hospital's emergency department, Durango's regional Level III Trauma Center, generates a scan result that becomes the first piece of evidence the insurer will use against you. A clean scan is not a clean bill of health, and proving that distinction requires evidence most people do not know exists.

  • Adjusters routinely argue that if the Mercy Hospital CT was normal, the injury must be minor, even when the patient is still symptomatic months later.
  • Brain injury symptoms including cognitive fog, mood changes, sleep disruption, and sensitivity to light are real injuries a jury can understand once they are properly documented and explained by the right experts.
  • Durango's outdoor and recreational culture means TBI victims here are often people whose careers, recreation, and identity depend on sharp concentration and physical ability. The gap between who they were before the injury and who they are after it is the story a well-built case tells.

Where Durango TBIs happen

The Durango corridors and activities behind most La Plata County brain injury claims

Brain injuries in La Plata County come from high-force events. The roads, trails, and outdoor venues that define Durango create a specific set of those events. Understanding where TBIs happen here shapes how a claim is investigated and who bears responsibility.

  1. US 550 North: Million Dollar Highway impacts

    US 550 climbs north of Durango through Coal Bank Pass, Molas Pass, and Red Mountain Pass toward Silverton and Ouray. The highway has no guardrails on significant stretches, lanes as narrow as 23 feet, and tight curves above steep drop-offs. CDOT documented 53 crashes over a 15-mile section south of Ouray between 2020 and 2024, with 33 of those involving vehicles leaving the roadway. When a vehicle rolls, slides off a cliff edge, or absorbs a head-on impact at speed on this corridor, the forces involved are precisely the kind that produce traumatic brain injuries from which a standard emergency scan tells only part of the story. Tourist traffic from Purgatory Resort and seasonal avalanche-driven slowdowns contribute to unpredictable driving conditions year-round.

  2. US 160: Wolf Creek Pass and the Farmington corridor

    US 160 carries east-west traffic through Durango toward Wolf Creek Pass and Pagosa Springs to the east, and toward Farmington, New Mexico to the west. CDOT schedules winter closures on this highway for avalanche risk and heavy snowfall. The convergence of US 160 and US 550 at south Durango near Farmington Hill was previously documented by CDOT as a crash contributor before the connection south interchange project was completed. Commercial trucks on the Farmington grade and passenger vehicles navigating unfamiliar mountain terrain create conditions where rear-end and side-impact collisions involve enough force to produce head injury even when seatbelts and airbags function correctly.

  3. Main Avenue and the downtown pedestrian corridor

    Main Avenue carries US 550 traffic as a through-route through downtown Durango and has a documented history of serious pedestrian crashes on its north segment. Fort Lewis College students, visitors to the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad depot, and users of the Animas River Trail all cross Main Avenue on foot and by bicycle. Pedestrians and cyclists struck by vehicles on Main Avenue, at the Camino del Rio intersection, and at the College Avenue crossing face head-impact scenarios where TBI is the primary concern. CDOT and the City of Durango installed raised crosswalks at the Camino del Rio and College Avenue intersection after documented crash history, but pedestrian exposure remains significant throughout the tourist season.

  4. Animas River Trail and outdoor recreation venues

    Durango's trail network and outdoor recreation infrastructure draw cyclists, hikers, and visitors whose head-injury events may not involve a motor vehicle at all. Bicycle crashes on the Animas River Trail, falls on slick winter trails, and collisions involving Purgatory Resort activities can produce TBIs that require the same neurological evidence-building approach as a vehicle crash claim. The cause of the injury determines the legal pathway and which deadlines apply, but the medical challenge of proving a functional brain injury that does not show on a routine scan is the same regardless of how it happened.

Understanding the diagnosis

Glasgow Coma Scale grades and what they mean for your La Plata County claim

CommonSpirit Mercy Hospital records a Glasgow Coma Scale score for most TBI patients. That score drives the medical classification in your chart and, in the insurer's hands, their first argument about claim value. Here is what each grade actually means for your case.

  1. Mild TBI (GCS 13 to 15): the most misused label in brain injury law

    Mild TBI describes a GCS score of 13 to 15 recorded at the scene or in the emergency department, often involving brief loss of consciousness under 30 minutes or only confusion at impact. Adjusters treat this as a small-case label. It is not. Post-concussion syndrome affects an estimated 15 to 30 percent of people with a mild TBI and can produce chronic headaches, vertigo, mental fog, emotional volatility, and sleep problems lasting months or years. For a Fort Lewis College professor, a Durango-area contractor, or anyone whose work depends on sustained concentration, that syndrome can make essential job functions impossible without the chart ever reading anything more alarming than mild concussion.

