ClickCease
I-25 interchange at Erie Parkway, Colorado. CGH Injury Lawyers represents Erie DUI crash victims in Boulder County and Weld County courts from our Denver office.
Erie, Colorado

Erie DUI Accident Lawyers Who Pursue the Driver, the Bar, and Every Dollar the Law Allows

An impaired driver who hits you on I-25, SH-7, or US 287 in Erie has violated a safety law written to protect people exactly like you. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Erie DUI crash victims from our Denver office, files in Boulder County and Weld County courts, and pursues the driver, any bar that overserved them, and your own insurance when it has to step in. No fee unless we win.

No fee unless we win
Call (303) 209-9395 Start my free Erie case review

It's More Than Money.

Tell us what happened in Erie

100% confidential. No fee unless we win.

5-star rated on Google ABOTA trial advocate on the team Trial lawyers, not a settlement mill Filing in Boulder County and Weld County courts

Erie sits where I-25, SH-7, US 287, and SH-52 converge, pushing thousands of daily commuters and commercial vehicles through a fast-growing town that straddles Boulder and Weld counties. When a drunk or drugged driver causes a crash on any of those roads and sends you to UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont or Boulder Community Health's Foothills Hospital, your civil claim is already separate from the criminal case the district attorney will file. We represent the victim. We never defend the impaired driver.

  • Drunk and drugged driving laws are safety statutes written to protect the public from exactly this kind of harm. When an impaired driver violates those statutes and injures you, Colorado's negligence per se doctrine means the fact of impairment does most of the fault-proving work. The real fight in an Erie DUI crash is almost always over the value of your losses and which insurance policies must pay, not over whether the driver was careless.
  • Three deadlines can run at the same time after an Erie DUI crash, and they do not all start from the same date. The claim against the driver generally must be filed within three years of the crash (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)). A dram shop claim against a bar or restaurant that overserved the driver must be filed within one year after the alcohol was served (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)). A UM or UIM claim under your own policy runs on its own clock under C.R.S. 13-80-107.5. The dram shop window is the one most families miss while waiting for the criminal case to finish.
  • Erie's split-county geography adds another layer. A DUI crash on the western SH-7 corridor belongs in the Boulder County Combined Court in Longmont (20th Judicial District). A crash at the US 287 and SH-52 intersection or near the I-25 interchange at Erie Parkway falls in Weld County District Court in Greeley (19th Judicial District). CGH Injury Lawyers files and appears in both courts and identifies the controlling venue from the first call.

CGH Injury Lawyers represents Erie DUI crash victims from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. We pursue the at-fault driver, any bar or restaurant that put them on the road, and your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage when it has to fill the gap. The consultation is free, and you pay nothing unless we win.

Why your Erie DUI case is different

An impaired driver is already presumed at fault: what negligence per se means for your Erie claim

Proving fault in an ordinary car crash can be a close fight. In a DUI crash, the doctrine of negligence per se changes how much proof you need and where the real litigation energy goes.

Colorado recognizes that when a person violates a safety statute written to prevent a specific kind of harm to a specific class of people, that violation itself can establish negligence. Drunk and drugged driving laws exist precisely to keep impaired drivers from injuring other people on roads like SH-7 and US 287. An impaired driver who causes a crash on those roads fits that doctrine squarely.

In plain language, you generally do not have to spend your case proving that driving while impaired was careless. The impairment itself, once established through the police report, the DUI arrest, the toxicology results, and the body-camera footage from the Erie scene, does most of that work. What the case is actually about is the full scope of your harm and which insurance policies have to pay for it. That is where we focus.

