Lafayette, Colorado

Lafayette Catastrophic Injury Lawyers Who Build the Full Lifetime Value of Your Case

A spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, or amputation from a crash on US 287 or Dillon Road changes every aspect of your life. Economic damages and compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement are not capped in Colorado. We build the certified Life Care Plan that documents what your injury will cost over a lifetime and we try the case in Boulder County Combined Court when an insurer will not pay what the injury is worth. We serve Lafayette from our Denver office. You pay nothing unless we win.

No fee unless we win

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

It's More Than Money.

Serving Lafayette From Our Denver Office CGH Injury Lawyers 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201 Denver, CO 80205 (303) 209-9395 Se habla espanol

5-star rated on Google Built for catastrophic-injury trials ABOTA trial advocate on the team We advance Life Care Plan costs No fee unless we win

A catastrophic injury sustained in Lafayette, whether from a high-speed collision on US 287 at Dillon Road, a rollover on SH 42, or any other traumatic event, sets off a chain of consequences that extends far beyond the emergency room. Future surgeries, lifetime attendant care, home modifications, adaptive equipment, and lost earning capacity add up to costs that most people cannot project on their own. In Colorado, economic damages and compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement are not capped, which means the largest components of a catastrophic claim can be fully recovered. What it takes is a certified Life Care Plan that makes those costs defensible in court.

Economic damages such as medical bills, lifetime attendant care, and a certified Life Care Plan are never capped in Colorado. Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is also not capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5). Those two categories are typically where the largest dollars lie in a catastrophic case.
The general statute of limitations for a catastrophic injury claim in Colorado is two years from the date of injury under C.R.S. 13-80-102. If a Lafayette city vehicle, a Boulder County vehicle, or any other government entity caused the injury, a written government notice must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury under C.R.S. 24-10-109(1). That CGIA notice deadline runs from discovery, not from the date of the crash.
A Life Care Plan built by a certified planner, grounded in Colorado cost data, and built to survive Shreck and Daubert admissibility challenges is what separates a defensible catastrophic claim from one an insurer can dismiss as speculative.

CGH Injury Lawyers serves Lafayette and all of Boulder County from our Denver office. We handle the investigation, retain the right medical and economic experts, and prepare every catastrophic injury case for trial in Boulder County Combined Court. You pay nothing unless we win.

What qualifies

What makes an injury catastrophic under Colorado law?

Colorado courts do not apply a single definition of catastrophic injury. The classification depends on whether the injury is permanent, whether it prevents the person from performing life-sustaining activities independently, and how the damage maps to the statutory categories that govern Colorado's damage structure. A severe or painful injury is not automatically catastrophic. The legal question is permanence and life-altering impact.

Injury categories that qualify

Traumatic brain injury with persistent cognitive deficits, memory loss, or behavioral changes requiring lifetime supervision
Spinal cord injury, including paraplegia, quadriplegia, and incomplete lesions requiring mobility assistance and attendant care
Amputation of a limb requiring prosthetics, home modifications, and vocational retraining
Severe burns covering significant body surface area, requiring skin grafts and long-term reconstructive care
Permanent organ damage requiring transplant, dialysis, or ongoing life-sustaining treatment

Why the classification matters for your Lafayette claim

It determines whether your case requires a certified Life Care Plan to document future economic needs
It shapes whether the damages that are not capped, economic damages and physical impairment or disfigurement, dominate the recovery
It influences whether AMA Guides whole-person impairment ratings must be established through expert testimony
It determines how an insurer values the claim from the first negotiation, and whether that insurer believes you can prove future care costs at trial in Boulder County Combined Court

How Colorado law treats damages in catastrophic cases

Colorado draws a critical line between categories of damages. Economic damages such as past and future medical expenses, lifetime attendant care, home modifications, adaptive equipment, and lost earning capacity have no cap. Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is also not capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5), which provides that nothing in the section limits recovery for physical impairment or disfigurement. Non-economic damages such as pain and suffering are subject to Colorado's general non-economic cap of $1,500,000 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5. Because the uncapped categories are usually far larger, the value of a Lafayette catastrophic case is driven by economic losses and impairment, not by pain and suffering alone.

Courthouse

Boulder County Combined Court, 20th Judicial District

A Lafayette catastrophic injury lawsuit is filed in the 20th Judicial District at Boulder County Combined Court, 1777 6th St., Boulder, CO 80302, phone (303) 441-3750. The local jury pool, the Boulder County judges, and the defense firms you face all differ from Denver or Jefferson County. Catastrophic injury cases in Boulder County require a plaintiff team that knows the local expert community, the local judicial standards for Shreck and Daubert motions, and what Boulder County juries expect from a Life Care Plan. CGH Injury Lawyers handles Boulder County Combined Court cases directly from our Denver office and does not need pro hac vice admission to appear for you.

