A spinal cord injury in Fort Collins changes a family's finances for decades. CGH Injury Lawyers represents paralyzed Larimer County residents and their families, working with life care planners, neurologists, and economists to build a damages model that reflects 40 to 60 years of real cost. We serve Fort Collins from our Denver office. No fee unless we win.
No fee unless we winIt's More Than Money.
CGH Injury Lawyers represents paralyzed Fort Collins and Larimer County residents and their families. We serve Fort Collins from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. We work with life care planners, neurologists, and economists to build a damages model that reflects the real 40 to 60 year cost of a spinal cord injury in northern Colorado. Free consultation. No upfront fees. No fee unless we win.
Spinal cord injuries reach people across every part of Fort Collins life. We represent injured workers, students, motorists, cyclists, pedestrians, and their families when someone else's negligence changes everything.
Understanding the legal rules that apply to your Larimer County case lets you evaluate insurance offers and avoid the mistakes that cost families millions.
Colorado follows modified comparative negligence. You can recover damages as long as your share of fault is less than 50 percent. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Below 50 percent, your award is reduced in proportion to your share. An insurer that tells you the crash was partly your fault is using this rule to reduce the payout. We build the liability case to limit your assigned fault and preserve the full value of your claim.
For claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, Colorado caps non-economic damages such as pain and suffering at $1.5 million, with inflation adjustments beginning in 2028. Two important categories are not capped at all: economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, life care plans) and compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement. In a severe spinal cord injury case, the uncapped categories almost always represent the bulk of the recovery, which is exactly why the life care plan matters so much.
Most personal injury claims carry a two-year deadline from the date the claim accrues. Motor vehicle injury claims carry a three-year deadline. Missing either deadline bars your claim entirely. Spinal cord cases are complex and require extensive expert preparation, so starting early is not optional, it is necessary. Contact an attorney as soon as your medical situation allows.
If your injury involved a city bus, a CDOT-maintained road defect, a Larimer County vehicle, or any other public entity, the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act requires a written notice of claim within 182 days after you discover the injury. Missing that notice bars the claim entirely, regardless of how strong the liability facts are. The CGIA also caps recovery against public entities 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(1)(b), as certified by the Colorado Secretary of State).
When a defective vehicle, safety equipment, or industrial machine caused the spinal cord injury, a product liability claim against the manufacturer may run alongside the personal injury claim against the at-fault party. Product liability personal injury claims must generally be filed within two years after the claim for relief arises, even when the defective product was a motor vehicle.
A Larimer County spinal cord injury case lives in Larimer County: the courthouse where your case is filed, the hospitals that documented your injury, and the roads where most crashes occur. Here is the ground we work on.
Courthouse
Personal injury cases that arise in Larimer County are filed in the District Court, Larimer County, located at the Larimer County Justice Center, 201 LaPorte Ave., Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO 80521, phone (970) 494-3500. Fort Collins is in Colorado's 8th Judicial District. Local rules, judicial temperament, and the local jury pool all affect case strategy and negotiation posture. We handle cases in this court directly.
Trauma Care: Level III
UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital is an ACS-verified and CDPHE-designated Level III Trauma Center with trauma verification dating to 1980. Many Fort Collins spinal cord injury victims receive initial stabilization here. Those records, including imaging, surgical notes, and the neurological classification of the injury, form the foundation of the medical damages case. Request them early and preserve every document.
Trauma Care: Level I
The region's only Level I Trauma Center is UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, approximately 25 miles south of Fort Collins. CDPHE designated it as northern Colorado's first and only Level I center on July 14, 2022. The most critically injured Fort Collins spinal cord patients are often transported here. The gap between a Level III and a Level I facility matters to the damages narrative: if the closest Level I was 25 miles away during a critical window, that fact is part of the story we document.
High-Danger Roads
Interstate 25 is the major north-south artery through Fort Collins and the surrounding region. College Avenue (US 287) is Fort Collins's primary north-south street and sits on the city's High Injury Network, where 8 percent of roads account for 63 percent of fatal and serious injury crashes. The College Avenue and Drake Road intersection has been ranked the most dangerous in Fort Collins by excess expected crash cost. The 30-mile US 287 corridor north of Fort Collins to the Wyoming border recorded 13 fatal crashes with 18 deaths between 2017 and 2024, earning it a documented "Highway of Death" designation in media and CDOT data. State Highway 14 (Mulberry Street) connects downtown Fort Collins to I-25 at Exit 269. Knowing which road your crash occurred on affects the investigation, the parties involved, and whether a government entity must be noticed under the CGIA.
Local Hazards
CDOT documents black ice as a documented statewide Front Range hazard affecting Fort Collins winter driving. Downslope Chinook winds along the Front Range can produce gusts of 60 to 100-plus mph, enough to overturn vehicles and cause reduced visibility. The US 287 north corridor recorded 103 wildlife-involved crashes in a recent five-year study. These environmental facts become relevant when establishing negligence, road-design liability, or a government entity's failure to warn.