  2. Moderate TBI (GCS 9 to 12): the middle ground that produces serious long-term deficits

    Moderate TBI involves loss of consciousness lasting 30 minutes to 24 hours and often produces CT or MRI findings. Victims face cognitive deficits, personality changes, and physical impairments that require months of rehabilitation. These cases typically involve significant economic damages from extended medical care, occupational therapy, and lost income during recovery, all of which are uncapped under Colorado law.

  3. Severe TBI (GCS 3 to 8): lifetime care and the life-care plan

    Severe TBI means extended unconsciousness or coma, often accompanied by skull fracture or brain bleeding. Survivors can face permanent disability affecting movement, speech, memory, and executive function. These cases require a life-care plan projecting decades of medical needs, home modifications, attendant care, and adaptive equipment. The economic damages component of a severe TBI case is often the largest element of recovery precisely because Colorado does not cap it.

The Glasgow Coma Scale describes the first day, not the rest of the life. A mild TBI that ends a Durango-area teacher's ability to grade papers, track conversations, or manage a classroom is worth far more than an insurer's initial offer suggests, and we build the evidence to show why.

Building the proof

How we prove a Durango brain injury when the scan looks normal

Winning a La Plata County TBI claim against an insurer who argues the scan is clean requires a layered evidence approach. We build that case in four directions.

  1. Neuropsychological testing

    A multi-hour battery of standardized tests measures memory, attention span, processing speed, executive function, and emotional regulation against age-matched norms. The results produce objective data that answers the adjuster's argument that you appear fine. For Durango TBI victims, this testing often captures deficits in areas directly tied to their specific profession or daily demands, making the economic harm concrete and documented.

  2. Advanced imaging: DTI and functional MRI

    Diffusion Tensor Imaging maps the white-matter tracts of the brain and reveals microscopic tears that standard MRI misses entirely. Functional MRI shows the brain working harder than normal to perform tasks that were previously automatic, providing objective evidence of functional impairment even when structural imaging is normal. These tools are the primary technical answer to the clean-scan argument.

  3. Vocational and life-care expert testimony

    A vocational rehabilitation expert reviews your work history and post-injury capacity to show which roles you can still perform and at what wage, translating medical limits into lost earning capacity figures a jury can evaluate. For severe and moderate TBI cases, a certified life-care planner projects every medical expense from the present through life expectancy, covering neurology, physiatry, rehabilitation therapy, medications, adaptive equipment, and attendant care. That projection becomes the economic damages figure we pursue.

  4. Before-and-after witnesses and day-in-the-life documentation

    Colleagues, family members, coaches, and anyone who knew you before the injury testify to the specific changes they have observed. Day-in-the-life video documentation captures the practical reality of navigating daily demands with a TBI. This evidence humanizes the medical records and allows a La Plata County jury to understand the injury not just as a diagnosis but as a lived change to a specific person's life in this community.

Local knowledge

Durango courts. Durango trauma care. Durango brain injury corridors.

A La Plata County brain injury claim is grounded in local facts: the road or venue where it happened, the hospital that treated you, and the courthouse where your case may be filed. Here is the specific ground we work on for every Durango TBI client.

Courthouse

District Court, La Plata County, 6th Judicial District

A Durango brain injury lawsuit that exceeds the county-court jurisdictional limit is filed in the District Court, La Plata County, part of Colorado's 6th Judicial District, at 1060 East Second Ave, Suite 106, Durango, CO 81301. La Plata County jury pools draw from a community with a distinct outdoor and professional culture. Defense firms active in the 6th District and the local procedure they use all differ from Front Range litigation. We handle La Plata County District Court TBI cases directly from our Denver office and travel to Durango as the case demands. Your case is not handed off to local counsel.

Trauma Care

CommonSpirit Mercy Hospital, Level III Trauma Center

Serious injuries in La Plata County, including TBIs from crashes on US 550 and US 160, are typically treated at CommonSpirit Mercy Hospital (formerly Mercy Regional Medical Center) in Durango, the regional Level III Trauma Center for southwest Colorado. The CT scans, GCS assessments, and neurological records generated at Mercy Hospital in the hours following a crash or fall become the baseline evidence in your damages claim. We know how to read and use those records alongside advanced imaging performed later to document the full scope of a brain injury that the emergency scan did not fully capture.

