A hand burn can affect your paycheck, your trade, and everyday tasks. From our Denver office, we help people burned in Fort Collins put the working cost of that injury in writing.
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A burn to your hands or fingers can make it hard to grip a wrench, type a report, work a kitchen line, or lift your kids. If that happened to you in Fort Collins, you're probably asking whether you'll get back to your job, who covers the bills in the meantime, and when it makes sense to call a Fort Collins burn injury lawyer.
To speak with a person at CGH Injury Lawyers, call (303) 209-9395. If writing is easier right now, send us the details through our contact page.
Who may owe you compensation depends on where the burn happened and what caused it.
A lithium battery that swells and ignites in your palm, a pressure cooker lid that blows off, and a space heater that sets a rug on fire. Colorado's product liability definitions cover suits against makers and sellers whatever legal theory the injured person relies on, so a claim can rest on more than one legal theory, including negligence and strict liability (C.R.S. 13-21-401(2)). A strict liability claim looks at whether the item was defective and whether that defect caused your burn.
Workers' compensation is generally the only claim against your employer (C.R.S. 8-41-102). Those benefits may pay part of your losses. An outside party can be different, such as the manufacturer of a faulty welding rig or a property owner who isn't your employer. You can accept workers' compensation and still bring a claim against that outsider for the losses those benefits leave uncovered (C.R.S. 8-41-203).
Scalding tap water from a heater set far too hot, a gas fireplace a landlord was told was leaking, grease left smoldering in a restaurant vent hood. When the condition of a building or its grounds causes the burn, Colorado's premises statute applies (C.R.S. 13-21-115), and it can reach a landlord. The court determines your status based on the facts. An invitee's claim can generally reach dangers the owner knew of or should have known of, and licensees typically have to prove the owner actually knew.
A crash can split a fuel line, start an electrical fire, or spray battery acid. A burn from that fire can be part of a claim against a driver whose negligence caused the crash.
Property law, fault rules, damage limits, and deadlines all apply to a Fort Collins burn claim.
Colorado's Premises Liability Act governs injuries caused by the state of a property or by what goes on there. Its reach goes past the owner of record. Among the people the law treats as a landowner is a "person legally responsible for the condition of real property," a description that can fit a landlord.
Your reason for being on the property sets the level of care you were owed. Colorado sorts people on land into three groups, trespassers, licensees, and invitees, and the court makes that call from the evidence. Invitees receive the greatest protection.
A customer browsing a hardware store or a client at a business office may fit, because the statute defines invitees as people there on business both sides care about or people who came because the owner held the place open to the public.
An invitee's claim can cover dangers the owner "actually knew about or should have known about," if the owner unreasonably failed to use reasonable care.
The Act treats a social guest as a licensee, and a licensee's claim generally needs proof of the owner's actual knowledge (C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(b)). Invitees on land classified for property tax purposes as agricultural or vacant must also prove the owner actually knew.
Under Colorado's comparative negligence statute, a plaintiff whose negligence was not as great as the defendant's can still recover, with damages reduced by the plaintiff's percentage. If the plaintiff's share matches or exceeds the defendant's, the court enters judgment for the defendant.
Picture a customer burned by a restaurant steam table that the owner had been warned was overheating. A jury might assign the customer 15 percent and the owner 85. The customer's damages would then shrink by 15 percent. An adjuster's questions about what you were doing just before the flare-up can bear on that percentage.
Colorado law calls harm with no price tag non-economic loss, and it includes pain and suffering, emotional stress, and a reduced quality of life. For claims arising on or after January 1, 2025, those damages top out at $1.5 million. Medical malpractice and wrongful death cases have separate rules, and the figure is adjusted for inflation starting January 1, 2028.
Because the limit covers noneconomic loss alone, a hospital invoice or a missed paycheck isn't counted against it (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(3)). Subsection (5) goes further, stating that nothing in the section limits compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement. A burned hand that no longer closes around a tool may count as physical impairment under that language.
Those two- and three-year clocks generally start when both the injury and its cause were known to you, or should have been (C.R.S. 13-80-108). A burned child's deadline can follow different rules. Because the correct date turns on who is at fault and how the burn happened, get it confirmed by a lawyer.
Local courts, hospitals, and firefighters keep records that can matter to a Fort Collins burn claim.
Where a case may be filed
Larimer County lists Fort Collins among the municipalities located completely inside the county and names it the county seat. Larimer County is part of the 8th Judicial District. The Colorado Judicial Branch lists the Larimer County Justice Center at 201 LaPorte Ave, Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO 80521, and describes it as combined county and district courts. It also lists a second county location, the Loveland County Court. Where a lawsuit is filed depends on the facts.
Trauma care in Fort Collins and Loveland
UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital, at 1024 S. Lemay Avenue appears on the Colorado health department's designated trauma facility list as a Level III facility. The same list shows Banner Fort Collins Medical Center, at 4700 Lady Moon Dr, as Level IV and places a Level I trauma center, Medical Center of the Rockies, in Loveland. Request copies of your chart from each provider along the way.
Fire response and investigation
Poudre Fire Authority says it helps protect 230 square miles in Northern Colorado, and its service area takes in the City of Fort Collins and the Poudre Valley Fire Protection District. The authority's Fire Investigation Unit is responsible for determining where and how a fire started. When fault is in dispute, those findings may help show how the fire began.