  • Erie's high-volume corridors, including the I-25 interchange at Erie Parkway, the SH-7 stretch connecting Erie to Lafayette and Louisville, and the US 287 and SH-52 intersection flagged by CDOT for a funded safety overhaul, produce some of the most serious crash injuries in northern Colorado. When an impaired driver is involved, the severity typically increases.
  • The criminal case that follows the arrest is run by the district attorney on the state's behalf. You are a witness and a victim in that process, not a party who controls it. Your civil claim is the separate proceeding where you are the one pursuing compensation and where your attorney advocates solely for your recovery.
  • The criminal case must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Your civil claim uses a lower standard: more likely than not. A driver who avoids a criminal conviction can still be fully liable to you in the civil case. We do not wait for the criminal docket to close before protecting your rights.

Every source of recovery

Beyond the driver: who else can be held responsible for an Erie DUI crash

The impaired driver is the obvious defendant, but they are often not the only one and sometimes not the one with the deepest coverage. Colorado law provides two additional paths: a dram shop claim against the bar or restaurant that put the driver on the road, and your own insurance policy when no one else has enough to pay.

Dram shop liability: the bar or restaurant that overserved

  • Colorado's Dram Shop Act (C.R.S. 44-3-801) allows an injured person to sue a licensed alcohol vendor that willfully and knowingly served alcohol to a visibly intoxicated patron who then caused the harm.
  • The same statute covers vendors who serve anyone under 21. In that narrow situation, even a private social host who provided a minor with alcohol or a place to drink can be liable under C.R.S. 44-3-801(4).
  • A dram shop recovery is in addition to the driver's own liability. It adds a second source of compensation, often backed by a commercial liability policy with much higher limits than the driver's own coverage.
  • The critical catch is timing. The dram shop lawsuit must be filed within one year after the alcohol was sold or served (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)). Bar surveillance video and point-of-sale records are also routinely overwritten within weeks. This clock runs regardless of where the criminal case stands.

Your own coverage: UM and UIM when the driver cannot pay

  • If the drunk driver carried no insurance, your uninsured motorist (UM) coverage steps into the at-fault driver's shoes and compensates you just as the driver's own policy would have.
  • If the driver had a policy but the limits were too low to cover your losses, your underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage fills the gap between what the driver's insurer pays and the full value of your harm.
  • UM and UIM claims follow their own deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-107.5, the statute the Colorado Supreme Court applied in Pham v. State Farm, 2013 CO 17. That deadline does not necessarily match the three-year window for the claim against the driver, so both clocks must be tracked separately.
  • We identify every policy that could respond to your Erie DUI crash, including coverage you may not realize you carry, and make sure no available source of payment is overlooked.

Many Erie DUI victims lose their dram shop claim because they wait for the criminal prosecution to conclude before contacting a civil attorney. By that point, the one-year window for suing the bar has often already closed and the video evidence is gone. We begin mapping every defendant and every deadline at the very start of your case.

Local context

Erie courts. Erie trauma care. Erie DUI crash corridors.

Every element below is your local context, not a CGH office location. CGH Injury Lawyers operates from one office in Denver and serves Erie DUI crash victims from there. These are the courts, hospitals, and roads that define how an Erie DUI claim unfolds.

Courthouses, Split County

Two District Courts Serve Erie, Depending on Where the DUI Crash Occurred

Erie straddles Boulder County to the west and Weld County to the east, with the dividing line running roughly along County Line Road. A DUI accident lawsuit is filed in the district court for the county where the crash happened. For crashes in the Weld County portion of Erie, including the I-25 interchange at Erie Parkway and the US 287 and SH-52 intersection, the controlling court is Weld County District Court in the 19th Judicial District, located at 901 9th Ave, Greeley, CO 80631. For crashes in the Boulder County portion, including the SH-7 corridor, the controlling court is the Boulder County Combined Court in Longmont in the 20th Judicial District, located at 1035 Kimbark St, Longmont, CO 80501. CGH Injury Lawyers files and appears in both courts. We identify the controlling venue before anything else in an Erie DUI engagement.

