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I-70 mountain corridor west of Golden, Colorado. CGH Injury Lawyers represents DUI accident victims in Golden and Jefferson County from our Denver office.
Golden, Colorado

Golden DUI Accident Lawyers Who Pursue the Driver, the Bar, and Every Dollar You Are Owed

A drunk or drugged driver on I-70, US-6 (6th Avenue), or SH-93 can change your life in seconds. The criminal case that follows punishes the driver. Your civil claim is the separate process built to put money in your hands for medical bills, lost income, and everything you have been through. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Golden DUI accident victims from our Denver office, files in the Jefferson County District Court in Golden when insurers refuse to be fair, and collects nothing unless we win for you.

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Serving Golden from our Denver Office CGH Injury Lawyers 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201 Denver, CO 80205 (303) 209-9395 Se habla espanol
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  • Golden sits at the base of the Rocky Mountain foothills where I-70, US-6 (6th Avenue), and SH-93 converge. Those three corridors are high-speed, high-volume, and statistically dangerous. When an impaired driver on any of them causes a crash, Colorado law gives you a civil claim against that driver that is entirely separate from the criminal DUI case.
  • The claim against the at-fault driver must be filed within three years of the crash (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)). A dram shop claim against any Golden or Jefferson County bar that overserved the driver runs on a much shorter one-year clock (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)). A UM or UIM claim under your own policy runs on its own deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-107.5.
  • CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Golden office. We serve Golden DUI accident victims from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, file cases in the Jefferson County District Court at 100 Jefferson County Pkwy, Golden, CO 80401, and collect no fee unless we win your case.

The I-70 mountain corridor west of Golden, the US-6 expressway connecting Golden to Denver, and SH-93 running north through open terrain toward Black Hawk create a three-corridor crash environment that is unlike any other Jefferson County city. A drunk driver on one of these roads does not just violate a traffic law. In Colorado, that violation can establish negligence for you automatically through the doctrine of negligence per se, shifting the real dispute to what your harm is worth and which insurance must pay it. We pursue the driver, any bar or restaurant that put them on the road, and your own coverage when it has to step in. Free consultation. No fee unless we win.

The law that governs your case

Why a DUI driver in Golden is already presumed at fault: negligence per se

In most car crash cases you have to prove the other driver was careless. In a DUI crash, much of that work is done for you. Driving while impaired is a violation of a safety law written to protect the public, and Colorado courts treat that violation differently from ordinary carelessness.

Colorado follows the doctrine of negligence per se. When a person violates a safety statute that was designed to prevent the kind of harm that occurred, to someone the statute was meant to protect, that violation can itself establish negligence. Drunk and drugged driving laws exist precisely to keep impaired drivers from injuring others, so an impaired driver who causes a crash on I-70, US-6, or SH-93 fits that doctrine directly.

In plain terms, a victim of a Golden DUI crash usually does not have to argue about whether the drunk driver did something wrong. The fact of impairment, once established, handles most of that work. The real fight in these cases is almost always about the value of your harm and which insurance policies have to pay it. That is where cases are won or lost, and it is where we focus from the first day.

On corridors like the I-70 canyon segment west of Golden, where high speeds and steep grades magnify the consequences of driver impairment, the severity of harm in DUI crashes is often far greater than on urban surface streets. The law responds to that severity through uncapped categories of economic damages and through the potential for punitive damages when a driver's conduct is willful and wanton, which drunk driving frequently is.

Every source of recovery

Who can be held responsible beyond the drunk driver in a Golden DUI crash

The impaired driver is the obvious defendant, but they are rarely the only one. Colorado law lets us pursue the bar or restaurant that put them on the road and your own insurance when no one else can cover your losses. In Jefferson County, all three avenues need to be evaluated from day one.

The bar or restaurant: dram shop liability

  • Colorado's Dram Shop Act (C.R.S. 44-3-801) lets injured people sue a licensed vendor that willfully and knowingly served alcohol to a visibly intoxicated patron who then caused the harm. The same statute applies to vendors that serve anyone under 21.
  • Golden's Washington Avenue corridor and surrounding blocks include bars, breweries, and restaurants that serve significant alcohol volumes on weekends and during events. SH-93 to the north is a route frequently traveled after visits to establishments in Black Hawk and Central City, and I-70 connects Golden to mountain resort areas where alcohol service is common. Any of those establishments can be a dram shop defendant.
  • A dram shop claim under C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(c) is subject to its own damages limit (for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2026, that limit is $465,730), but it is an additional source of compensation on top of the driver's own liability coverage. In a serious DUI crash, having a second recovery source matters enormously.
  • Critical timing: a dram shop claim 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, point-of-sale receipts, and server statements disappear within weeks. We evaluate dram shop liability at the very start of every Golden DUI case, not after the driver's case is resolved.

