ClickCease
Free consultations · Se habla espanol
US 287 corridor in Lafayette, Colorado. CGH Injury Lawyers represents DUI accident victims across Lafayette and Boulder County from our Denver office.
Lafayette, Colorado

Lafayette DUI Accident Lawyers Who Pursue Every Dollar the Impaired Driver Owes You

A drunk or drugged driver on US 287, Baseline Road, or SH 42 can destroy your health and your finances in seconds. We serve Lafayette and Boulder County from our Denver office, pursue the driver, the bar that overserved them, and your own uninsured motorist coverage when the driver comes up short. 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.

Get my free DUI accident case review

100% confidential. No fee unless we win.

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 ABOTA trial advocate on the team Trial lawyers, not a settlement mill 8 attorneys, bilingual EN / ES

A crash caused by a drunk or drugged driver on US 287 or Baseline Road is a different kind of case from an ordinary Lafayette car accident. The impaired driver's conduct can trigger punitive damages, open a separate claim against the bar that served them, and create multiple insurance sources your own adjuster will never mention to you.

  • A driver who violates Colorado's drunk and drugged driving laws is treated as negligent under the doctrine of negligence per se. In most DUI crashes the real fight is not about whether the driver did something wrong, it is about the full value of the harm and which insurance policies have to pay it.
  • The civil claim you bring in Boulder County Combined Court runs completely separately from the criminal case the district attorney files. You control your civil claim. The criminal case is the state's case, not yours, and waiting for it to finish before acting can forfeit your right to sue the bar that overserved the driver.
  • When the drunk driver carries no insurance or not enough, your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage often becomes the primary source of recovery. Those 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, so they must be tracked from day one.

CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Lafayette office. We serve Lafayette and all of Boulder County from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. We handle Boulder County Combined Court cases in the 20th Judicial District directly, appear for you without any additional admission requirement, and come to you. Your first consultation is free, and you owe no fee unless we win.

Why fault is different in a DUI case

Negligence per se: why a drunk driver on US 287 is already presumed at fault

Proving an ordinary car accident case requires showing the other driver was careless. A DUI crash in Lafayette changes that standard in a way that matters to your claim from the first day.

Colorado follows the doctrine of negligence per se. When a driver violates a safety statute designed to protect the public from the exact type of harm that occurred, that violation can itself establish negligence. Colorado's drunk and drugged driving laws exist precisely to keep impaired drivers from hurting others on roads like US 287 and SH 42. An impaired driver who causes a crash fits that doctrine squarely.

In plain terms, you typically do not have to debate whether the driver made a mistake. The fact of impairment, once established through the crash report, the arrest record, and the toxicology results, does most of that work. The real contest in a Lafayette DUI case is almost always about two things: how much your harm is worth, and which insurance sources have to pay it. We focus there from the start.

DUI cases also create an opening for punitive damages that most car accident cases do not. Drunk driving is willful and wanton conduct, the legal standard Colorado requires to claim punitive, or exemplary, damages on top of your compensatory recovery (C.R.S. 13-21-102). Punitive damages generally cannot exceed your actual damages, but even the possibility of them changes how an insurer evaluates the claim. We assess every Lafayette DUI case for whether a punitive claim is supported by the facts.

Two separate cases

The criminal DUI case versus your Lafayette civil claim

After a DUI crash on Baseline Road or the US 287 and Dillon Road corridor, two entirely different legal processes begin at once. Most victims do not know they have to manage them separately, and that gap costs money.

The criminal DUI case

  • Brought by the Boulder County District Attorney's Office, not by you.
  • The goal is to punish the driver through jail, fines, license revocation, and probation.
  • You are a witness and a victim in that case. You do not control it.
  • A conviction or guilty plea can become powerful evidence in your civil claim, but you cannot wait for one before filing civil suit.
  • The court may order restitution, but restitution rarely covers your full losses and is paid by the driver personally, which often means slow or partial collection.

Your Lafayette civil claim

  • Brought by you against the driver and any other responsible party, including a bar or restaurant that overserved them.
  • The goal is money: medical bills, lost income, pain, suffering, and every other documented loss.
  • You control the decisions, with your attorney's guidance.
  • Recovery comes from insurance in the vast majority of cases, not from the driver's personal bank account.
  • It can proceed whether or not the driver is ever convicted. The civil standard of proof is lower than the criminal one.

The criminal case must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Your civil claim only needs to prove fault by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more likely than not. A driver who escapes criminal conviction for technical reasons can still be fully liable to you in the civil case. We do not wait for the Boulder County D.A.'s docket to close before protecting your rights.