Trauma Care

UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital and Boulder Community Health Foothills Hospital

The closest trauma center to Erie is UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont, a CDPHE-designated Level III Trauma Center with a dedicated Trauma and Acute Care Surgery program. DUI crashes at highway speeds on I-25 or US 287 frequently produce traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries, and severe orthopedic trauma that demand that level of care. For injuries requiring a higher designation, Boulder Community Health's Foothills Hospital at 4747 Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder is an American College of Surgeons verified Level II Trauma Center and the first Level II Trauma Center designated in Boulder County. Trauma and surgical records from either hospital document the full scope of your injuries and form the medical backbone of your damages claim. We obtain and organize those records as part of building every Erie DUI case.

DUI Crash Corridors

I-25, SH-7, US 287, and SH-52

Interstate 25 passes through Erie with a full interchange at Erie Parkway, carrying high-speed through traffic from across the Front Range. DUI crashes at this interchange tend to involve high-speed rear-end impacts and rollovers, with victims landing on the Weld County side of town. SH-7 (Baseline Road) is Erie's primary east-west arterial connecting the community to Boulder, Lafayette, Louisville, and Brighton; CDOT completed shoulder widening near Erie Airport Drive on SH-7 in January 2026, and the road is a frequent DUI patrol corridor for the Erie Police Department and Colorado State Patrol. US Highway 287 runs north-south through town and is a significant commercial trucking route. The US 287 and SH-52 intersection, identified by CDOT as having safety deficiencies significant enough to fund a full improvement project with new turn lanes, bicycle lanes, pedestrian ramps, and signal replacement, generates angle and rear-end crashes from conflicting movements that are especially dangerous when a driver is impaired. SH-52 ties into the US 287 corridor and carries agricultural and commercial traffic east toward Weld County.

Serving Erie

No Erie Office. Full Erie Representation.

CGH Injury Lawyers has one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We do not maintain a branch office in Erie. We serve Erie DUI crash clients from our Denver office, file suits in Weld County District Court in Greeley or the Boulder County Combined Court in Longmont depending on where the crash occurred, and meet clients wherever is most convenient. Distance is not an obstacle to full representation.

After the crash

What to do after a DUI crash in Erie

A DUI crash scene in Erie contains evidence that disappears fast. These steps protect your health and preserve the proof your civil claim depends on, with specific attention to facts that matter only in a drunk-driving case.

  1. Call 911 and request that impairment be documented

    A police report from the Erie Police Department, the Boulder County Sheriff, the Weld County Sheriff, or the Colorado State Patrol creates the official record of the crash location, the county, and the officer's observations of the driver's condition. Field sobriety tests, breath or blood draws, and body-camera footage from this scene are the foundation of both the criminal case and your civil claim. Ask officers to note every observation of impairment.

  2. Get medical care right away, even if you feel okay

    UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont is the closest Level III Trauma Center to Erie. For severe injuries, Boulder Community Health's Foothills Hospital is a Level II Trauma Center in Boulder. DUI crash injuries at highway speed, including traumatic brain injury, spinal trauma, and internal bleeding, often present with delayed symptoms. A gap between the crash and treatment gives insurers an argument to minimize your claim.

  3. Document the scene and note where the driver came from

    Photograph all vehicles, the road, traffic signals, skid marks, and your injuries. If witnesses say the driver was coming from a nearby bar or restaurant, collect that information. The name and address of the establishment where the driver was last served can become the basis for a dram shop claim, and your notes taken at the scene are often the only contemporaneous record of that fact.

  4. Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer

    The at-fault driver's insurer will call quickly. Any recorded statement can be used to shift fault onto you under Colorado's modified comparative fault rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111). If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Contact an attorney before speaking with any adjuster.

  5. Contact CGH Injury Lawyers as early as possible

    The dram shop clock runs from when the alcohol was served, not when you hire an attorney. Bar surveillance video is typically overwritten in 30 days or less. The one-year dram shop deadline (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)) and the UM or UIM deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-107.5 both run independently of the three-year window for the claim against the driver. The earlier we are involved, the more evidence we can preserve.

Compensation

What compensation can you recover after an Erie DUI crash?