High-Impact Roads and Venues

US 550, US 160, Main Avenue, and the Animas River Trail

US 550 runs through Durango as Camino del Rio and Main Avenue before climbing north as the Million Dollar Highway through Coal Bank Pass, Molas Pass, and Red Mountain Pass toward Silverton and Ouray. CDOT documented 53 crashes over a 15-mile stretch south of Ouray from 2020 to 2024, with 33 involving vehicles leaving the roadway. US 160 carries traffic through Durango toward Wolf Creek Pass to the east and Farmington, New Mexico to the west, with documented CDOT winter closure schedules for avalanche risk. Colorado State Highway 172 intersects the US 160 and US 550 corridor at south Durango. Main Avenue through downtown has a documented pedestrian and bicycle crash history, prompting CDOT and the City to install raised crosswalks at the Camino del Rio and College Avenue intersection. Fort Lewis College, the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad depot, and the Animas River Trail all generate pedestrian and cyclist exposure along these corridors throughout the year.

After the injury

What to do after a brain injury in Durango

The decisions you make in the days and weeks after a Durango TBI shape the medical outcome and the legal claim at the same time. These steps protect both.

  1. Get to CommonSpirit Mercy Hospital and follow every recommendation

    Serious TBIs in La Plata County are treated at CommonSpirit Mercy Hospital in Durango, the regional Level III Trauma Center. Go, even if symptoms feel mild. Brain injury symptoms can emerge or worsen hours or days after the initial impact. Follow every referral for neurology, imaging, and follow-up care. A gap in treatment is the first thing an insurer will use to argue the injury was not serious.

  2. Track every symptom in writing

    Keep a daily journal of headaches, cognitive fog, sleep problems, mood changes, and any activity you could not complete because of symptoms. This record becomes evidence that a standard medical chart does not always capture. Note the specific tasks affected: reading a report, following a conversation, driving on a familiar road, completing a workday without debilitating fatigue.

  3. Do not give a recorded statement before consulting an attorney

    Insurers contact TBI victims quickly, sometimes before the full scope of symptoms is apparent. A recorded statement made before you have undergone neuropsychological testing or advanced imaging can permanently undervalue your claim. Under Colorado's modified comparative fault rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111), anything you say that can be read as accepting blame for the crash reduces your recovery or eliminates it entirely if the insurer can push your fault share to 50 percent or more.

  4. Check for a government-entity notice deadline

    If a CDOT road design defect, a missing guardrail on US 550, or a dangerous condition maintained by the City of Durango contributed to your injury, a written notice of claim must be served on the relevant public entity within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). That deadline runs from the date you discovered or should have discovered the injury, not necessarily the date of the crash. Missing it bars the government-entity portion of your claim entirely.

  5. Do not settle before reaching maximum medical improvement

    Maximum medical improvement is the point where your condition stabilizes and your doctors can assess long-term prognosis. Settling a TBI claim before reaching that point means agreeing to a number before anyone knows the full cost of future care, the extent of cognitive recovery, or whether post-concussion syndrome will be permanent. Insurers often push early settlement offers precisely because they know the full picture of a TBI can look much worse six months later than it does on the day of the crash.

  6. Contact CGH Injury Lawyers

    The general tort filing deadline in Colorado is two years for most injury claims (C.R.S. 13-80-102), while motor vehicle crash claims carry a three-year deadline (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)). Because TBI symptoms can take time to fully manifest, early legal consultation protects evidence before it fades. We serve La Plata County clients from our Denver office and offer a free consultation with no fee unless we win. Call (303) 209-9395 or use the form on this page.

Compensation and Colorado law

What you can recover after a Durango brain injury, and how Colorado law shapes the amount

Colorado law lets TBI victims recover across three categories. Two of them carry no cap at all. The third is capped by statute, but in most serious TBI cases the uncapped economic and physical impairment categories make up the majority of the claim's value.

Economic damages (never capped)

  • Medical bills, past and future
  • Lost wages and lost income during recovery
  • Loss of future earning capacity
  • Life-care plan and lifetime care costs
  • Neuropsychological evaluation and advanced imaging costs
  • Rehabilitation, therapy, and medication
  • Home modifications and adaptive equipment

Non-economic and physical impairment damages

  • Pain and suffering (capped at $1.5 million for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5)
  • Emotional distress and anxiety
  • Loss of enjoyment of life
  • Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement (not capped at all under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5)
  • Loss of consortium for a spouse or family

Comparative fault and how insurers use it in Durango TBI cases

Colorado follows a modified comparative negligence rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111). You can recover as long as your share of fault is less than 50 percent, and your award is reduced by your percentage. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Insurers defending TBI claims on US 550 and US 160 regularly argue that the injured person was speeding for conditions, failed to maintain their lane on a mountain curve, or was not wearing appropriate safety equipment. Those arguments are designed to push your fault percentage toward the bar that eliminates your recovery entirely. We push back with road design evidence, crash reconstruction, and CDOT maintenance records.

