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Littleton, Colorado roadway. CGH Injury Lawyers serves catastrophic injury victims in Littleton from our Denver office.
Littleton, Colorado

Littleton Catastrophic Injury Lawyers Who Build the Full Cost of a Lifetime of Care

A catastrophic injury on US-85, C-470, or Wadsworth Boulevard leaves Littleton families facing permanent disability, lifetime medical costs, and lost earning capacity that no insurance check-in-the-mail will cover. Economic damages are never capped in Colorado, 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 Littleton from our Denver office, builds a certified Life Care Plan, and tries the case in the 18th Judicial District when an insurer refuses to be fair. You pay nothing unless we win.

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Serving Littleton 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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A catastrophic injury is not measured only by the severity of the crash. It is measured by what the injury permanently takes away: the ability to work, to move independently, to care for a family, to sustain a life. For Littleton residents injured on the US-85 corridor, C-470, or Wadsworth Boulevard, the corridors that carry millions of vehicle trips past Arapahoe Community College and Chatfield State Park every year, the financial stakes are just as permanent as the injury itself. Colorado law holds that economic damages such as lifetime medical care costs, attendant care, and lost earning capacity are never capped, and compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is not capped at all under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5). The cases that recover full value are the ones built on a certified Life Care Plan from day one.

  • Economic damages such as past and future medical bills, lifetime attendant care, and loss of earning capacity 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 uncapped categories are typically the largest components of a catastrophic case.
  • A certified Life Care Plan built by a CLCP or CNLCP is the document that converts a clinical diagnosis into a legally defensible damages number. Without one, an insurer will dismiss future care costs as speculative.
  • The general statute of limitations for a personal injury claim in Colorado is two years (C.R.S. 13-80-102). A motor vehicle crash carries a three-year limit (C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n)). If a public entity, such as a government vehicle, contributed to the crash, a 182-day written Notice of Claim must be filed with that entity before any lawsuit can proceed (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)).

CGH Injury Lawyers represents Littleton catastrophic injury victims from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. We have no Littleton office. We advance the cost of a Life Care Plan, retain the economists and rehabilitation planners, and file in the 18th Judicial District when settlement talks fail. The first consultation is free and you pay nothing unless we win.

What qualifies

What makes an injury catastrophic under Colorado law?

Colorado courts do not apply a single uniform definition of catastrophic injury. The classification turns on whether the injury is permanent and fundamentally alters your capacity to perform the activities of daily life. That determination shapes which damages are available, how a Life Care Plan is structured, and what a certified economist projects as the financial cost of living with the injury for the rest of your life.

Injury types that typically qualify

  • Traumatic brain injury with permanent cognitive deficits, memory loss, or behavioral change requiring lifetime supervision or care
  • Spinal cord injury, including paraplegia and quadriplegia, with permanent loss of motor or sensory function
  • Limb amputation requiring prosthetic devices, home modifications, and vocational retraining
  • Severe burns covering significant body surface area that require repeated skin grafts and reconstructive procedures
  • Permanent organ damage requiring transplant, dialysis, or ongoing medical management for life

How Colorado law draws the damage line

  • Economic damages such as future medical costs and lost earning capacity are never capped, regardless of injury severity
  • Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is expressly not capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5)
  • Non-economic damages such as pain and suffering are subject to Colorado's general non-economic cap under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5, but the uncapped categories are typically the largest components of a catastrophic recovery
  • AMA Guides whole-person impairment ratings are used by medical experts to measure the degree of permanent impairment, which in turn anchors the Life Care Plan and the damages claim

A clinical diagnosis of a serious injury is not the same as a legal classification. A catastrophic case requires medical experts to translate the diagnosis into a whole-person impairment rating under the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, and then connect that rating to the specific future care and economic losses the injury will produce over a lifetime. That chain of proof, from diagnosis to impairment rating to Life Care Plan to economic projection, is what separates a defensible damage demand from a speculative one.

How we build your case

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

A Life Care Plan is not a doctor's note estimating future costs. It is a forensic economic document that connects a clinical diagnosis to a legally defensible damages number. Colorado courts require it to be built by certified professionals and to survive cross-examination under the Shreck standard, Colorado's version of the Daubert test for expert admissibility. Health insurance covers treatment. A Life Care Plan covers a life.

  1. Certified planner, not a treating letter

    Qualified Life Care Planners hold credentials such as CLCP (Certified Life Care Planner) or CNLCP (Certified Nurse Life Care Planner). They review medical records, interview treating physicians, and run functional capacity evaluations to project every future care need. A treating physician's letter stating a patient will need future care is not a substitute. Colorado courts require specialized credentials in cost projection, not just clinical expertise.