A DUI crash rarely produces just one type of loss. Colorado law recognizes two broad categories of compensatory damages, and the conduct of a drunk driver can also open the door to punitive damages that ordinary car crashes do not reach.

Economic damages

  • Emergency care, surgery, and follow-up treatment at UCHealth Longs Peak or Foothills Hospital
  • Future medical costs, including long-term rehabilitation and specialist care
  • Lost wages during recovery and reduced earning capacity for permanent injuries
  • Vehicle repair or replacement and other out-of-pocket costs
  • In a fatal crash, funeral costs and the financial losses the family has sustained

Non-economic damages

  • Pain and suffering
  • Emotional distress and PTSD, which are common after violent DUI crashes at highway speed
  • Permanent scarring, disfigurement, and physical impairment
  • Loss of enjoyment of life

How the caps and punitive damages work in an Erie DUI case

  • For claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, Colorado caps non-economic damages such as pain and suffering at $1,500,000 (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5), with inflation adjustments starting in 2028. Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is not subject to that cap and has no ceiling. Economic damages such as medical bills and lost wages are never capped either. In serious DUI injury cases from I-25 or US 287 crashes, the uncapped economic and physical-impairment categories typically represent most of the recoverable value.
  • Drunk driving is the kind of willful and wanton conduct that can support punitive, or exemplary, damages on top of your compensatory recovery. Punitive damages in Colorado generally cannot exceed the amount of actual damages awarded (C.R.S. 13-21-102). They require proof of willful and wanton conduct, and we evaluate whether the facts of your Erie case support a punitive claim and pursue it when the evidence allows.
  • Colorado uses a modified comparative fault rule under C.R.S. 13-21-111. You can recover damages even if you were partly at fault, as long as your share of fault is less than 50 percent, and your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Against an impaired driver, insurers still try to shift blame, but the DUI evidence usually makes that effort difficult to sustain.

We structure every Erie DUI claim so that no category of harm you suffered is left on the table, and we explain clearly how each cap and source of recovery applies to your specific losses.

I wish I could leave more than 5 stars!
Grace M., 5-star CGH Injury Lawyers client review

How it works

How a DUI injury claim works for Erie clients

From your first call to resolution in the 19th or 20th Judicial District, here is the path a CGH Erie DUI case follows. Every case is prepared as if it will go before a jury, because that readiness is what produces fair settlements.

  1. Free case review

    We review the crash facts, identify every potential defendant including the driver, any dram shop, and your own UM or UIM carrier, and explain which deadlines are running and from what date. This costs you nothing.

  2. Immediate evidence preservation

    We obtain the crash report, DUI arrest records, toxicology results, and body-camera footage. If a bar or restaurant is a potential defendant, we send a preservation demand for surveillance video and point-of-sale records before the 30-day overwrite window closes. This step cannot wait.

  3. Parallel civil and criminal tracking

    We track the criminal prosecution through the 19th or 20th Judicial District, support a well-documented restitution request, and preserve the right to use any conviction or guilty plea as evidence in your civil case while keeping the civil claim moving on its own separate timeline.

  4. Identify and stack every insurance source

    We locate the driver's liability coverage, any dram shop commercial policy, and your own UM or UIM coverage, then confirm the UM or UIM deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-107.5. No available dollar is left behind.

  5. Build the complete injury picture

    We compile your full medical record from UCHealth Longs Peak or Foothills Hospital, treating-physician opinions on future care, and where needed a life-care plan that documents projected costs in detail. Insurers routinely minimize harm they cannot see on an X-ray, especially traumatic brain injuries and psychological damage after a violent DUI crash.

  6. Demand, negotiate, and try if needed

    We send a documented demand and negotiate from trial readiness. If an insurer will not be fair, we file in Weld County District Court (901 9th Ave, Greeley) for eastern Erie crashes, or in the Boulder County Combined Court in Longmont (1035 Kimbark St) for western Erie crashes. Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is an ABOTA member who has tried over 25 cases to verdict.

