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Greeley, Colorado. CGH Injury Lawyers represents catastrophic injury victims across Weld County.
Greeley, Colorado (Weld County)

Greeley Catastrophic Injury Lawyers Who Build the Full-Cost Case for a Lifetime of Care

A catastrophic injury in Greeley changes every dimension of your life. Economic damages such as lifetime medical costs, attendant care, and a Life Care Plan are never capped under Colorado law, and compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is not capped at all under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5). CGH Injury Lawyers serves Weld County from our Denver office, builds the certified Life Care Plan, and tries the case in Weld County District Court when an insurer refuses to be fair. No fee unless we win.

No fee unless we win
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Serving Greeley 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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  • In a Colorado catastrophic injury case, economic damages such as lifetime medical costs, attendant care, and a certified Life Care Plan are never capped. Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is also not capped at all under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5). Those two uncapped categories are typically where the bulk of a catastrophic recovery lives.
  • The value of these cases turns on a certified Life Care Plan, a forensic economic document built by credentialed planners who can survive Shreck and Daubert admissibility challenges in Weld County District Court.
  • Under Colorado's collateral source rule, the at-fault party cannot reduce what it owes simply because you carry health insurance. The Life Care Plan sets the full economic measure of your future needs, regardless of what your insurer may cover.

Greeley's US 34 expressway, the heavy commercial truck traffic generated by the JBS USA beef processing plant, and the dense vehicle and pedestrian activity near the University of Northern Colorado campus all create conditions where catastrophic injuries happen. When one of those forces produces a permanent, life-altering injury, your economic future depends on a damages case built correctly from day one. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Weld County from our Denver office, advances the cost of your Life Care Plan, and tries the case before a Weld County jury when an insurer refuses to be fair. No Greeley office. No fee unless we win.

What qualifies

What counts as a catastrophic injury under Colorado law, and why it matters for your Greeley case

Colorado does not use a single statutory definition of catastrophic injury. The legal classification depends on three things: whether the injury is permanent, whether it fundamentally alters the person's ability to sustain an independent life, and how the damage-cap structure under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5 applies to the specific losses claimed. A diagnosis alone does not determine whether an injury qualifies. The legal question is whether the impairment is permanent and life-altering, and whether the damages claim draws from the uncapped categories that make catastrophic cases worth fighting for.

  1. Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

    Moderate to severe TBI that produces permanent cognitive deficits, memory impairment, behavioral change, or loss of executive function is among the most common catastrophic injury categories in Weld County. Semi-truck crashes on US 34 and US 85, rollovers at the Spaghetti Junction interchange, and industrial accidents connected to the JBS USA facility all produce TBI cases at the severe end of the spectrum. A certified Life Care Planner must map the neuropsychological findings to lifetime supervision, rehabilitation, and attendant care costs that can be defended in court.

  2. Spinal cord injury (SCI) resulting in paraplegia or quadriplegia

    Complete or incomplete spinal cord injuries that eliminate or substantially limit motor and sensory function produce the longest and most expensive Life Care Plans. The plan must account for mobility equipment, home modifications such as ramp construction and widened doorways, adaptive vehicles, and daily attendant care for activities of daily living. A thorough AMA Guides whole-person impairment rating is the medical foundation of the legal damages claim.

  3. Limb amputation

    Amputations resulting from crashes, industrial accidents, or severe crush injuries qualify as both permanent physical impairment and severe disfigurement. Neither category is capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5). The Life Care Plan must capture prosthetic replacement cycles across a projected lifetime, vocational retraining if the person cannot return to their prior occupation, and home modifications that accommodate the change in function.

  4. Severe burns

    Burns covering a significant body surface area require skin grafts, reconstructive surgeries, and long-term wound and scar care that can extend for years. Under Colorado law, severe disfigurement from burn injuries is not capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5). The Life Care Plan must document reconstructive care needs, psychological treatment, and any functional restrictions that affect employment or daily activity.

  5. Permanent organ damage

    Crash-related injuries that destroy kidney function, require liver transplant, or eliminate pulmonary capacity create permanent economic needs that extend across a lifetime. These cases require certified Life Care Planners who work with transplant specialists and internal medicine consultants to project the actual cost of surviving with lost organ function.

