A chemical splash in a processing plant, a flash from a welding line, or a hydraulic hose that sprays hot fluid across a field. Workplace burns in Weld County can involve an employer, an equipment maker, and a property owner all at once. We help injured workers in Greeley sort out who may be responsible, all from our Denver office.
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You went to work and ended the shift in an emergency room with a burn. Now there's a workers' compensation form to fill out, a supervisor with questions, and a doctor saying it will be weeks before that arm is usable. Whether some company besides your employer ought to pay is a question worth asking a lawyer in Greeley who specializes in burn injuries.
Phone CGH Injury Lawyers at (303) 209-9395, or leave a brief description of the accident on our contact page.
Colorado applies different rules depending on how the burn happened.
MedlinePlus, from the U.S. National Library of Medicine, names industrial fires, faulty industrial equipment, scalding from steam or hot liquids, and electrical and chemical burns among the ways people are burned. On a job site, one hazard can trace back to several companies. Workers' compensation is generally the only claim against your own employer (C.R.S. 8-41-102), and it may pay benefits. A company that isn't your employer, such as an equipment manufacturer, can be a different matter. Colorado lets an injured worker take workers' compensation and also pursue that outside business for damages the benefits don't cover (C.R.S. 8-41-203).
A grain dryer's burner assembly, a battery charger, a propane heater in a shop, a pressure cooker at home. A product that burns you can be the subject of a lawsuit resting on negligence, strict liability or other theories (C.R.S. 13-21-401(2)), whichever fit the facts. A strict liability claim looks at whether the item was defective and whether that defect caused your burn.
A collision can end in a fuel fire, a chemical spill, or contact with a scorching engine part. A burn from the wreck can be part of a claim against a driver whose negligence caused the crash. Crash claims run on their filing period.
A water heater with a failed pressure valve, sparking wiring in an older rental, and a grease fire at a restaurant. When a burn happens on someone else's property because of its condition, Colorado's premises law (C.R.S. 13-21-115) governs the claim against the person responsible for that property, and that can include a landlord. In a rental, the court decides whether you're an invitee or a licensee. Invitees can generally recover for dangers the owner knew about or should have known about, and licensees typically have to show the owner actually knew.
A workplace burn case can involve property law, fault rules, damage limits, and several deadlines at the same time.
Tort claims: generally two years. Negligence suits and suits over unsafe property generally have to be filed within two years of accrual (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a)), and strict liability suits over a defective product share that limit (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(b)).
Motor vehicle claims. 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)). Suing a parts maker in strict liability over a defect in that vehicle is carved out, and a two-year period generally still applies (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)(II)).
182 days when government is involved. Some job sites and roads belong to a city, county or other public body. Where a public entity or one of its employees on the job may bear responsibility, written notice must be filed within 182 days after you discover the injury. The count runs even while you're still learning the facts. Missing the notice forever bars the claim (C.R.S. 24-10-109).
Under C.R.S. 13-80-108, the two- and three-year periods generally run from the day you became aware, or should have become aware, of the harm and what produced it. A minor's claim may run under separate timing rules. With so much depending on who was at fault and how you were hurt, a lawyer should check your date.
The premises statute reaches a "person legally responsible for the condition of real property," and that can include a landlord. Whether you were a trespasser, a licensee or an invitee shapes what that party owed you, and a judge makes that classification.
Colorado's definition of an invitee covers two kinds of entrants: those who come to do business in which both they and the landowner have an interest, and those who respond to the owner's signal that the public is welcome. A feed delivery driver or a service technician working on another company's property might qualify. Unless the land is classified for property tax purposes as agricultural or vacant, an invitee can recover for dangers the owner actually knew about or should have known about.
On land classified for property tax purposes as agricultural or vacant, the rule is narrower: an invitee needs proof that the owner actually knew about the danger. A social guest counts as a licensee, and licensees generally need the same kind of proof (C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(b)).
Colorado compares negligence. As long as yours was not as great as the defendant's, the court reduces your damages by your percentage and you recover the rest. If your share equals or exceeds the defendant's, the defendant takes the judgment.
Consider a technician burned when a boiler's relief valve failed during a service call at a business. The property owner's insurer may argue the technician should have shut the system down first. If the technician were found 25 percent at fault and the owner 75 percent, the damages would be reduced by a quarter.
Harms like pain, emotional stress and a worse quality of life are grouped under noneconomic loss. For claims arising on or after January 1, 2025, Colorado limits those damages to $1.5 million. That ceiling isn't used for medical malpractice or wrongful death, and it is adjusted for inflation starting January 1, 2028.
Wages and medical expenses are economic losses, so the ceiling doesn't apply to them (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(3)). C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5) goes a step further by keeping the statute from limiting compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement. For a worker who has lost grip strength or range of motion, that provision may apply.
Courts
Greeley is in Weld County, which belongs to the 19th Judicial District. The Colorado Judicial Branch places the Weld County Courthouse at 901 9th Ave, Greeley, CO 80631, and notes that court business is conducted at the Weld County Centennial Center, 915 10th Street, Greeley, CO 80631. The venue for any lawsuit turns on the facts behind it.