Every source of recovery

Who can be held responsible beyond the driver who hit you in Lafayette

The drunk driver is the obvious defendant. They are not always the only one, and sometimes not the one with the money to pay. Colorado law gives you a path to pursue the venue that put the driver on the road, and your own insurer when outside sources fall short.

Bars and restaurants: dram shop liability

  • 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 who then caused the harm.
  • The same statute reaches vendors who serve alcohol to anyone under 21. In that narrow situation even a private social host can be liable under C.R.S. 44-3-801(4).
  • A successful dram shop claim adds a second source of compensation on top of the driver's own liability coverage. You are not choosing one or the other.
  • The critical catch: the dram shop lawsuit must be commenced within one year after the alcohol was sold or served (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)). Many victims wait for the criminal case to wrap before thinking about who else to pursue, and by then the window to sue the bar is gone.

Your own coverage: UM and UIM

  • If the drunk driver who hit you on US 287 had no insurance, your uninsured motorist (UM) coverage steps into the at-fault driver's shoes.
  • If the driver had insurance but not enough to cover your losses, 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 this deadline matches the three-year motor vehicle SOL.
  • We map every policy from day one so no available coverage is missed.
Local context

Lafayette courts. Lafayette trauma care. Lafayette roads where DUI crashes happen.

A DUI injury case lives in the facts on the ground: which road, which bar or restaurant, which hospital, and which courthouse. Here is the ground we work on in Lafayette.

Courthouse

Boulder County Combined Court, 20th Judicial District

A Lafayette DUI 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 Weld County. CGH Injury Lawyers appears directly in Boulder County Combined Court on behalf of Lafayette clients and does not need to be admitted pro hac vice to represent you. When the drunk driver was operating a government vehicle, note that the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)) requires a written notice of claim within 182 days of discovery of the injury, and the 2026 CGIA per-person cap is $505,000 (C.R.S. 24-10-114). Missing the notice deadline bars the claim entirely.

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 American College of Surgeons recertified it in February 2025. The hospital sits directly at the US 287 and Dillon Road and Northwest Parkway interchange, the same corridor that has produced documented fatal crashes and where CDOT and Boulder County launched safety improvements in 2019. When a DUI driver hits someone at speed on US 287, Good Samaritan Hospital is the receiving facility for the most serious injuries. Those trauma records and the full scope of surgical and rehabilitation care documented there become the foundation of the damages case.

High-Risk Roads

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

US Highway 287 is the main north-south arterial through Lafayette and a documented fatal-crash corridor. The US 287 and Dillon Road intersection received targeted safety improvements because of collision frequency, yet its combination of high speed limits, left-turn gaps, and heavy commercial traffic still makes it the address of some of the most serious DUI crashes we see in Boulder County. State Highway 7 runs as Baseline Road east of US 287, passing directly in front of Centaurus High School. State Highway 42 runs as 95th Street along Lafayette's eastern edge. An impaired driver on any of these corridors at night is traveling at speed with diminished reaction time and degraded lane-keeping ability, which is why the resulting crashes tend to be severe rather than minor. We secure CDOT corridor data, business camera footage from US 287 storefronts, and police body-camera recordings before they are overwritten.

After the crash

What to do after a DUI crash in Lafayette

The steps you take in the first 24 to 48 hours after a Lafayette DUI crash directly affect the evidence you can use and the parties you can hold accountable. Dram shop evidence in particular disappears faster than most victims realize.

  1. Call 911 and stay at the scene

    A police response is essential in a DUI crash. The Lafayette Police Department or Colorado State Patrol will document the scene, conduct field sobriety tests, request a blood draw, and file a report that captures impairment evidence while it is still present. Get the case number before leaving.

  2. Get to Intermountain Health Good Samaritan Hospital or the nearest ER

    Good Samaritan Hospital at 200 Exempla Cir is a Level II Trauma Center less than a mile from the US 287 and Dillon Road corridor. Seek care immediately even if you feel okay. Traumatic brain injury and internal bleeding from high-speed DUI crashes often show no obvious symptoms for hours, and a gap in your medical timeline gives the insurer ammunition to argue your injuries were not caused by the crash.

  3. Document the scene and the driver

    Photograph both vehicles, road conditions, visible injuries, the other driver's license and insurance card, and any bar receipt, cup, or container that suggests where they were drinking. Note the name of any bar, restaurant, or event the driver came from. That information becomes the foundation of a dram shop investigation, and the one-year window to bring that claim starts immediately.