Your team

The attorneys handling your Erie DUI accident 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 Erie DUI injury case is handled by a licensed Colorado attorney, not a paralegal, and every case is prepared as if it will go before a Weld County or Boulder County jury.

ABOTA member on the team Tim Tarr: Best Lawyers in America since 2023 Over 25 cases to verdict Filing in Boulder County and Weld County courts Bilingual EN / ES Free consultation No fee unless we win

Frequently asked questions

Erie DUI accident questions, answered

How long do I have to file a DUI injury claim in Erie, Colorado?

The answer depends on who you are pursuing. The claim against the at-fault drunk driver must generally be filed within three years of the crash (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)). A dram shop claim against a bar or restaurant that overserved the driver has a much shorter one-year deadline running from when the alcohol was sold or served (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)). A UM or UIM claim under your own policy runs on its own separate deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-107.5. Because these clocks start from different events and different dates, the only safe approach is to have an attorney confirm every deadline that applies to your specific Erie crash as early as possible.

Can I sue the bar or restaurant that served the drunk driver in Erie?

Often, yes. Colorado's Dram Shop Act (C.R.S. 44-3-801) lets you sue a licensed vendor that willfully and knowingly served alcohol to a visibly intoxicated patron who then caused the harm, or that served anyone under 21. A dram shop recovery is in addition to what you recover from the driver's own policy, so it adds a second, often larger, source of compensation. The critical limitation is the one-year filing deadline after the alcohol was served (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)) and the rapid disappearance of bar surveillance video. These claims must be evaluated immediately.

Where would an Erie DUI accident lawsuit be filed?

It depends on which county the crash occurred in. Erie straddles Boulder County to the west and Weld County to the east, divided roughly by County Line Road. DUI crashes near the I-25 interchange at Erie Parkway or the US 287 and SH-52 intersection are typically in Weld County, meaning the lawsuit goes to Weld County District Court (19th Judicial District) at 901 9th Ave, Greeley, CO 80631. DUI crashes on the SH-7 corridor on the western side of Erie are typically in Boulder County, meaning the lawsuit goes to the Boulder County Combined Court in Longmont (20th Judicial District) at 1035 Kimbark St, Longmont, CO 80501. CGH Injury Lawyers files in both courts.

What if the drunk driver in Erie had no insurance or not enough?

This is common in DUI crashes, and it is where your own policy matters most. Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage steps in when the at-fault driver has no insurance at all. Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage fills the gap when the driver's limits are too low to cover your full losses. Both types of claims run on their own deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-107.5, the statute the Colorado Supreme Court applied in Pham v. State Farm, 2013 CO 17. That clock is separate from the three-year window for the claim against the driver. A dram shop claim against the bar can also provide a second source of recovery with its own, often higher, insurance limits.

Can I recover punitive damages against a drunk driver in an Erie civil case?

Sometimes. Drunk driving is the kind of willful and wanton conduct that can support punitive damages on top of your compensatory recovery. Under Colorado law, punitive damages generally cannot exceed the amount of actual damages awarded (C.R.S. 13-21-102), and they require proof of willful and wanton conduct. We evaluate whether the facts of your Erie case support a punitive claim, including the driver's blood alcohol level and whether they had prior DUI history, and pursue it where the evidence allows.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have an office in Erie?

No. CGH Injury Lawyers has one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We serve Erie DUI crash clients from Denver, file suits in the district court for the controlling county (Weld County District Court in Greeley or the Boulder County Combined Court in Longmont), and meet clients wherever is most convenient. Erie clients do not need to come to Denver to get full representation.

Related injury cases we handle for Erie clients

Erie practice areas

Statewide practice areas

Nearby cities

It's More Than Money.

A drunk driver hurt you in Erie. We handle everything else.

Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Filing in Boulder County and Weld County courts.

Tell us what happened in Erie

100% confidential. No fee unless we win.

(303) 209-9395

Read next: How Colorado DUI accident law works statewide