Colorado law on damages

How Colorado's damage cap structure works in a Greeley catastrophic injury case

Colorado draws a line between three categories of damages in catastrophic cases. Knowing which categories are capped and which are not determines whether a settlement offer is fair or whether the case needs to go to a Weld County jury.

Never capped: economic damages

  • Past and future medical expenses, including emergency care at Banner North Colorado Medical Center
  • Lifetime attendant and nursing care costs
  • Home modifications such as ramps, widened doorways, and roll-in showers
  • Adaptive vehicles and specialized equipment
  • Lost wages and lifetime loss of earning capacity
  • Vocational rehabilitation and retraining
  • Life Care Plan costs, which CGH advances

Never capped: physical impairment and disfigurement

  • Compensation for permanent physical impairment, such as paraplegia, limb loss, or permanent TBI-related functional loss, is not capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5)
  • Compensation for permanent disfigurement, including severe burns and scarring, is not capped under the same provision
  • AMA Guides whole-person impairment ratings are used to measure the degree of permanent impairment, which shapes how the Life Care Plan is built and how the impairment damages claim is framed

Subject to Colorado's cap: non-economic damages

  • Pain and suffering: capped at $1,500,000 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5)
  • Emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life: subject to the same cap
  • Loss of consortium: subject to the same cap

Why the uncapped categories drive catastrophic case value

Insurance adjusters focus settlement conversations on the non-economic cap because that is the number they can point to and defend. The categories that matter most in a catastrophic case are the two that carry no cap at all: lifetime economic losses documented in a certified Life Care Plan, and compensation for permanent physical impairment or disfigurement. In a severe TBI or spinal cord injury case affecting a young Greeley worker or student, the economic damages and impairment damages alone can dwarf the non-economic cap. The insurer's opening offer almost never reflects both uncapped categories at full value. That is what we fight for.

Greeley courts. Greeley trauma care. Greeley roads.

Where Greeley catastrophic injuries happen, and where your case goes next

A catastrophic injury claim in Greeley has a specific geography. The corridors that produce the most severe collisions, the trauma center that delivers initial life-saving care, and the courthouse where litigation happens all shape how your case is built. Here is the ground we work on.

High-Speed Corridor

US 34, US 85, and the Spaghetti Junction interchange

US Route 34 is Greeley's primary east-west expressway, with documented dangerous intersections at 35th Avenue and near Weld County Road 17 where high-speed through-traffic mixes with commercial driveways. At the city's western edge, US 34 meets US 85 at the Spaghetti Junction interchange near Garden City, a complex multi-highway crossing with a crash history significant enough that CDOT launched a $4 million safety improvement project there. When a high-speed collision on these corridors produces a TBI or spinal cord injury, the severity of initial trauma drives both the life-saving care at Banner North Colorado Medical Center and the scope of the Life Care Plan that follows.

Commercial Truck Hazard

JBS USA and heavy commercial vehicle volume on east-side corridors

The JBS USA beef processing plant on the east side of Greeley is one of the largest meatpacking facilities in the United States. The plant generates high volumes of semi-truck traffic on local streets and county roads. Crashes involving fully loaded commercial trucks are among the most likely to produce catastrophic outcomes: the mass difference between a semi and a passenger vehicle creates force that causes spinal cord injuries, amputations, and TBI at rates far above typical car-on-car collisions. These claims often draw from the trucking company's commercial liability coverage, with limits well above personal auto policies, and may involve federal motor carrier safety regulations that create additional avenues for recovery.

Trauma Care

Banner North Colorado Medical Center, Level II Trauma Center

Banner North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley is a designated Level II Trauma Center, with on-call trauma surgeons and specialists available around the clock for severe injuries. That designation means the hospital can handle most life-threatening emergencies without transfer. The trauma records from Banner North Colorado, including imaging, surgical notes, and discharge diagnoses, form the medical foundation of the damages claim. We gather every record and make sure it connects accurately to the Life Care Plan we build with certified planners.

Agricultural and Industrial Risks

County roads, farm equipment, and industrial facilities across Weld County

Weld County is one of Colorado's most active agricultural counties. Farm equipment and livestock trucks share roads with passenger vehicles on the county roads surrounding Greeley. Machinery operating in field and facility settings presents crush-injury and amputation risks that are distinct from highway crashes. Catastrophic injuries arising from these settings often involve workers' compensation intersecting with a third-party negligence claim, a structure that requires careful coordination to capture the full available recovery without jeopardizing any source.