Government-entity claims and CGIA caps

If a public entity such as CDOT contributed to the conditions that caused your TBI, a written notice of claim must be served within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)), running from the date of discovery rather than the date of injury. Recovery from a public entity is capped under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act at $505,000 per person and $1,421,000 per occurrence for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2026 (C.R.S. 24-10-114). If the at-fault driver acted with willful and wanton disregard, such as a driver who was intoxicated on the Million Dollar Highway, you may also pursue punitive damages, which Colorado caps at an amount equal to actual damages under C.R.S. 13-21-102.

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Your team

The team handling your Durango brain injury case

CGH Injury Lawyers is a eight-attorney Colorado firm founded in 2016, formerly Cheney Galluzzi and Howard. Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and has tried over 25 cases to verdict. Timothy G. Tarr has been recognized by Best Lawyers every year since 2023. Every Durango brain injury case is handled by a licensed Colorado attorney, not a paralegal. The firm serves Durango and La Plata County from its only office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Durango office.

ABOTA member on the team Tim Tarr: Best Lawyers in America since 2023 Over 25 cases to verdict Statewide Colorado coverage Bilingual EN / ES Free consultation No fee unless we win

Frequently asked questions

Durango brain injury questions, answered

How long do I have to file a brain injury lawsuit after a crash on US 550 or US 160?

If your TBI resulted from a motor vehicle crash, Colorado gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)). For other injury scenarios such as a fall or a pedestrian collision that does not involve motor vehicle use, the general tort deadline of two years applies (C.R.S. 13-80-102). If a public entity such as CDOT or the City of Durango contributed to conditions that caused your injury, a written notice of claim must be served within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). Because TBI symptoms sometimes surface or worsen weeks after the event, do not wait to consult an attorney while trying to monitor your own recovery. Contact CGH well before any deadline so your specific dates can be confirmed.

Can I have a serious brain injury even if the CT scan at Mercy Hospital looked normal?

Yes. Standard CT scans and routine MRIs detect bleeding and structural fractures. They regularly miss the microscopic axonal injuries that cause persistent headaches, cognitive fog, memory problems, and emotional changes in mild and moderate TBI cases. A clean emergency scan from CommonSpirit Mercy Hospital does not mean the absence of injury. Your case may require advanced imaging such as Diffusion Tensor Imaging, neuropsychological testing, and expert testimony from a neurologist or neuropsychologist to document functional impairment that routine imaging does not capture. Colorado courts recognize that the absence of visible structural damage is not the same as the absence of injury.

Does Colorado cap brain injury damages?

Colorado caps non-economic damages such as pain and suffering at $1.5 million for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5. Two categories are not capped at all: economic damages including medical bills, lost wages, and lifetime care costs, and compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement. In a serious Durango TBI case involving long-term cognitive deficits, the uncapped economic and physical impairment categories typically carry more value than the capped pain and suffering category. A life-care plan for a severe TBI can project decades of care needs that an early settlement will never approach.

What if I was partly at fault for the crash that caused my brain injury?

Colorado follows a modified comparative negligence rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111). You can recover as long as your share of fault is less than 50 percent, and your award is reduced by your fault percentage. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Insurers defending US 550 and US 160 crash claims routinely argue that the injured driver was exceeding safe speed for mountain road conditions or failed to maintain their lane on a curve. Those arguments are designed to push your fault share to the 50-percent bar. Early legal representation, including crash reconstruction and evidence preservation, is the best protection against that strategy.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have an office in Durango?

No. CGH Injury Lawyers has one physical office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We serve La Plata County and Durango brain injury clients from that office, file cases in the District Court, La Plata County, 6th Judicial District at 1060 East Second Ave, Suite 106, Durango, CO 81301, and travel to Durango as the case requires. We do not maintain a Durango address. You can reach us at (303) 209-9395 or through the form on this page.

What is post-concussion syndrome and does it affect my Durango TBI claim?

Post-concussion syndrome is a set of symptoms that persist for months or years after a mild TBI, affecting an estimated 15 to 30 percent of people who sustain one. Symptoms include chronic headaches, dizziness, memory problems, mental fog, emotional volatility, and disrupted sleep. For people in Durango whose work depends on sharp concentration, physical coordination, or sustained mental effort, post-concussion syndrome can prevent them from performing essential job functions even when they appear outwardly fine. Colorado law allows recovery for the full economic impact of those cognitive limits through lost earning capacity calculations, and the duration and severity of the syndrome is documented through neuropsychological testing and treating-physician records. Yes, it matters significantly to the value of your claim.

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CGH Injury Lawyers · Serving Durango and La Plata County from 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205