Trauma Care

Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital

Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital at 200 Exempla Cir, Lafayette, CO 80026 is a 234-bed acute-care hospital and a designated Level II Trauma Center. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment first designated it in 2006, and the American College of Surgeons recertified it in February 2025. For catastrophic injury victims from the US 287 corridor, Good Samaritan is the facility that generates the acute trauma records at the core of the damages claim. Those records, including imaging, surgical notes, and ICU documentation, become the foundation on which a certified Life Care Planner builds the future-care projection. The rehabilitation records produced during the initial hospitalization are equally important: they establish the baseline impairment rating that drives the AMA Guides whole-person measurement used in court.

High-Risk Corridors

US 287, SH 7, SH 42, and the Dillon Road Corridor

The same corridors that produce car accidents in Lafayette are the corridors that produce catastrophic injuries. US Highway 287 is the main north-south arterial through the city and a documented fatal-crash corridor where CDOT and Boulder County launched safety improvements in 2019 because of the frequency of severe collisions. The US 287 and Dillon Road intersection, directly adjacent to Good Samaritan Hospital, has produced documented fatal-crash patterns. State Highway 7, which becomes Arapahoe Road west of US 287 and Baseline Road east of US 287, runs through the Centaurus High School zone and creates pedestrian and turning-vehicle conflicts. State Highway 42 runs as 95th Street along Lafayette's eastern edge, where rear-end collisions at interchange ramps and side-impact crashes at cross streets generate serious injury claims. Lafayette has also recorded 65 Doppler-detected hail events, and winter freeze-thaw cycles regularly deposit black ice on US 287 and Baseline Road at dawn, conditions that precede multi-vehicle crashes capable of producing catastrophic outcomes.

A certified planner, not a treating letter

Colorado Life Care Planners hold credentials such as CLCP or CNLCP. They review your complete medical file from Good Samaritan Hospital and any subsequent rehabilitation center, interview your treating physicians, and run functional capacity evaluations to determine what care you will need for the rest of your life. A letter from a treating physician stating that you will need future care is not a Life Care Plan. It has no cost projection, no inflation adjustment, and no vendor-specific pricing. It will be challenged as vague and may be ruled inadmissible under Colorado's Shreck standard.
Colorado-specific cost data, not national defaults

National planning software defaults to U.S. average costs and consistently underestimates what care costs in Colorado. We account for the premium pricing at Colorado's top rehabilitation facilities, including the Craig Hospital standard in Englewood that Colorado courts and insurance adjusters recognize as the benchmark for spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation, even when a client is treated elsewhere. Mountain access needs, altitude factors for certain respiratory and mobility equipment, and the higher attendant-care labor rates in the Boulder County market are all built into the plan.
Medical inflation, not general CPI

General inflation runs about 2 to 3 percent a year. Medical inflation runs closer to 5 to 7 percent. Using the wrong rate can cut a young client's lifetime projection by millions of dollars. For a 30-year-old Lafayette resident facing a 50-year life expectancy with a spinal cord injury, that gap between inflation rates becomes the difference between a defensible plan and one that an economist can tear apart on cross-examination.
Built to survive Shreck and Daubert in Boulder County

Colorado applies strict expert-testimony standards under the Shreck test, Colorado's adoption of the federal Daubert framework, and CRE 702. In Boulder County Combined Court, defense lawyers are sophisticated and will move to exclude a Life Care Plan that lacks methodological rigor. We retain planners and economists who have withstood cross-examination in Colorado courts, and we prepare them specifically for the Boulder County judicial environment where your case will be tried.
We advance the cost

A comprehensive Life Care Plan typically takes 60 to 90 days depending on the complexity of the injury and how quickly records are available from Good Samaritan Hospital and any subsequent treatment providers. We advance the cost of building yours. You pay nothing unless we win.

Seek emergency care and stay at Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital

Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital at 200 Exempla Cir in Lafayette is the Level II Trauma Center for this part of Boulder County. For catastrophic injuries, every imaging study, surgical intervention, and neurological assessment performed there becomes part of the foundational medical record. Do not leave the facility before your treating team recommends discharge. Premature discharge can create gaps in the medical timeline that insurers will later use to argue the injury was less serious than documented.
Preserve every piece of evidence from the scene

Photographs of the crash site on US 287 or SH 42, dashcam footage, business camera footage from establishments along Baseline Road or Dillon Road, and the Lafayette Police Department or Colorado State Patrol incident report are all time-sensitive. Traffic camera footage is often overwritten within 30 to 72 hours. CDOT corridor data and weather logs from a documented hail event can support the causation theory but must be preserved quickly.
Do not give any statement to the other side's insurer

In a catastrophic injury case, the at-fault party's insurer will often contact you or your family within days. Do not agree to a recorded statement, do not sign any medical authorization they send, and do not accept any early settlement offer without legal counsel. Early offers in catastrophic cases are designed to close a claim before the full lifetime cost is known. Once a release is signed, the claim is over.
Watch the CGIA deadline if a government entity is involved