  2. Medical inflation, not general CPI

    General inflation runs roughly 2 to 3 percent annually. Medical inflation has consistently outpaced it, running closer to 5 to 7 percent. A Life Care Plan built with the wrong inflation rate can underestimate a young client's lifetime care costs by millions of dollars. For a catastrophic injury sustained near Littleton in a person's working years, that gap between general and medical inflation is one of the largest single variables in the case value.

  3. Colorado-specific cost factors

    National Life Care Plan software defaults to U.S. average costs. Colorado carries premium pricing at its top rehabilitation facilities. Craig Hospital in Englewood, consistently ranked among the top rehabilitation centers in the country for spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, sets the regional cost benchmark that courts and defense experts recognize. A plan built on national averages rather than Colorado-specific costs will be challenged as unreliable and may be partially excluded.

  4. Built to survive Shreck and Daubert

    Colorado applies the Shreck test, its adoption of the Daubert reliability standard for expert testimony, under C.R.E. 702. The Life Care Planner and the forensic economist behind the projection must each qualify under that standard. We retain planners with CLCP credentials and economists with demonstrable experience testifying in Colorado courts, so the plan holds up when the defense challenges it on cross-examination.

  5. We advance the cost

    Building a defensible Life Care Plan typically takes 60 to 90 days, depending on injury complexity and medical record availability. We advance the cost of the planner and the economist. You pay nothing unless we win your case. Delaying the plan to save upfront money is one of the fastest ways to reduce the value of a catastrophic claim.

Littleton, Colorado

Littleton courts. Littleton trauma care. Littleton corridors.

A catastrophic injury case is not abstract. It lives in specific trauma rooms, specific courthouses, and specific roads where the forces involved were severe enough to permanently alter a person's life. Here is the ground that frames every Littleton catastrophic injury claim.

Courts

18th Judicial District, Arapahoe County

Personal injury cases arising in Littleton, which is the county seat of Arapahoe County, are filed in the 18th Judicial District. The district operates two courthouse locations: the Arapahoe County Courthouse at 1790 West Littleton Blvd, Littleton, CO 80120, and the Arapahoe County Justice Center at 7325 S. Potomac Street, Centennial, CO 80112. Because Littleton extends into portions of Jefferson County and Douglas County as well, the correct venue depends on the exact location of the incident that caused the injury. CGH confirms the proper courthouse before filing and has direct experience in Arapahoe County civil procedure.

Trauma Care

AdventHealth Littleton and Craig Hospital

AdventHealth Littleton (formerly Littleton Adventist Hospital) at 7700 South Broadway is a Level II Trauma Center, designated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in April 2004 and verified by the American College of Surgeons in October 2005. It is the closest designated trauma facility for most catastrophic incidents in the Littleton area. For spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation, Craig Hospital in Englewood is consistently ranked among the top facilities in the country and sets the regional standard of care that courts and insurers recognize. Treatment records from both institutions become core evidence in the damages phase of a catastrophic case.

High-Crash Corridors

US-85, C-470, Wadsworth Boulevard, and US-285

US Route 85, known as Santa Fe Drive, runs through central Littleton and serves Arapahoe Community College at 5900 S. Santa Fe Drive. State transportation data attributed over 2,200 crashes to this single corridor over a recent three-year period, driven by congestion, left-turn conflicts, and freight traffic. C-470 (the Centennial Freeway) forms Littleton's southern boundary, carrying heavy traffic past Chatfield State Park and through short interchange ramps at the C-470 and I-25 junction where aggressive merging produces frequent rear-end and multi-vehicle crashes. Wadsworth Boulevard (SH-121) and US-285 (Hampden Avenue) complete the network of high-volume corridors where forces severe enough to produce catastrophic injuries occur regularly. The South Platte River Trail crossings add bicycle and pedestrian exposure points throughout the corridor.

Why the location matters for a Life Care Plan

Littleton geography shapes the cost of long-term care

A Life Care Plan built for a Littleton resident must account for the cost of accessing Craig Hospital in Englewood for specialized rehabilitation, AdventHealth Littleton for ongoing acute care, and the Front Range specialty clinic network for long-term management. Winter conditions, including black ice on elevated C-470 bridge decks and rapid temperature swings common on the Front Range, add transportation difficulty factors that affect the real-world cost of attendant care and medical access over a lifetime. National software defaults that ignore Colorado geography will undercount these costs and expose the plan to cross-examination attacks.

After the injury

What to do after a catastrophic injury in Littleton

The first days after a catastrophic injury set the foundation for the legal case. The most expensive mistakes happen when injured people or their families wait, give recorded statements, or assume the responsible party's insurer is acting in good faith. Here is what matters most, in order.