  4. Do not speak to the at-fault driver's insurer

    The drunk driver's insurance company is looking for ways to reduce what it pays you. Do not give a recorded statement, sign any release, or accept any early offer before an attorney reviews your case. This applies whether the call comes the same night or a week later.

  5. Call a Lafayette DUI accident attorney

    Bar point-of-sale records and surveillance video typically overwrite in days to weeks. The three-year motor vehicle SOL (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)) may feel distant, but the one-year dram shop deadline (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)) arrives fast. A free consultation costs you nothing and starts the clock on preserving everything.

Compensation

What a Lafayette DUI accident victim can recover, and how the caps work

A drunk driving crash is rarely just a medical bill. Colorado law recognizes two broad categories of compensatory damages, and the willful nature of impaired driving can open a third category that ordinary crashes cannot reach.

Economic damages (never capped)

  • Emergency care, surgery, and follow-up treatment at Good Samaritan Hospital and beyond
  • Future medical, rehabilitation, and long-term care costs
  • Lost wages from time off work and lost earning capacity for permanent injuries
  • Vehicle repair or replacement and other out-of-pocket expenses
  • In a fatal DUI crash, funeral costs and the family's documented financial losses

Non-economic damages

  • Pain and suffering from the crash and the recovery
  • Emotional distress and PTSD, which are common after a violent DUI impact
  • Permanent scarring, disfigurement, and physical impairment (not capped; see below)
  • Loss of enjoyment of life and loss of consortium for a spouse or family member

Colorado's non-economic cap, what is and is not covered by it, and punitive damages

  • For claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, Colorado caps non-economic damages such as pain and suffering at $1.5 million (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5). Lower caps applied to claims accruing in 2024 ($729,790) and in 2022 to 2023 ($642,180).
  • Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is not subject to the non-economic cap. In a serious DUI crash involving permanent injury, that uncapped category is often the largest part of the recovery.
  • Economic damages such as medical bills and lost wages are never capped regardless of when the crash occurred.
  • Drunk driving is the kind of willful and wanton conduct that can support punitive damages on top of your compensatory recovery (C.R.S. 13-21-102). Punitive damages generally cannot exceed the amount of actual damages awarded. We evaluate every Lafayette DUI case for whether the evidence supports a punitive claim.

For wrongful death claims arising from a fatal DUI crash in Lafayette, the non-economic cap for surviving family members is $2,125,000 for deaths occurring on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-203(1)(a)). When the driver is convicted of a felony related to the killing, no cap applies.

I wish I could leave more than 5 stars!
Grace M., 5-star CGH Injury Lawyers client review
The rules that decide your case

Colorado comparative fault and the deadlines in a Lafayette DUI injury case

Insurance companies know these rules better than most injured people do. The goal of every adjuster who contacts you is to make your recovery smaller by using the rules against you. Here is what those rules actually say.

Deadlines that can end a claim

  • The claim against the drunk driver: three years from the crash date (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)).
  • A dram shop claim against the bar or restaurant that overserved the driver: one year after the alcohol was sold or served (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)). This is the shortest clock in the case.
  • A UM or UIM claim under your own policy: governed by C.R.S. 13-80-107.5 per Pham v. State Farm, 2013 CO 17. Confirm this deadline with an attorney; it does not automatically match the three-year motor vehicle deadline.
  • A wrongful death claim arising from a fatal Lafayette DUI crash: two years (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(d)).
  • Government vehicle involvement: written notice within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). The clock runs from discovery, not from the crash date.

Modified comparative fault

  • Colorado uses modified comparative fault (C.R.S. 13-21-111). You can recover damages as long as you were less than 50 percent responsible for the crash.
  • If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault if you are found to be less than 50 percent at fault.
  • Against a drunk driver on US 287, the shared-fault argument rarely holds up, but insurers still raise it. We use the arrest record, toxicology, and crash reconstruction to keep the fault where it belongs.
  • For a child injured in a Lafayette DUI crash, Colorado law generally tolls the filing deadline. Evidence does not wait, though, so early involvement matters regardless.

How it works

How we handle your Lafayette DUI injury case

A Lafayette DUI injury claim moves through clear stages. Most resolve before trial. Every one is prepared as if it will be tried in Boulder County Combined Court's 20th Judicial District.

  1. Free case review

    We review the crash, your injuries, every deadline that is running, and every party who may be responsible. We tell you honestly what the claim is worth and what the next steps are. This costs you nothing.

