An e-bike battery that bursts into flame in the garage, a phone that overheats under a pillow, a pressure cooker lid that gives way: a household product can fail in seconds. We help people in Highlands Ranch work out who made the item, who sold it, and who should answer for the burn from our office in Denver.
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The battery was charging in the garage overnight, or the laptop was sitting on the couch, and then there was smoke, heat, and a burn on your arm or your child's hand. Afterward, the melted device tells you very little, the medical bills keep arriving, and the store has no answers for you.
A Highlands Ranch lawyer for burn injuries can help sort out whether the manufacturer, a seller, or someone else is responsible.
You can call CGH Injury Lawyers at (303) 209-9395 to talk it over, or send a description of the fire through our contact page.
Colorado handles a battery fire, a rental scald, a crash, and a job-site burn under different rules.
Lithium-ion packs in e-bikes and scooters, phone and laptop chargers, space heaters, air fryers, and pressure cookers can all overheat, ignite, or rupture. The question in a product case is what went wrong inside the item, and a strict liability claim zeroes in on whether a defect existed and whether it caused your injury.
Faulty wiring behind an outlet, a gas stove that leaks, or a water heater set to scald can burn a tenant or a guest.
The state's Premises Liability Act, C.R.S. 13-21-115, can apply to a landlord because it reaches any "person legally responsible for the condition of real property."
Your status there is for a court to decide on the facts, and it changes the standard: an invitee's claim can generally rest on hazards the owner knew of or should have known of, while a licensee generally must prove the owner's actual knowledge. When the appliance itself is defective, its manufacturer may also share responsibility.
Vehicle batteries and fuel systems can burn people after a collision. A crash burn can be part of a claim against a driver whose negligence caused the crash. A defective part can also involve its maker.
Workers' compensation is generally the only claim against your own employer (C.R.S. 8-41-102).
When a separate company caused the burn, for example by supplying a defective battery charger for a warehouse forklift, you can receive workers' compensation benefits and also bring a claim against that company for damages the benefits don't cover.
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).
Colorado's premises, fault, damages, and deadline rules all bear on a burn claim.
Colorado's Premises Liability Act assigns each person on the property to a group: trespasser, licensee, or invitee. An invitee is a person who is there to handle business that both sides care about or who shows up because the landowner made it known that the public was invited. A social guest is generally treated as a licensee.
Invitees get the highest protection the Act gives, reaching hazards the owner actually knew about or should have known about.
Under C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(b), a licensee generally has to prove actual knowledge instead. The same actual-knowledge requirement applies to an invitee on land classified for property tax purposes as agricultural or vacant, according to C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(c)(II).
The court sorts you into a group based on the facts (C.R.S. 13-21-115(6)).
Under C.R.S. 13-21-111, a negligence award can be reduced when the injured person also contributed to the harm. The reduction matches your percentage, as long as it is less than the percentage of the party you're pursuing. Once your share equals or exceeds theirs, the court enters judgment in the defendant's favor.
An example: a jury finds a store 85 percent responsible for a display heater it knew was leaking gas, and a shopper 15 percent responsible for moving the heater. The shopper's damages would be reduced by 15 percent.
Noneconomic damages, a category that covers pain, suffering, emotional stress, and impaired quality of life, can't exceed $1.5 million under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5 for claims arising on or after January 1, 2025. Wrongful death and medical malpractice claims sit under different rules, and the amount is adjusted for inflation starting January 1, 2028.
Hospital charges and lost pay aren't noneconomic damages, so that limit doesn't govern them. Subsection (5) then says nothing in the statute limits compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement. Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement, and a hand that no longer works as it did may involve physical impairment.
Under C.R.S. 13-80-108, the two- and three-year clocks generally begin once you know, or reasonably should have known, about the burn and what caused it. A child's case can follow separate rules that change the deadline. Have a lawyer confirm your deadline.
Highlands Ranch is an unincorporated community. Douglas County describes the Highlands Ranch Metro District as the local government serving the unincorporated community of Highlands Ranch in northern Douglas County.
The county courthouse
Douglas County is in the 23rd Judicial District, and the Colorado Judicial Branch gives the Douglas County Courthouse, at 4000 Justice Way, Ste. 2009, Castle Rock, CO 80109, as the county's court location. Where a burn lawsuit gets filed depends on the facts, including who is being sued.
Emergency and trauma care
UCHealth Highlands Ranch Hospital is at 1500 Park Central Drive, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129. It appears as Level III on the state health department's designated trauma facility list. The discharge papers, wound photos and follow-up notes from wherever you were treated belong in your claim file.