If a Lafayette city vehicle, a Boulder County road crew truck, or any other government-operated vehicle caused the injury, the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act requires a written notice of claim within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). That clock runs from the date of discovery of the injury, not from the date of the crash. Missing this notice deadline typically bars the claim entirely, regardless of how strong the underlying case is.
Contact a Lafayette catastrophic injury attorney

The general statute of limitations for a catastrophic injury claim in Colorado is two years from the date of injury under C.R.S. 13-80-102. That deadline runs at the same time that medical records are being generated, care needs are being assessed, and the Life Care Plan process must begin. Waiting until the deadline approaches can leave the investigation without time to gather the expert foundation the case needs. A free consultation costs you nothing.

Economic damages (uncapped)

Past and future medical expenses, including acute trauma care at Good Samaritan Hospital and long-term rehabilitation
Lifetime attendant and nursing care
Home modifications such as ramps, widened doorways, and accessible bathrooms
Adaptive vehicles and specialized mobility equipment
Lost wages and permanent loss of earning capacity
Vocational rehabilitation and retraining
Life Care Plan costs (advanced by CGH Injury Lawyers)

Non-economic and other damages

Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement (not capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5))
Pain and suffering (subject to the $1,500,000 non-economic cap for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025)
Emotional distress
Loss of enjoyment of life
Loss of consortium for a spouse or family member
Wrongful death non-economic damages up to $2,125,000 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-203(1)(a))

The collateral source rule and what health insurance does not cover

Under Colorado's collateral source rule, the at-fault party cannot reduce what it owes because you carry health insurance. If your Life Care Plan projects a lifetime care need of a given amount, the defendant cannot argue your insurer will cover part of it and shrink the obligation accordingly. Health insurance also leaves real gaps in catastrophic cases: it excludes home modifications, adaptive vehicles, vocational rehabilitation, and most attendant care beyond narrow clinical definitions of medical necessity. The Life Care Plan documents the full scope of your future needs, regardless of what insurance ultimately pays. If a government entity caused the injury, CGIA damage caps of $505,000 per person and $1,421,000 per occurrence apply under C.R.S. 24-10-114 for claims in 2026. Those caps are separate from the caps that apply to private defendants.

Fault and recovery

What if you were partly responsible for the event that caused your Lafayette catastrophic injury?

You can still recover compensation in Colorado even if you bear some share of responsibility for the accident. Colorado follows a modified comparative fault rule under C.R.S. 13-21-111. You can recover as long as your share of fault is less than 50 percent. Your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you cannot recover anything.

Why fault allocation matters more in a catastrophic case

A 10 percent fault allocation against the plaintiff in a catastrophic case with a $5,000,000 economic projection reduces the recovery by $500,000. Insurers on US 287 intersection crashes routinely argue the injured party was following too closely, failed to maintain lane, or was distracted. A trial-ready attorney challenges those attributions with CDOT corridor data, the Lafayette Police report, and accident reconstruction.
If the defendant who caused the catastrophic injury acted with fraud, malice, or willful and wanton disregard for others, punitive damages are available under C.R.S. 13-21-102(1)(a). Punitive damages are capped at the amount of actual damages awarded, with the court having authority to raise that ceiling to three times actual damages when the defendant continued the willful or wanton conduct after the initial claim was filed.
Even a client found 49 percent at fault recovers 51 percent of the full award. In a case involving millions of dollars in uncapped economic damages, that is still a substantial recovery that a defense-side insurer will work hard to reduce or eliminate. The 50 percent bar is exactly what makes fault allocation the center of gravity in these negotiations.

I wish I could leave more than 5 stars!

Grace M., 5-star CGH Injury Lawyers client review

Your team

The team handling your Lafayette catastrophic injury case

CGH Injury Lawyers is a eight-attorney Colorado firm founded in 2016, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard. 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. Catastrophic injury cases are different from standard injury claims in that they require certified Life Care Planners, forensic economists, and medical experts who can withstand cross-examination in Boulder County Combined Court. We retain that team, advance the cost, and prepare every case as if it will be tried. CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Lafayette office. We serve Lafayette and all of Boulder County from our single office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205, and we come to our clients.

ABOTA member on the team Tim Tarr: Best Lawyers in America since 2023 Over 25 cases to verdict Boulder County Combined Court Bilingual EN / ES We advance Life Care Plan costs No fee unless we win

Meet our attorneys

How long do I have to file a catastrophic injury lawsuit after an accident in Lafayette?