University and Downtown Zone

University of Northern Colorado campus and downtown Greeley pedestrian corridors

The University of Northern Colorado, with approximately 9,800 students, generates dense pedestrian and vehicle traffic on and around campus streets. Event crowds at the Union Colony Civic Center and the Bank of Colorado Arena add pedestrian exposure in downtown Greeley. Catastrophic pedestrian injuries, including TBI from being struck by a vehicle, are among the most severe outcomes in these congested zones. When a student or visitor is catastrophically hurt in or near these corridors, the responsible party and their insurer are quickly identified through the campus and venue records we gather as part of building your file.

Courts

Weld County District Court, 19th Judicial District

A catastrophic injury lawsuit that exceeds the county-court jurisdictional limit is filed in Weld County District Court, part of the 19th Judicial District. The court has two locations in Greeley: the Weld County Courthouse at 901 9th Ave (Greeley, CO 80631) and the Centennial Center clerk's office and filing location at 915 10th Street. Life Care Plan admissibility challenges under Colorado's Shreck standard are decided in this courtroom. We try catastrophic injury cases in the 19th Judicial District and know its local procedural rules, expert disclosure deadlines, and the defense firms that work there.

Why Greeley families choose CGH

Why catastrophic injury victims in Greeley choose CGH Injury Lawyers

We serve Greeley from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Greeley office. We handle Weld County catastrophic injury cases from Denver, appear in Weld County District Court in the 19th Judicial District when a case requires it, and advance every cost of building your Life Care Plan. What you get is the work, not a local storefront.

Trial-Ready

25+ cases to verdict. Built for trial.

Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and has tried over 25 cases to verdict. Catastrophic injury cases require a firm that is genuinely willing to try a Life Care Plan before a Weld County jury. That trial credibility changes what insurers put on the table before any lawsuit is filed.

We Advance the Costs

Life Care Plan costs on us until we win.

A comprehensive Life Care Plan typically takes 60 to 90 days and requires certified planners, forensic economists, and medical consultants. We advance every cost of building yours. You pay nothing for attorney fees or case costs unless we recover for you.

ABOTA

American Board of Trial Advocates.

ABOTA membership requires demonstrated trial experience and peer recognition. It is not a marketing badge. When we tell an insurer we will try your catastrophic case, we mean it.

Recognized

Best Lawyers in America since 2023.

Timothy G. Tarr has been recognized by Best Lawyers every year since 2023. CGH is a eight-attorney Colorado firm, founded in 2016, formerly Cheney Galluzzi and Howard.

Honest About Location

Serving Greeley from Denver.

Our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201 in Denver. We do not claim a Greeley address. We represent Weld County clients, file in Weld County District Court in the 19th Judicial District, and meet you where it works for you. What matters is the quality of the Life Care Plan and the strength of the case, not the address on our letterhead.

Bilingual

Hablamos espanol.

Spanish-speaking staff and attorneys serve Greeley's large Spanish-speaking community, including workers in the agricultural and meatpacking sectors where severe injuries are common.

How we build your case

What to do after a catastrophic injury in Greeley, and how the Life Care Plan process works

The steps taken in the days and weeks after a catastrophic injury determine what evidence exists, which parties are identified, and how defensible the Life Care Plan becomes. Here is the path we walk with you.

  1. Get to Banner North Colorado Medical Center

    Catastrophic injuries in Greeley are typically stabilized at Banner North Colorado Medical Center, the area's Level II Trauma Center. The imaging studies, surgical notes, and specialist consultations generated during that initial admission are the medical foundation of the entire damages claim. Do not delay treatment, even if symptoms are not immediately obvious. Hidden spinal cord damage, slow intracranial bleeding, and internal organ injuries all require prompt diagnosis to document accurately.

  2. Preserve the evidence while it exists

    Commercial trucks on Greeley's east-side corridors carry event data recorders and dashcams with very short data-preservation windows. Semi-truck crash data can be overwritten within days if not immediately preserved. We send spoliation letters to trucking companies and other responsible parties the moment we are retained, demanding preservation of all electronic and physical evidence connected to the incident.

  3. Watch the CGIA deadline if a public entity is involved

    If the catastrophic injury involved a government vehicle, a poorly maintained public road segment on US 34 or US 85, or any other public entity, the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act requires a written notice of claim filed within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). Missing that deadline bars the claim entirely, regardless of how strong the facts are. The 182-day clock runs from discovery, not from the date of the crash. Call us before that window closes.