  2. Investigate and preserve evidence

    We obtain the crash report, the DUI arrest record, body-camera footage, and toxicology results. We send a litigation hold to any bar or restaurant that may have served the driver and demand their point-of-sale records and security camera footage before those records are overwritten. On US 287, we also pull CDOT traffic data and camera footage from nearby businesses.

  3. Track the criminal case in Boulder County

    We monitor the Boulder County District Attorney's criminal prosecution, support a well-documented restitution request, and use any conviction or guilty plea as evidence in your civil claim while keeping your civil case moving on its own independent timeline.

  4. Identify and stack every insurance source

    We locate the driver's liability coverage, any commercial dram shop or liquor liability policy from the overserving venue, and your own UM and UIM coverage. We stack them so no available dollar is left behind.

  5. Document the full injury and future losses

    We build a complete medical record from the Good Samaritan Hospital trauma admission through every follow-up, including future care, lost earning capacity, and the psychological toll of a violent crash. Insurers routinely try to minimize harm they cannot see on a single X-ray.

  6. Demand, negotiate, and try the case

    We send a documented demand and negotiate from trial readiness. If an insurer refuses to be fair, we file in Boulder County Combined Court and present your case to a Boulder County jury. Managing Partner Kevin Cheney has tried over 25 cases to verdict across Colorado.

Your team

The team handling your Lafayette DUI accident 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. Every Lafayette DUI accident case is handled by a licensed Colorado attorney, not a paralegal. We do not maintain a Lafayette office; we serve Lafayette clients from our Denver office and come to you.

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 Free consultation No fee unless we win

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions about Lafayette DUI accident claims

How long do I have to file a DUI accident claim in Lafayette?

It depends on who you are pursuing. The claim against the drunk driver generally must be filed within three years of the crash (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)). A dram shop claim against a bar or restaurant that overserved the driver has a much shorter one-year deadline from the date the alcohol was served (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)). A UM or UIM claim under your own policy runs on a separate deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-107.5. A wrongful death claim arising from a fatal Lafayette DUI crash must be brought within two years (C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(d)). Because these clocks start from different events, the only safe step is to have an attorney confirm every applicable deadline as early as possible.

Can I sue the bar or restaurant that served the drunk driver who hit me on US 287?

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 who then caused harm. The same statute covers serving alcohol to anyone under 21. A dram shop recovery adds a second source of compensation on top of the driver's own coverage. The catch is the one-year filing deadline (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)). Waiting for the criminal case to conclude before evaluating this claim often means the window has closed by the time victims start looking. We evaluate dram shop liability from the first consultation.

Should I wait for the Boulder County criminal DUI case to finish before starting my civil claim?

No. The criminal case and your civil claim are separate proceedings. Waiting can forfeit your right to pursue the bar or restaurant under Colorado's one-year dram shop deadline (C.R.S. 44-3-801(3)(a)(II)). Bar video and point-of-sale records are commonly overwritten within weeks. Any conviction or guilty plea in the criminal case can later be used as evidence in your civil claim, so starting the civil claim early does not cost you that benefit. We protect your civil rights while the criminal case runs on its own track.

What if the drunk driver who hit me in Lafayette had no insurance?

This is common, and your own policy may be the primary recovery source. Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage steps in when the at-fault driver has no coverage, and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage fills the gap when their limits are too low for your losses. These claims run on their own deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-107.5 as interpreted in Pham v. State Farm, 2013 CO 17. We also evaluate whether a dram shop claim against the overserving venue adds a separate, insured source of recovery. We map every available policy from the first day.

The driver's insurer says I was partly at fault for the crash. Does that end my claim?

Not automatically. Colorado uses modified comparative fault (C.R.S. 13-21-111). You can still recover damages as long as you were less than 50 percent at fault. Your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. At 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing, which is exactly why insurers work to shift blame onto victims after a US 287 crash. Against a driver who was legally impaired, the shared-fault argument rarely has factual support. We use the DUI arrest record, toxicology results, and crash reconstruction to keep responsibility where the evidence places it.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have a Lafayette office?

No. Our single office is 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 appear directly in Boulder County Combined Court in the 20th Judicial District without any additional admission requirement and travel to Lafayette clients when needed. You are not paying for a storefront on US 287. You are paying for the legal work, which is the same quality regardless of where the firm's door is located.

Keep Reading

Related pages

Lafayette

Practice Area

Boulder County

Get Help

It's More Than Money.

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

Free consultation. No fee unless we win. The one-year dram shop clock and the three-year motor vehicle deadline are both running. 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 DUI accident law works statewide.

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