The spinal cord is divided into four regions. Where the injury occurs determines what abilities are preserved, what functions are lost, and what lifetime care costs look like over 40 to 60 years.
Injuries to the neck region affect all four limbs. C1-C4 injuries are the most severe and often require ventilator support and 24-hour attendant care. C5-C8 injuries allow progressively more arm and hand function. These injuries carry the highest lifetime care costs, estimated by the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center's 2025 data sheet at more than $4.5 million for C5-C8 tetraplegia and more than $6.2 million for high cervical injury at age 25, in 2024 dollars. For a Fort Collins family, add altitude-related respiratory risks at elevation and the cost of all-wheel-drive vehicle conversions for winter driving.
Thoracic injuries paralyze the legs while arm and hand function remain intact. T1-T6 injuries affect trunk stability and sitting balance. Lower thoracic injuries preserve more trunk control. Most people with thoracic injuries can live independently with home modifications and adaptive equipment, though accessible renovations in Fort Collins's housing stock add a substantial cost of their own.
Many people with lumbar and sacral injuries retain some leg movement and may walk with braces. They often face ongoing bowel and bladder dysfunction and periodic surgery. Lifetime costs are lower than cervical or thoracic injuries but still significant for supplies, medication, and equipment. The NSCISC's 2025 data sheet estimates roughly $2.1 million for an injury that remains motor functional at age 25, in 2024 dollars.
The ASIA scale grades injuries from A to E. ASIA A is a complete injury with no motor or sensory function below the neurological level. ASIA B through D are incomplete injuries with varying preserved sensation or movement. Incomplete injuries create a planning problem: the extent of recovery often is not known for 12 to 18 months after the injury. Insurance companies exploit that uncertainty, offering settlements based on optimistic projections that rarely materialize. A sound life care plan accounts for both the chance of improvement and the reality that many people plateau well short of independence.
We serve Larimer County from our Denver office. We do not publish spinal cord injury settlement figures, because the value of a case depends entirely on the injury level, the life care plan, and what it costs to live with a spinal cord injury in northern Colorado over the next 40 to 60 years. What we offer is the work, not a headline.
Life Care Plans
We bring in certified life care planners, neurologists, and economists to build a damages model that reflects 40 to 60 years of real cost in northern Colorado, not what the insurer wants to pay for the next ten.
Serving Fort Collins
We serve Fort Collins and all of Larimer County from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. Catastrophic injury cases require the full resources of an experienced trial firm, not a local generalist. We appear in the District Court, Larimer County, and handle Larimer County cases directly.
ABOTA
Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Insurers respond differently to a demand when they know the firm behind it will try the case.
Honest Evaluation
We do not take spinal cord injury cases we cannot honestly stand behind. If the facts of your Fort Collins case cannot establish liability, we will tell you in the free review rather than sign you up and let the case stall. When the law is on your side, we fight for every dollar the life care plan supports.
Catastrophic Injury Focus
CGH Injury Lawyers focuses on catastrophic personal injury cases. Spinal cord injuries are among the most complex cases in personal injury law because of the lifetime damages and the need for expert witnesses across neurology, life care planning, and economics. This is not a sideline for us.
Bilingual
Spanish-speaking staff and attorneys serve Fort Collins and Larimer County's Spanish-speaking community. No language barrier between you and your legal team.
No Win, No Fee
You pay nothing out of pocket for legal fees. We advance all case costs, including life care planners and medical experts, and collect only from a settlement or verdict.
The decisions made in the first weeks after a spinal cord injury determine whether a family has the financial foundation to provide a full lifetime of care. Here is the path.
UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins is a Level III Trauma Center. The region's only Level I center is UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, about 25 miles south. For the most severe injuries, transport to the Level I center and its imaging and surgical resources is often critical. Your medical record from either facility becomes the cornerstone of the damages case.
Request your records from both hospitals, every specialist, and every follow-up appointment. The ASIA classification in the acute record, the operative notes, and the imaging reports are the documents that define the injury level, and the injury level defines the lifetime cost.
The other party's insurer may call within days of the injury. They are not calling to help. Do not give a recorded statement or sign any release before speaking with us. A recorded statement given in the acute phase of a spinal cord injury can be used to undercut the severity of the long-term damage.
If the crash involved a city bus, a CDOT road defect on I-25 or US 287, or a Larimer County vehicle, the 182-day CGIA notice deadline starts running from the date you discover the injury. Missing it eliminates the government-entity claim regardless of how clear the liability is. We confirm whether a government entity is involved and handle the notice.
We review how the injury happened, identify every potentially liable party, and explain your rights at no cost and no obligation. We serve Fort Collins from Denver and can begin work on your Larimer County case immediately. Call (303) 209-9395.
I wish I could leave more than 5 stars!
A life care plan is the document that converts a lifetime of medical and non-medical needs into a dollar figure the court can award. Without one, the insurer's low offer looks reasonable. With one, the real cost is on the record. The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center puts ongoing yearly expenses at $55,900 to $244,879 depending on injury level, in 2024 dollars, and that figure excludes lost wages entirely.