Hospitals
The Colorado health department's trauma facility list shows North Colorado Medical Center, at 1801 16th Street in Greeley, as a Level II trauma facility. The same list shows UCHealth Greeley Hospital, at 6767 W. 29th Street, as Level III. Wherever you were treated, ask for copies of your emergency records, burn assessments and work restrictions.
Fire department and hazmat response
The Greeley Fire Department says its seven fire stations and their teams protect the City of Greeley. The department's Hazardous Materials Response Team responds to incidents involving dangerous or hazardous chemicals in Greeley and throughout Northern Colorado, and its page states that more than 11,000 facilities in Weld County have reportable quantities of hazardous materials. The department's website offers a Records Request option, and the City of Greeley's public records request page explains how to submit a request under the Colorado Open Records Act.
Our office
There's no CGH location in Greeley. Our lawyers work from Denver.
A burn case depends on its facts: the depth of the burn, how much skin it involves, which part of the body, and whether you can still do your job. Figures from other people's cases wouldn't tell you anything about yours, so we don't publish burn settlement figures.
On an industrial or farm site, the equipment may have been made by one company, maintained by a second and operated on land owned by a third. An outside party can open a claim beyond workers' compensation.
Arguments that you caused your own burn get tested against fire origin analysis, the maintenance history of the equipment and testimony from qualified experts.
Our Life Care Plans draw on burn surgeons for the medical picture, medical economists for the costs, and vocational experts for what the injury means to your working future.
Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). CGH Injury Lawyers, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, was founded in Denver in 2016, and it prepares each case as if it will be tried.
A claim that the facts or the law won't carry is one we'll name as such, up front.
Spanish speakers can call us at (303) 835-9177.
Call 911 in an emergency. MedlinePlus states, "Major burns need urgent medical care."
Keep a copy of the report and note who you told and when.
Record the equipment model, the chemical name from the container or safety data sheet, and the names of any vendors or other companies on site.
The machine, the spill area, damaged clothing and your injuries all matter, and a repaired or discarded part can't be inspected later.
Workers' compensation letters, pay stubs, medical bills and mileage logs belong together.
Before you give a recorded statement to an insurance company, you can ask to talk with a lawyer first. Our line is (303) 209-9395.
What a claim can include depends on the facts, and some categories have limits under Colorado law.
Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement, and lasting loss of function may be compensated as physical impairment. C.R.S. 13-21-102.5 places no limit on compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement, per its fifth subsection.
A public entity's liability tops out at statutory amounts that Colorado's Secretary of State revisits for inflation on a four-year cycle (C.R.S. 24-10-114).
Workers' compensation is generally the only claim against your own employer, but it doesn't protect an outside company that caused the burn. 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).
A safety lapse on your part reduces your damages by your percentage. Recovery is barred only if your negligence is equal to or greater than theirs. Records and expert analysis can show what caused the burn.
On land classified for property tax purposes as agricultural or vacant, actual knowledge matters for an invitee's claim. On other property, an invitee can recover for dangers the owner should have known about. The court decides which rules apply to you (C.R.S. 13-21-115).
Payment can come from different places depending on how the burn happened.
Colorado generally sets two years for tort suits (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a)). Motor vehicle claims run on a longer period, and a claim involving a government body has a written notice step that comes due far sooner. Get your particular date confirmed by a lawyer.
Weld County, home to Greeley, falls within the 19th Judicial District. According to the Colorado Judicial Branch, the Weld County Courthouse stands at 901 9th Ave, while court business runs through the Weld County Centennial Center at 915 10th Street. The right venue for a given suit depends on its facts.
You may still recover. Under C.R.S. 13-21-111, your percentage of negligence reduces your damages. You can't recover once your share reaches or exceeds the defendant's level.
A landlord can be. Colorado's premises statute reaches anyone who is a "person legally responsible for the condition of real property" (C.R.S. 13-21-115). The duty owed to you turns on your classification, which is up to the court. An invitee can generally recover for hazards the landowner knew of or should have known of, while a licensee typically has to show the landowner actually knew. Don't overlook the appliance maker as a second possible defendant.
No. Our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. Call (303) 209-9395.
Possibly, in limited cases. Colorado generally limits product liability claims against a seller who didn't make the product (C.R.S. 13-21-402). Exceptions include a seller that 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). The manufacturer is a possible defendant.
Your emergency and hospital records, surgical and therapy notes, and photographs of the burn as it heals show the injury. Work restrictions, pay records, and workers' compensation paperwork show their effect on your income. Fire department records, the equipment or product involved, safety data sheets, and names of witnesses can help show what caused it. Keep copies of everything.
That turns on the source of the burn. Workers' compensation may pay benefits for an on-the-job injury. For a crash, the at-fault driver's liability policy is a starting point. Your own uninsured or underinsured motorist protection may also help. When a property hazard was to blame, the owner's or landlord's liability coverage may respond. We can sort out which of these fit your case.
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If you were burned on the job or anywhere else in Greeley and aren't sure where to turn, call (303) 209-9395 or send us a message through the contact page. Walk us through the accident. We'll lay out the Colorado rules that may apply and be direct with you about the strength of a claim.
Our Denver burn injury lawyer page, a statewide overview from a Colorado burn injury attorney, and pages about a Greeley car accident lawyer.
Learn more on our Greeley personal injury lawyers page.
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