  1. Secure trauma care at AdventHealth Littleton or a Level I center

    AdventHealth Littleton at 7700 S. Broadway is the designated Level II Trauma Center for the Littleton area. A catastrophic injury often requires more than emergency stabilization. Request immediate specialist consultations for spinal cord or brain injury and ask that every physician note the mechanism of injury in the records. Those records become the medical foundation of the damages claim.

  2. Preserve the scene and the evidence

    Photographs of the crash location, road conditions on US-85 or C-470 at the time of the incident, and the physical condition of vehicles or equipment involved are perishable. Traffic camera footage covering intersections near Arapahoe Community College and on the C-470 interchanges is typically overwritten within 30 days. Witness contact information from the scene is irreplaceable once people leave.

  3. Do not give a recorded statement to the insurer

    The at-fault party's insurer will contact you or your family within days of the incident. They are building a record to limit what they pay, not to help you. Do not give a recorded statement, accept a preliminary check, or sign any release before speaking with an attorney. A catastrophic injury carries damages that unfold over months and years, and an early release forfeits all of them.

  4. Identify whether a public entity is involved

    If a government vehicle, a public transit bus, or a government-owned road condition contributed to the catastrophic injury, the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (CGIA) requires a written Notice of Claim to be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). The 182-day clock runs from the date of discovery of the injury, not from the date of the incident. Missing this deadline permanently bars the claim against the public entity, regardless of the strength of the evidence. We identify CGIA exposure in the first days and file the notice well inside that window.

  5. Retain counsel and begin the Life Care Plan

    A Life Care Plan takes 60 to 90 days to build. The sooner we are retained, the sooner the certified planner begins reviewing medical records and building the projection. We send preservation demands for all evidence on the day we are retained and begin the Life Care Plan process before the full extent of the injury is even known. Waiting three months to retain counsel is three months of medical history that is harder to reconstruct.

  6. We negotiate or file in the 18th Judicial District

    Most catastrophic injury cases resolve before trial. When the insurer refuses to value the full Life Care Plan, we file in the Arapahoe County Courthouse at 1790 West Littleton Blvd or the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial, depending on where the injury occurred, and try the case if that is what full recovery requires. We prepare every case as if it will be tried, because that is what insurers respond to.

Compensation

What you can recover after a catastrophic injury in Littleton

Colorado law divides recoverable damages into two broad categories: economic losses you can document and project, and non-economic losses for the human cost of permanent injury. In a catastrophic case, the categories that matter most are the ones that are not capped under Colorado law: economic damages and compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement.

Economic damages (never capped)

  • Past and future medical expenses, including surgeries, hospitalizations, and specialist care
  • Lifetime attendant and nursing care costs documented in the Life Care Plan
  • Home modifications such as wheelchair ramps, widened doorways, and accessible bathrooms
  • Adaptive vehicles and specialized medical equipment with replacement cycles
  • Lost wages and permanent loss of earning capacity
  • Vocational rehabilitation and retraining costs

Non-economic damages (subject to cap)

  • Pain and suffering
  • Loss of enjoyment of life
  • Emotional distress and mental anguish
  • Loss of consortium for a spouse or close family member

Non-economic damages such as pain and suffering are subject to Colorado's general non-economic cap under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5. Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is expressly not capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5), which is a separate and often much larger category in a catastrophic case.

Comparative fault and what it means for your Littleton claim

Colorado uses a modified comparative fault system under C.R.S. 13-21-111. You can recover as long as you were less than 50 percent at fault for the incident that caused the catastrophic injury. Your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault. If a jury finds you 30 percent at fault, you collect 70 percent of the total award. At 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Defense teams in catastrophic cases almost always argue that the injured person shares some responsibility, particularly in crashes on high-traffic corridors like US-85 and C-470 where lane changes and merges are common. We challenge inflated fault attributions with crash reconstruction, electronic data from vehicles, and witness testimony.

The collateral source rule protects your full award

Under Colorado's collateral source rule, the at-fault party cannot reduce what it owes because you carry health insurance. If the Life Care Plan projects a specific amount for future care needs, the defendant cannot argue that insurance will cover part of it and shrink the bill. Health insurance also leaves real gaps in catastrophic cases: policies carry lifetime limits, narrow definitions of medically necessary care, and do not cover home modifications, adaptive vehicles, attendant care beyond strict medical necessity, or vocational rehabilitation.

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Why CGH

Why Littleton catastrophic injury victims choose CGH Injury Lawyers

Trial-ready attorneys, certified Life Care Plan expertise, bilingual service, and a single Denver office that serves Littleton and the entire Front Range. We do not publish catastrophic injury settlement figures, because every case is different and a number on a page tells you nothing about your case. What we offer is the work.