  4. Do not talk to the insurer alone

    Commercial truck insurers and large liability carriers move quickly after a catastrophic crash. Their representatives are trained to gather statements that establish comparative fault under C.R.S. 13-21-111 before you have legal representation. If you are assigned 50 percent or more of the fault, you recover nothing under Colorado's modified comparative fault rule. Call (303) 209-9395 before giving any statement.

  5. We build the certified Life Care Plan

    We retain certified Life Care Planners holding credentials such as CLCP or CNLCP. They review your complete Banner North Colorado Medical Center records, interview your treating physicians, and conduct functional capacity evaluations to determine your lifetime care needs. A treating doctor's letter is not a Life Care Plan. The plan uses Colorado-specific cost data, medical inflation rates rather than general CPI, and a structure designed to survive Shreck and Daubert challenges in the 19th Judicial District. We advance the cost of building yours.

  6. Negotiate or try the case in Weld County District Court

    Once the Life Care Plan is complete and all medical records are gathered, we build the full demand across every uncapped and capped category. Most cases settle after a well-documented demand is delivered. When an insurer refuses to offer fair value for a life-altering injury, we file in Weld County District Court, the 19th Judicial District, and try the case before a Weld County jury.

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What you can recover

Comparative fault, the collateral source rule, and what they mean for your Greeley catastrophic injury recovery

Two Colorado legal doctrines decide whether your recovery is reduced by fault allocation or inflated by insurance. Understanding both before any settlement conversation begins is essential to protecting the full value of a catastrophic case.

Colorado's modified comparative fault rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111)

Colorado follows a modified comparative fault rule. You can recover damages as long as your share of fault is less than 50 percent. If you are found 30 percent at fault, your recovery is reduced by 30 percent, but you still recover 70 percent of your damages. If your fault reaches 50 percent or more, you recover nothing. In catastrophic injury cases, insurers aggressively push the fault percentage against the injured person, particularly in Greeley crashes involving JBS USA truck corridors and US 34 intersections where driver-error arguments are common. We build the evidence record from the earliest moment to hold your fault share where it actually belongs.

The collateral source rule protects your full recovery

Under Colorado's collateral source rule, the at-fault party cannot reduce what it owes just because you carry health insurance. If your Life Care Plan establishes a lifetime medical and care cost, the defendant cannot argue that your insurer will cover some of it and shrink the demand. Health insurance also leaves real gaps in catastrophic cases: it carries lifetime limits and narrow definitions of medical necessity, and it excludes home modifications, adaptive vehicles, vocational rehabilitation, and most attendant care. The Life Care Plan documents the full economic need independent of what any insurer will pay.

What insurers will try

Common defenses in Greeley catastrophic injury cases, and how we answer them

Large commercial insurers and defense firms in Weld County use predictable arguments to reduce or eliminate recovery in catastrophic cases. Knowing these arguments before the claim begins is how we keep a strong case from being undermined.

  1. "The Life Care Plan is speculative"

    Defense experts routinely attack Life Care Plans as inflated or speculative. The answer is a plan built by certified planners using Colorado-specific cost data, medical inflation rather than general CPI, and vendor-specific pricing that can be defended under Colorado's Shreck standard. A plan built on national averages or a treating physician's letter will not survive that challenge. Ours is built for the courtroom from the first day.

  2. "You were partly at fault"

    Under Colorado's modified comparative fault rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111), if an insurer pushes your share of fault to 50 percent or more, you recover nothing. This is the most powerful lever commercial insurers pull in Greeley crash cases, especially where the intersection history is disputed, like US 34 at 35th Avenue. We use crash reconstruction, electronic data from commercial vehicles, eyewitness accounts, and CDOT records to establish the actual fault allocation and hold your share below the 50-percent bar.

  3. "Health insurance will cover future care"

    Defense attorneys argue that future medical needs will be covered by health insurance and try to reduce the Life Care Plan demand accordingly. Colorado's collateral source rule bars that argument. The at-fault party owes the full economic cost of the injury regardless of what insurance the injured person carries. Health insurance also excludes the categories of care that drive catastrophic Life Care Plan value: home modifications, attendant care, adaptive equipment, and vocational rehabilitation.