Fire rescue
South Metro Fire Rescue names Highlands Ranch among the unincorporated communities it serves. Its website offers a non-medical open records request option, which is one way to ask for records about a fire record that was responded to.
Our office
We have no Highlands Ranch office. CGH Injury Lawyers works from Denver.
Burn settlement figures aren't something we publish. A claim's value depends on the burn, the person, and what the injury changes about daily life and work.
In a product case, we look at what failed. If an insurer blames you for the fire instead, fire origin analysis, maintenance records and expert testimony are how we answer.
MedlinePlus groups burns by depth as superficial, partial-thickness or full-thickness. Your file should record where your burn falls on that scale and where on your body it is.
Medical economists, burn surgeons and vocational experts join us in preparing a Life Care Plan that puts those future expenses on paper.
If a claim isn't supported by the facts or is contrary to the law, we'll say so.
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 prepares each case as if it will be tried.
Call 911 in an emergency. MedlinePlus warns that "The most serious burns can be painless."
Bag the battery, charger, device, or appliance, along with any cords, and store it away from heat. Don't send it back to the seller or the manufacturer.
Receipts, order confirmations, the box, the manual, and the serial number can show who made and sold the item.
Take pictures of scorch marks, the outlet, the surrounding room, and your injuries, and keep adding photos as the burn heals.
An adjuster may ask you for one. Before you give a recorded statement to an insurance company, you can ask to speak with a lawyer first. Reach us at (303) 209-9395 when that call comes.
Include pharmacy receipts, wound supplies, and notes on work you missed.
The damages in any claim depend on the facts. Colorado divides them into types, and its noneconomic limit applies to only some damages.
Under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5), the noneconomic limit doesn't restrict compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement.
A different kind of limit applies to government defendants. C.R.S. 24-10-114 sets separate maximums for claims against a public body, with adjustments by the Secretary of State every four years.
Colorado generally limits product liability claims against a seller that didn't make the product, with exceptions, and the manufacturer is a possible defendant either way (C.R.S. 13-21-401(1), 13-21-402).
In a negligence case, your share of fault reduces your recovery by your percentage and bars it when your share equals or exceeds the other side's. The physical evidence of how the fire started is where we focus.
An early offer can leave out later grafts, therapy, and work you can't return to. A Life Care Plan documents those future costs.
The answer depends on the source of the burn, and more than one may apply.
Possibly, depending on who you're suing. Against a negligent driver, 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)). The two-year limit generally still governs a strict liability claim against whoever built a defective battery or fuel component (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)(II), 13-80-102(1)(b)). Get your date checked by a lawyer.
The Douglas County Courthouse, at 4000 Justice Way, Ste. 2009 in Castle Rock, which serves the county where Highlands Ranch sits, within the 23rd Judicial District. The correct court for a specific lawsuit depends on the facts.
Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement, and C.R.S. 13-21-102.5 doesn't limit compensatory damages for disfigurement or physical impairment. The $1.5 million non-economic ceiling covers claims arising on or after January 1, 2025, and medical malpractice and wrongful death claims have different rules. Medical bills and lost wages sit outside that ceiling too.
A landlord can be. Colorado's premises law covers whoever is legally responsible for the condition of the property, and that can be the landlord (C.R.S. 13-21-115). Which standard applies turns on your status, which a court sets from the facts. For an invitee, a danger the landlord should have known about can be enough. For a licensee, the landlord must generally have actually known. Separately, if the appliance had a defect, its manufacturer would be another possible defendant.
No. Our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. Our phone number is (303) 209-9395.
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 battery's manufacturer is a possible defendant.
It may not. Deadlines for a child's claim can run differently under separate Colorado rules (C.R.S. 13-81-103). A lawyer should confirm the date for your child, since it depends on the details.
It depends on the facts. Under the Premises Liability Act, a person who enters to do business the parties are both interested in, or because the public was invited, can fit the definition of an invitee (C.R.S. 13-21-115). Invitees can generally hold an owner responsible for hazards it knew of or should have known of, though the court decides your status. If a defective product caused the burn, its manufacturer may also be responsible.
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If a battery, charger, or appliance burned you or your child, keep the product and call (303) 209-9395. You can also use our contact page. Tell us about the fire, and you'll get a plain explanation of the Colorado rules that may apply along with our honest assessment. For Spanish, call (303) 835-9177.
We work from Denver. Learn more on our Highlands Ranch personal injury lawyers page. For statewide background, read about working with a Colorado burn injury attorney, and compare the Denver burn injury lawyer page. A rental fire or a collision may also call for a Highlands Ranch premises liability lawyer or a Highlands Ranch car accident lawyer.
CGH Injury Lawyers · 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205
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