Your own coverage: UM and UIM

  • If the Golden DUI driver had no insurance at all, your uninsured motorist (UM) coverage steps into their shoes and pays what they owed you.
  • If the driver had insurance but the limits are too low to cover a serious crash on I-70 or US-6, your underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage fills the gap.
  • UM and UIM 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. Do not assume it matches the three-year clock that governs the claim against the driver directly.
  • We identify every insurance policy that could respond to a Golden DUI crash. Minimum-limit policies are common among drunk drivers, making UM and UIM coverage the practical source of recovery in a significant share of these cases.
Two separate cases

The criminal case against the drunk driver versus your civil claim in Jefferson County

After a DUI crash in Golden, two entirely separate legal processes run in parallel. Many victims wait for one to finish before starting the other. That mistake costs people money. Here is why the two tracks are different and why the civil claim cannot wait.

The criminal case

  • Brought by the State of Colorado through the Jefferson County District Attorney. You are a victim and witness, not a party who controls decisions.
  • The goal is to punish the driver with jail, fines, license consequences, and probation.
  • A conviction or guilty plea can become powerful evidence in your civil claim, but the criminal case moves on its own schedule.
  • The criminal court may order restitution, but restitution is limited to documented out-of-pocket losses and is paid by the driver personally. It rarely covers full harm, and collection from an individual driver is often slow and partial.

Your civil claim

  • Brought by you against the driver and any other responsible party. You control the decisions with your lawyer's guidance.
  • The goal is full compensation: medical bills, future care, lost income, pain, suffering, and every other loss the law recognizes.
  • Paid by insurance in the vast majority of cases. Insurance has the funds that individual drivers rarely do.
  • Can proceed regardless of whether the driver is ever convicted, because civil cases use a lower burden of proof: more likely than not, not beyond a reasonable doubt.

The dram shop clock in particular does not care about the criminal timeline. A bar that overserved the driver must be sued within one year after the alcohol was served, whether or not the criminal case is still open. We protect your civil rights from the beginning, use any criminal conviction as evidence when it comes, and keep the civil claim moving on its own track so none of the shorter deadlines run out while the courtroom attention is elsewhere.

Where impaired driving does the most damage in Golden

Golden roads where impaired driving produces the most serious injury claims

The three corridors that converge on Golden create a DUI crash environment that is especially dangerous. High speeds, limited escape routes, steep grades, and proximity to alcohol-serving venues combine to produce severe outcomes when a driver is impaired. These are the specific roads where most Golden DUI injury claims arise.

  1. I-70 Mountain Corridor (Golden to the foothills)

    The I-70 segment running west from the Golden interchange into the Rocky Mountain foothills is one of Colorado's highest-exposure crash corridors under any conditions. Steep downhill grades, sharp curves, and a constant mix of commuter vehicles, recreational traffic, ski-season SUVs, and commercial trucks create speed differentials that are deadly when one driver is impaired. An impaired driver on this segment has almost no margin for error. Downhill speed builds quickly, stopping distances extend dramatically, and the terrain offers no forgiving runoff area. Rear-end crashes and lane-departure crashes on this corridor regularly result in the kind of serious injuries, including traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, that carry the largest compensation values under Colorado law.

  2. US-6 (6th Avenue) Expressway

    US-6 functions as a high-speed expressway connecting Golden to Denver's west side, carrying significant commuter and commercial volumes in both directions. The interchanges near Golden, including the connection to I-70 and the surface streets feeding into downtown Golden, are points where merging and lane-change conflicts concentrate at speed. Impaired drivers attempting to navigate interchange ramps or high-speed merge situations present an acute danger to surrounding vehicles. The expressway design means higher typical travel speeds and less reaction time than on conventional surface streets, amplifying the consequences of impairment.