Sound life care plans account for inflation using the Medical Consumer Price Index, which historically runs 3 to 4 percent a year. Defense attorneys challenge every line item. We build the plan to survive that fight.
The same defenses appear in almost every catastrophic injury case in Colorado. Knowing them in advance is how we prevent them from working.
Insurers routinely inflate the injured person's share of fault. Under C.R.S. 13-21-111, if they push your fault to 50 percent or above, you recover nothing. Our job is to build the liability case so that your assigned fault stays far below 50 percent and your award is reduced as little as possible. On College Avenue, I-25, or US 287 north, there is often physical evidence, witness data, and traffic engineering history that rebuts inflated fault assignments.
Incomplete spinal cord injuries create legitimate uncertainty about recovery. Insurers exploit that uncertainty by offering early settlements based on best-case projections that rarely materialize. We build the life care plan to account for both a plateau scenario and partial improvement, so the settlement reflects the realistic range rather than the insurer's most optimistic guess.
Defense experts routinely argue that a generic wheelchair is sufficient instead of a custom power chair, that a family member can provide care for free, or that the home modification budget is excessive. We prepare the life care plan with the specific Fort Collins housing costs, equipment costs, and care rates that apply in northern Colorado, and we defend every line item with medical necessity documentation.
When an injured person or their family does not consult an attorney promptly, the defense sometimes argues that evidence was lost or a deadline was missed. We protect your claim by opening an investigation early, preserving crash scene evidence, issuing spoliation letters to any party holding electronic data, and confirming every applicable deadline including the 182-day CGIA notice if a government entity is involved.
In the weeks after an injury, when a Fort Collins family is overwhelmed with ICU visits and rehabilitation decisions, insurers present offers that sound substantial. The math tells a different story.
Personal injury cases arising in Larimer County are filed in the District Court, Larimer County, located at the Larimer County Justice Center, 201 LaPorte Ave., Suite 100, Fort Collins, CO 80521. Fort Collins is in Colorado's 8th Judicial District. Most cases settle before a lawsuit is ever filed, but local court knowledge shapes case strategy and negotiation. CGH Injury Lawyers appears in this court directly.
UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins is an ACS-verified and CDPHE-designated Level III Trauma Center with verification since 1980. The region's only Level I Trauma Center is UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, approximately 25 miles south, designated by CDPHE on July 14, 2022. The most critically injured patients are often transported to the Level I facility. Both facilities generate the medical records that anchor your damages case.
For most personal injury claims the deadline is two years from the date the claim accrues under C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a). Motor vehicle injury claims carry a three-year deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n). If the crash involved a government vehicle or a CDOT road defect, a written notice of claim must reach the public entity within 182 days of discovering the injury under C.R.S. 24-10-109(1), and missing that notice bars the government-entity claim entirely. Contact an attorney as soon as possible; these cases require years of expert preparation and you cannot afford to lose the early window.
Yes, in most cases. Colorado follows modified comparative negligence under 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 of fault. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Insurers routinely argue inflated fault percentages to shrink or eliminate a payout. We build the liability case to keep your assigned fault as low as the evidence supports.
Non-economic damages such as pain and suffering are capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5. For claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, the cap is $1.5 million, with inflation adjustments beginning in 2028. However, two significant categories are not capped at all: economic damages (medical bills, life care plans, lost wages) and compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement. In a severe spinal cord injury case, the uncapped categories represent the bulk of the recovery.
Claims against a public entity are governed by the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act. A written notice of claim must be filed within 182 days after you discover the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). That notice is a jurisdictional prerequisite: missing it bars the claim. Recovery from a public entity is also capped at $505,000 per person and $1,421,000 per occurrence for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2026, under C.R.S. 24-10-114(1)(b), as certified by the Colorado Secretary of State. These are hard limits that do not adjust for the severity of the injury.
A life care plan is a document built by certified planners, often nurses or rehabilitation specialists, that projects every future medical and non-medical need over the injured person's life expectancy. In a legal case it becomes the foundation for economic damages. Without one, the insurer's low offer looks reasonable. With one, the full 40 to 60 year cost is on the record and must be addressed, not ignored. For Fort Collins families, the plan must account for the higher cost of accessible housing modifications in northern Colorado, all-wheel-drive vehicle conversions, and winter-weather equipment maintenance.
Be cautious. Early offers often arrive before the full extent of the injury is known, sometimes before the ASIA classification has stabilized, and represent a fraction of actual lifetime costs. A $1 million offer can fall more than $3.5 million short for a C5 tetraplegia case that carries lifetime care costs above $4.5 million, according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center's 2025 data sheet, in 2024 dollars. Once a settlement is accepted, it is final. There is no going back. Have an attorney value the claim against a life care plan before signing anything.
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Tell us what happened in Fort Collins. We will review your Larimer County spinal cord injury case at no cost and no obligation, and we can begin building your claim immediately.
It's More Than Money.
Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Serving Fort Collins and all of Larimer County from our Denver office.
Read next: How we build Colorado spinal cord injury claims
CGH Injury Lawyers · 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205 · Serving Fort Collins from our Denver office