  4. "The injury will improve with time"

    Insurers argue that recovery projections are too pessimistic and that the injured person's condition will substantially improve. A defensible Life Care Plan is built on functional capacity evaluations, neuropsychological testing, and treating physician input, not on optimistic assumptions. AMA Guides whole-person impairment ratings, which use objective clinical evidence to measure permanent impairment, are the tool courts recognize for establishing that an injury is genuinely permanent rather than potentially improvable.

  5. "The driver wasn't responsible for the crash"

    In commercial truck cases arising from the JBS USA corridor or US 34, defense firms will argue that road conditions, the behavior of other drivers, or mechanical failure rather than driver negligence caused the crash. We conduct independent accident reconstruction, gather the truck's electronic logging device data and event recorder data before it can be erased, and work with engineering experts to establish exactly what the driver could and should have done differently.

Questions

Greeley catastrophic injury, frequently asked questions

What makes an injury catastrophic under Colorado law?

A catastrophic injury is one that is permanent and fundamentally alters your ability to sustain an independent life: a spinal cord injury producing paraplegia or quadriplegia, a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, a limb amputation, severe burns, or permanent organ damage. Colorado courts require medical experts to translate the clinical diagnosis into a whole-person impairment rating using the AMA Guides. The legal significance is that two of the largest damage categories in these cases are not capped at all: economic damages such as lifetime medical costs, attendant care, and the Life Care Plan, and compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5). Non-economic damages such as pain and suffering are capped at $1,500,000 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, but economic and impairment damages typically drive the bulk of a catastrophic recovery.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have an office in Greeley?

No. CGH Injury Lawyers has one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We serve Weld County clients from that office, file Greeley catastrophic injury cases in Weld County District Court in the 19th Judicial District, and meet you wherever is convenient for your family. You can reach us at (303) 209-9395.

How long do I have to file a catastrophic injury lawsuit from Greeley?

It depends on the cause of the injury. If a motor vehicle crash caused the injury, Colorado gives you three years from the date of the crash to file (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)). Most other catastrophic injury claims carry a two-year deadline from the date of injury (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a)). If a government entity or government vehicle was involved, a written notice of claim must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). Missing the CGIA notice deadline bars that claim entirely, regardless of how strong the facts are. Contact us early to confirm which deadline applies to your specific situation.

Do I really need a Life Care Plan for my Greeley catastrophic injury case?

In any case involving permanent injury, yes. Without a certified Life Care Plan, an insurer or defense expert will dismiss your future care needs as speculative and unsupported. A plan built by a credentialed CLCP or CNLCP connects your clinical diagnosis to specific, priced, medically necessary future care items. It must survive Colorado's Shreck admissibility standard, which requires the expert to demonstrate specialized knowledge in Life Care Planning as a distinct field from clinical medicine. CGH advances the cost of building your plan. You pay nothing unless we win.

Can I still recover if I was partly at fault for the Greeley crash?

Often, yes. Colorado follows a modified comparative fault rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111). If your share of fault is less than 50 percent, you can recover, and your damages award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you were found 20 percent at fault, you recover 80 percent of your damages. If your share reaches 50 percent or more, you recover nothing. This is why large insurers work hard to shift blame onto injured people in catastrophic cases: eliminating recovery entirely is their goal when the economic damages are large. We build the fault record from day one to hold your share where it actually belongs.

What is the non-economic damages cap for a catastrophic injury in Colorado?

For claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, Colorado caps non-economic damages such as pain and suffering at $1,500,000 under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5. However, two categories are entirely exempt from that cap. Economic damages such as lifetime medical expenses, attendant care, and the Life Care Plan have no cap. Compensation for permanent physical impairment or disfigurement is also not capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5), which provides that nothing in the statute limits recovery for those categories. In a severe TBI or spinal cord injury case affecting a young person in Greeley, the economic and impairment categories commonly exceed the non-economic cap by a substantial margin, which is exactly why the insurer's opening offer almost never reflects full value.

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It's More Than Money.

A catastrophic injury in Greeley changes everything. We handle everything that comes next.

Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Serving Greeley and all of Weld County from our Denver office. Bilingual EN / ES.

Tell us what happened

100% confidential. No fee unless we win.

Call (303) 209-9395 Get my free case review

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CGH Injury Lawyers · 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205 · Serving Greeley from Denver