  3. SH-93 (Black Hawk and Central City Corridor)

    State Highway 93 runs north from Golden through open terrain toward Black Hawk and Central City. This two-lane undivided road through the foothills draws casino-destination traffic, recreational motorcyclists, cyclists, and local commuters. It is also a route used by drivers returning from the Black Hawk and Central City casinos, establishments that serve alcohol throughout the day and into the late evening. Sharp curves, limited sight distances at certain sections, and the speed of through traffic create conditions where an impaired driver has almost no margin for error. Head-on and run-off-road crashes on SH-93 are among the most severe Golden road crashes in terms of injury outcomes.

  4. Washington Avenue and Downtown Golden

    Downtown Golden along Washington Avenue has restaurants, breweries, and bars that contribute to the pedestrian and vehicle environment, especially on weekend evenings. Pedestrians crossing Washington Avenue, cyclists using the Clear Creek trail corridor that runs through downtown, and drivers navigating the compact street network around Colorado School of Mines all share space with vehicles whose operators may be impaired. Pedestrian and cyclist crashes involving impaired drivers in areas with mixed foot and vehicle traffic are a documented pattern in communities with Golden's profile. A civil claim following such a crash is still governed by the three-year motor vehicle SOL under C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n) when the harm was caused by a motor vehicle.

After a DUI crash in Golden

What to do after a drunk driving accident in Golden

The steps you take in the first hours and days after a Golden DUI crash affect both your health and the value of your legal claim. Here is what matters most, in order.

  1. Call 911 and stay at the scene

    Call 911 immediately. A police report documenting the crash, the driver's condition, any field sobriety tests, and a DUI arrest creates the foundational evidence for your civil claim. If the officer does not conduct a field sobriety test, note any signs of impairment you observed yourself. The Golden Police Department and Jefferson County Sheriff both cover Golden; Colorado State Patrol handles crashes on I-70 and SH-93. Any of those reports can be obtained and used in your civil case.

  2. Get medical care at the appropriate level

    Serious Golden DUI crash injuries are typically treated at St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, approximately seven miles from Golden. St. Anthony is a Level I Trauma Center, staffed and equipped around the clock for the most severe crash injuries including traumatic brain injury and spinal cord trauma. Lutheran Medical Center is approximately eight miles away and handles a broad range of serious injuries as well. Even injuries that seem minor at the crash scene can conceal nerve damage, concussion, or internal injury. Get evaluated, follow every treatment recommendation, and keep every record from the day of the crash forward.

  3. Document the scene and preserve evidence

    Photograph your injuries, the vehicles, the road conditions, and anything else relevant: skid marks, road signs, crash debris, lighting conditions, and the grade or curve of the road if the crash was on I-70 or SH-93. Get the contact information of witnesses before they leave. If the driver came from a bar or restaurant on Washington Avenue, on SH-93 near Black Hawk, or from a mountain venue on or near I-70, note that too. That information is the starting point for a dram shop investigation.

  4. Know which clocks are already running

    The three-year claim deadline against the driver (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)) begins the day of the crash. The one-year dram shop deadline (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)) begins from when the alcohol was served. The UM and UIM deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-107.5 begins running independently. If a government vehicle or a public roadway defect played a role, a written notice of claim under C.R.S. 24-10-109(1) must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury. All of these can be running simultaneously after a single Golden crash.

  5. Call before you talk to the insurer

    The at-fault driver's insurer may contact you within days of the crash. Do not give a recorded statement and do not accept any offer without legal advice. Insurers know that recorded statements and early settlements lock in low values before the full picture of your injuries is clear. Call CGH Injury Lawyers at (303) 209-9395 from anywhere in Golden or Jefferson County before you say anything on the record to any insurance company.

Compensation

What you can recover after a DUI crash in Golden

Colorado law recognizes two broad categories of compensatory damages in a DUI injury claim, plus the potential for punitive damages when the driver's conduct is willful and wanton. In a serious Golden crash, the uncapped categories of economic loss and physical impairment are often where the highest value lives.