The general statute of limitations for a personal injury claim in Colorado is two years from the date of injury under C.R.S. 13-80-102. If a government entity such as a Lafayette city vehicle or Boulder County road crew caused the injury, a separate and shorter deadline applies: a written notice of claim must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act, C.R.S. 24-10-109(1). That 182-day clock runs from the date you discover the injury, not from the date of the accident. Missing the CGIA notice deadline typically bars the claim entirely. Because the Life Care Plan and expert retention process in a catastrophic case can take 60 to 90 days alone, contacting an attorney as early as possible is critical.

Are economic damages capped in a Colorado catastrophic injury case?

No. Economic damages such as past and future medical expenses, lifetime attendant care, lost earning capacity, home modifications, and Life Care Plan costs are never capped under Colorado law. Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is also not capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5). The cap that applies in Colorado is the non-economic damages cap, which covers pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment. For claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, that cap is $1,500,000 under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5. In a catastrophic case, economic damages and impairment compensation are typically the largest components of the recovery, so the cap on pain and suffering is often not the binding constraint.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have a Lafayette office?

No. CGH Injury Lawyers has one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We serve Lafayette and all of Boulder County as a service area from that office. We handle Boulder County Combined Court cases in the 20th Judicial District directly and travel to Lafayette clients. A catastrophic injury case does not require a local office. It requires the right certified Life Care Planner, the right forensic economist, and attorneys who will try the case in Boulder County Combined Court when the insurer will not pay what the injury is worth. That is what we bring to every Lafayette case.

What is the difference between a Life Care Plan and a treating doctor's estimate?

A treating physician's letter stating that a patient will need ongoing care is a clinical opinion, not an economic projection. Colorado courts require Life Care Plans to be built by certified professionals, typically holding CLCP or CNLCP credentials, who apply specialized methodology to translate medical records into a defensible cost projection. The plan must include vendor-specific pricing for care in the Colorado market, a medical inflation adjustment rather than general CPI, and a structure that can withstand cross-examination under the Shreck standard applied in Boulder County Combined Court. A treating physician letter fails all three of those tests and can be challenged as speculative, which can reduce or eliminate the future-care portion of the recovery in a Lafayette catastrophic injury case.

Can I still recover if I was partly at fault for the accident that caused my catastrophic injury in Lafayette?

Yes, as long as your share of fault is less than 50 percent. Colorado follows the modified comparative fault rule under C.R.S. 13-21-111. Your total award is reduced by your percentage of fault. A plaintiff found 49 percent at fault recovers 51 percent of the total award. A plaintiff found 50 percent or more at fault recovers nothing. In Lafayette catastrophic cases, especially those arising from US 287 corridor crashes, insurers frequently argue the injured party contributed to the crash. That argument is challenged with CDOT corridor data, police reports, accident reconstruction, and witness testimony. Fault allocation in a case with millions in uncapped economic damages has enormous financial consequences, which is why having a trial-ready attorney matters from the start.

Where is a Lafayette catastrophic injury lawsuit filed?

Lafayette sits in Boulder County, so a personal injury lawsuit arising from a catastrophic injury in Lafayette is filed in the 20th Judicial District at Boulder County Combined Court, 1777 6th Street, Boulder, CO 80302, phone (303) 441-3750. The 20th Judicial District applies Colorado law but has its own local rules, judicial temperament, and jury pool that differ from Adams, Jefferson, and Denver counties. Catastrophic injury cases require expert witnesses who are prepared for the Boulder County environment specifically. CGH Injury Lawyers appears directly in Boulder County Combined Court on behalf of Lafayette clients without any additional admission requirement.

Lafayette

Practice Area

Boulder County

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It's More Than Money.

A catastrophic injury in Lafayette changes everything. We build the case that pays for a lifetime.

Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Serving Lafayette and all of Boulder County in English and Spanish.

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

Prefer to read first? See how Colorado catastrophic injury law works.

CGH Injury Lawyers, serving Lafayette · 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205

Lafayette Catastrophic Injury Lawyers Who Build the Full Lifetime Value of Your Case

What makes an injury catastrophic under Colorado law?

Injury categories that qualify

Why the classification matters for your Lafayette claim

How Colorado law treats damages in catastrophic cases

Lafayette courts. Lafayette trauma care. Lafayette roads where catastrophic injuries happen.

Boulder County Combined Court, 20th Judicial District

Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital

US 287, SH 7, SH 42, and the Dillon Road Corridor

How a Colorado Life Care Plan is built for a Lafayette catastrophic injury case

A certified planner, not a treating letter

Colorado-specific cost data, not national defaults

Medical inflation, not general CPI

Built to survive Shreck and Daubert in Boulder County

We advance the cost

What to do after a catastrophic injury in Lafayette

Seek emergency care and stay at Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital

Preserve every piece of evidence from the scene

Do not give any statement to the other side's insurer

Watch the CGIA deadline if a government entity is involved

Contact a Lafayette catastrophic injury attorney

What compensation can a Lafayette catastrophic injury victim recover?