Where to find us
Fort Collins has no CGH office. Our lawyers work from Denver.
Our firm doesn't publish burn settlement figures. A claim's value turns on the burn's depth, size and location and on what it has done to your job.
A hand burn can affect work in the trades, food service, or health care. Vocational experts, medical economists, and burn surgeons help us assemble a Life Care Plan. It spells out your future treatment and how the burn has affected your work.
MedlinePlus explains, "Full-thickness burns (formerly known as third-degree burns) affect the deep layers of skin." Your chart records how deep the burn went and how much of your body it covered, and we start with those entries.
CGH Injury Lawyers, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, was founded in Denver in 2016, and the firm prepares each case as if it will be tried. Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
If Colorado law or the facts won't support a claim, we'll tell you so plainly.
If Spanish is easier for you, call (303) 835-9177.
Once you're safe and getting treatment, these steps help preserve what a claim may later need.
Call 911 in an emergency. MedlinePlus also warns, "The most serious burns can be painless."
Take dated photos every few days, including any time you try to grip, write or use a tool. Photograph the scene and the thing that burned you.
Save pay stubs, schedules showing missed shifts, and any note from a doctor limiting what you can do on the job.
A battery, appliance, tool or piece of clothing may need to be examined. Ask that a damaged vehicle be kept, not scrapped.
Before you give a recorded statement to an insurance company, you can ask to speak with a lawyer first. You can reach us at (303) 209-9395.
Depending on the setting, that could be your employer, the property manager, the store or the police.
The damages available in any case depend on its facts. Knowing the categories and which ones have limits helps you judge whether an offer is complete.
Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement, and lost hand function may be compensated as physical impairment. Compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement fall outside the limits in C.R.S. 13-21-102.5, per subsection (5).
Recovery from a public entity has its own statutory maximums, recalculated for inflation by the Colorado Secretary of State once every four years (C.R.S. 24-10-114).
A manufacturer's insurer may argue the item worked as designed. Strict liability turns on whether a defect existed and whether it caused the injury, which is why keeping the burned product matters.
An adjuster may argue you started the fire or made your injury worse. Under Colorado's comparative negligence statute, fault on your side lowers a negligence award by your percentage and bars it once your share equals or exceeds the other side's. We counter those arguments with fire origin analysis, maintenance records and expert testimony.
An early offer may assume a quick return to full duty. If your hands won't allow that, a Life Care Plan prepared with vocational experts shows the difference in writing.
Taking workers' compensation doesn't shield an outside company whose negligence burned you. If workers' compensation has paid benefits, its insurer may have a right to be repaid from what you recover from the outside party (C.R.S. 8-41-203).
Payment can come from more than one place, depending on how the burn happened.
The general limit for Colorado tort suits is two years (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a)). Tort claims arising out of the use or operation of a motor vehicle generally have three years (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)), though a strict liability claim over a defective vehicle part generally stays at two years (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)(II)). A claim involving a government body has a written notice step that can come due much sooner. Ask a lawyer to confirm which date applies to you.
Two Larimer County court locations appear on the Colorado Judicial Branch site: the Larimer County Justice Center, 201 LaPorte Ave, Suite 100, in Fort Collins, which houses combined county and district courts, and the Loveland County Court. Where a lawsuit is filed depends on the facts, and the county sits in the 8th Judicial District.
C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5) keeps that statute from limiting compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement. The same statute's $1.5 million noneconomic limit, which covers pain and suffering, applies, except in medical malpractice and wrongful death cases, to claims arising on or after January 1, 2025. Medical bills and lost pay are economic losses and fall outside that limit. Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement.
In a negligence claim, you may. Under C.R.S. 13-21-111, your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault. Recovery is barred if your share matches or exceeds the other side's.
No. Our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. The number is (303) 209-9395.
Act quickly. More than one limitation rule can apply to a claim against a public entity, so have a lawyer confirm the deadline. If one of its employees on the job, or the public entity itself, may be at fault, written notice must be filed within 182 days after you discover the injury, and the claim is forever barred without it (C.R.S. 24-10-109). The Secretary of State also updates the maximum amounts recoverable from government bodies every four years (C.R.S. 24-10-114).
Occasionally. The manufacturer is a possible defendant. As for the store, Colorado generally limits product liability claims against a seller that didn't make the product (C.R.S. 13-21-402). Exceptions include a seller who knew about the defect and a principal distributor or seller when a court can't get jurisdiction over the manufacturer (C.R.S. 13-21-401(1), 13-21-402).
As a customer, you may qualify as an invitee under Colorado's premises statute, and invitees can generally recover for dangers a business knew of or should have known of (C.R.S. 13-21-115). A judge will assign the category based on the evidence. If a defective fryer, heater, or other product caused the burn, the company that made it may also be liable.
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When a burn has left you unsure whether you can keep doing your job, phone (303) 209-9395 or use the contact page. We'll listen to what happened, explain how Colorado law may apply, and give you our honest view.
Related reading: a Colorado burn injury attorney overview of statewide burn claims, the Denver burn injury lawyer page, and pages about hiring a Fort Collins car accident lawyer or a Fort Collins premises liability lawyer after a burn.
Learn more on our Fort Collins personal injury lawyers page.
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