Economic damages (no cap)

  • Emergency care, surgery, and the full course of rehabilitation
  • Future medical costs and projected long-term care needs
  • Lost wages from missed work during recovery
  • Reduced earning capacity if the injury prevents a full return to work
  • Property damage to the vehicle and other personal property
  • In a fatal Golden DUI crash, the surviving family's financial losses and funeral expenses

Non-economic and punitive damages

  • Pain and suffering, emotional distress, and PTSD. These are common after the violence of a high-speed DUI crash on I-70 or US-6. They are capped at $1,500,000 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5).
  • Permanent scarring, disfigurement, and physical impairment. Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is not subject to the non-economic cap at all under Colorado law. In a serious crash on a mountain corridor like I-70, that uncapped category often represents the largest single component of the claim's value.
  • Loss of enjoyment of life and consortium losses.
  • Punitive damages. Drunk driving is willful and wanton conduct that can support an award of punitive damages on top of your compensatory recovery. Punitive damages in Colorado generally cannot exceed actual damages (C.R.S. 13-21-102), and require proof of willful and wanton conduct, but they are a real possibility in DUI cases and they change the leverage in settlement negotiations.

We structure every Golden DUI claim so that no category of harm is left out. Economic damages are built from the actual medical record plus expert projections of future care. The uncapped physical impairment category is documented carefully because it is where the law gives the most room and where insurers try hardest to minimize. We also evaluate punitive damages on the facts of each case and pursue them where the evidence supports it.

The defense to expect

What happens if the insurer says you were partly at fault for the Golden DUI crash?

Even when their driver was impaired, insurers look for ways to assign some blame to the victim. On high-speed corridors like I-70 and US-6, they will argue about speed, lane position, and reaction time. Colorado law has specific rules about how that defense plays out.

Colorado uses modified comparative fault (C.R.S. 13-21-111). You can recover damages as long as you were less than 50 percent at fault for the crash. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. If you are found, for example, 30 percent at fault, your recovery is reduced by 30 percent but you still receive 70 percent of the total damages. A plaintiff found 49 percent at fault can still recover 51 percent of their damages.

This is the rule insurers exploit most aggressively against Golden DUI crash victims. On I-70 or US-6, they will claim you were speeding, following too closely, changing lanes unsafely, or had some other contributing factor. Against an impaired driver who violated safety laws designed to prevent exactly this harm, those arguments typically have little factual support. We use the crash reconstruction, the toxicology evidence, the DUI arrest record, and the physical evidence from the corridor to keep the fault where it belongs.

The negligence per se doctrine adds important weight here. When the DUI driver violated a safety statute, that violation establishes their negligence as a matter of law. It does not eliminate comparative fault arguments, but it means the other side starts in a significantly weaker position when they try to minimize the driver's role.

Local knowledge

Golden courts. Golden trauma care. Golden DUI crash corridors.

A Golden DUI injury case lives in Golden: the court where the lawsuit is filed, the hospital that treated you, and the corridors where the crash happened. Here is the specific local ground a CGH attorney knows.

Courthouse

Jefferson County District Court, Golden (1st Judicial District)

A Golden DUI civil lawsuit that exceeds the county-court jurisdictional limit is filed in the 1st Judicial District of Colorado at the Jefferson County District Court, 100 Jefferson County Pkwy, Golden, CO 80401. The courthouse sits inside Golden itself. Local jurors from Jefferson County, including Golden residents who drive I-70 and US-6 daily, decide these cases. Defense firms that practice before Jefferson County judges and the local procedural landscape are the specific environment we navigate. The 1st Judicial District also covers Gilpin and Clear Creek counties, so DUI crashes on SH-93 heading toward Black Hawk and Central City, as well as crashes on I-70 through Clear Creek Canyon, can also end up before Jefferson County judges. We handle 1st Judicial District cases directly and file there regularly.

Trauma Care

St. Anthony Hospital (Lakewood) and Lutheran Medical Center

Golden does not have a hospital within city limits. St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, approximately seven miles from Golden, is a Level I Trauma Center. It is the primary destination for the most severe DUI crash injuries from the I-70 and US-6 corridors near Golden, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and polytrauma cases. Level I Trauma Centers have the highest level of continuous surgical and specialist availability in the trauma care system. Lutheran Medical Center is approximately eight miles from Golden and handles a broad range of serious injuries as well. When a Golden DUI crash sends someone to either of these facilities, the medical records, surgical notes, and billing statements from that treatment become the backbone of the damages claim. We work with those records from the start of every serious Golden DUI case to build a complete picture from emergency care through projected long-term costs.

High-Crash Corridors

I-70, US-6 (6th Avenue), and SH-93

Three distinct corridors converge on Golden and each brings its own DUI crash profile. I-70 is the main mountain corridor connecting Denver to the ski areas and mountain communities to the west. The canyon segment west of Golden combines steep grades, tight curves, and a mix of vehicle types at sustained high speeds. US-6 (6th Avenue) runs as an expressway between Golden and Denver's west side, carrying high commuter volumes at speed. The US-6 and I-70 interchange near Golden is a consistent concentration point for crashes. SH-93 runs north from Golden toward Black Hawk through open terrain on a two-lane undivided road. Casino traffic from Black Hawk and Central City uses SH-93 as a primary return route. All three corridors are within the Jefferson County District Court's jurisdiction and within the geographic reach of St. Anthony Hospital's Level I Trauma unit.

CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Golden office. We serve Golden DUI accident victims from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, and we come to you for meetings when needed. What you get is the legal work, the trial preparation, and the courtroom experience at the Jefferson County District Court in Golden. You pay nothing unless we win.

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Your team

The Golden DUI accident team behind your case

CGH Injury Lawyers is a eight-attorney Colorado personal injury firm founded in 2016, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard. Every Golden DUI injury case is handled by a licensed Colorado attorney, not a paralegal. We serve Golden from our Denver office and file in the Jefferson County District Court in Golden when needed.

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. When defense lawyers in Jefferson County know we will try a case in front of a Golden jury if we have to, demands are taken more seriously.

ABOTA member on the team Tim Tarr: Best Lawyers in America since 2023 Over 25 cases to verdict Jefferson County District Court Bilingual EN / ES Free consultation No fee unless we win
Frequently asked questions

Golden DUI accident: frequently asked questions

How long do I have to file a DUI injury claim after a crash in Golden?

The deadline depends on who you are pursuing. The claim against the at-fault driver must be filed within three years of the crash under Colorado's motor vehicle statute (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)). A dram shop claim against any Golden or Jefferson County bar or restaurant that overserved the driver runs on a much shorter clock: one year 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 run simultaneously, the only safe step is to have a lawyer confirm every deadline that applies to your case as early as possible after the crash.

Can I sue the bar that served the driver before a crash on I-70 or SH-93 near Golden?

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, or served anyone under 21, who then caused a crash. This applies to venues in Golden as well as to establishments in Black Hawk and Central City whose customers travel SH-93 southbound, and to mountain establishments along or near I-70. A dram shop recovery is in addition to the driver's own liability, giving you a second source of compensation. The one-year filing deadline (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)) makes early investigation of dram shop claims essential, because bar video and point-of-sale records disappear quickly.

What if the drunk driver had no insurance or not enough coverage for a serious I-70 crash?

This is common, and it is where your own policy matters. Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage steps in when the at-fault Golden driver had no insurance at all. Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage fills the gap when their limits are too low to compensate a serious I-70 or US-6 crash injury. These claims run on their own separate deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-107.5, the statute the Colorado Supreme Court addressed in Pham v. State Farm, 2013 CO 17. We examine every policy available, including coverage you may not realize you have, to make sure no available dollar is left unclaimed.

Does Colorado cap what I can recover after a Golden DUI crash?

It depends on the category of damages. Economic damages such as medical bills, future care costs, and lost wages are never capped. Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is also uncapped under Colorado law, which matters significantly in the high-severity crashes that I-70 and SH-93 produce. Non-economic damages such as pain and suffering are capped at $1,500,000 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5). Punitive damages, which drunk driving conduct can support, generally cannot exceed actual damages (C.R.S. 13-21-102). In a serious DUI crash, the uncapped categories often drive the highest value.

Can I recover if I was partly at fault for the DUI crash in Golden?

Often yes. Colorado uses modified comparative fault (C.R.S. 13-21-111). As long as you were less than 50 percent at fault, you can still recover damages, though your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Insurers use this rule aggressively after Golden DUI crashes on I-70 and US-6, where they argue about speed, lane position, and road conditions. Against an impaired driver who violated safety statutes designed to prevent exactly this harm, those arguments usually have little support, and we use the DUI evidence and crash reconstruction to keep the fault where it belongs.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have an office in Golden?

No. CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Golden office. We have one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We serve Golden DUI accident victims from that office, file Golden cases at the Jefferson County District Court in Golden (100 Jefferson County Pkwy, Golden, CO 80401), and meet you wherever is convenient. Call (303) 209-9395 at any time.

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

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CGH Injury Lawyers · 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205 · Serving Golden and Jefferson County · No Golden office