ABOTA Trial Advocate

Kevin Cheney. 25+ verdicts.

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 lawyer who is genuinely ready to take the case to a jury in the 18th Judicial District. Insurers respond differently to a firm that has a proven trial record.

Serving Littleton from Denver

One office. No Littleton address invented.

CGH Injury Lawyers has one office: 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We do not maintain a Littleton office. CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Littleton office. We serve Littleton from Denver, file in Arapahoe County's 18th Judicial District, and know Arapahoe County civil procedure directly from years of practice there.

Best Lawyers in America

Timothy G. Tarr since 2023.

Timothy G. Tarr has been recognized by Best Lawyers every year since 2023, reflecting a sustained peer-recognition record rooted in trial experience, not just settlement volume.

Life Care Plan Expertise

We advance the cost. You pay at recovery.

A certified Life Care Plan costs money to build. We advance that cost as part of our representation. If we do not win, you owe nothing for the plan. If we do, the Life Care Plan is what made the demand defensible.

Honest Case Screening

We turn down cases we cannot stand behind.

If the facts and the law do not support a claim, we tell you that in the free consultation. We do not take on a catastrophic injury case we cannot honestly fight for. When the evidence is on your side, we push hard. When it is not, you deserve to hear it early, at no cost to you.

Bilingual

Hablamos espanol.

Spanish-speaking staff and attorneys serve the Littleton area's Spanish-speaking community from our Denver office. Catastrophic injury families deserve counsel who can communicate without a language barrier at the moments that matter most.

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

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions about catastrophic injury claims in Littleton

What is the statute of limitations for a catastrophic injury claim in Littleton?

For most personal injury claims in Colorado, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of injury under C.R.S. 13-80-102. When the catastrophic injury was caused by a motor vehicle crash, the deadline extends to three years under C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n). If a government entity, such as a public transit vehicle or a government-owned vehicle, was involved, the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act requires a separate written Notice of Claim to be filed with the public entity within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). The 182-day clock runs from the date of discovery of the injury, not from the date of the crash or incident. Missing the CGIA notice deadline bars the claim against that public entity permanently, regardless of how severe the injuries are or how strong the evidence is. Contact an attorney immediately so the correct deadlines are confirmed for your case.

Are economic damages in a Colorado catastrophic injury case actually capped?

No. Economic damages in a Colorado personal injury case are never capped. That means past and future medical expenses, lifetime attendant care, home modifications, adaptive vehicles, lost wages, and loss of earning capacity can all be recovered in full, with no statutory ceiling. The non-economic cap under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5 applies to damages like pain and suffering, but not to economic losses or to compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement, which is also expressly not capped under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(5). In a catastrophic case, the uncapped categories, economic damages and physical impairment or disfigurement, are almost always the largest components of the total award. That is why a certified Life Care Plan that fully documents future economic needs is the most important single document in these cases.

Do I need a Life Care Plan for a catastrophic injury case in Colorado?

In a serious catastrophic case, yes. A certified Life Care Plan built by a CLCP or CNLCP converts a clinical diagnosis into a defensible, itemized projection of lifetime care costs. Without one, insurance adjusters and defense counsel dismiss future care demands as speculative and push for settlements that do not cover true lifetime needs. A plan built by a qualified planner, reviewed by a forensic economist, and built to survive Colorado's Shreck admissibility standard turns a speculative demand into a documentable one. CGH advances the cost of building the Life Care Plan, so the absence of one is never a financial barrier in the cases we take on.

Which Littleton court handles a catastrophic injury lawsuit?

Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County, and personal injury cases arising in the Arapahoe County portion of Littleton are filed in the 18th Judicial District. The 18th Judicial District has two courthouse locations: the Arapahoe County Courthouse at 1790 West Littleton Blvd, Littleton, CO 80120, and the Arapahoe County Justice Center at 7325 S. Potomac Street, Centennial, CO 80112. Littleton also extends into portions of Jefferson County and Douglas County, so the correct venue depends on the exact location where the injury occurred. CGH confirms the proper courthouse before filing any case.

I was partly at fault for the crash. Can I still recover for my catastrophic injuries?

Possibly, yes. Colorado uses a modified comparative fault system under C.R.S. 13-21-111. You can recover as long as you were less than 50 percent at fault for the crash that caused the catastrophic injury. Your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, if you were found 25 percent at fault, you would receive 75 percent of the total damages award. At 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Defense teams in catastrophic cases regularly argue that the injured person contributed to the crash, especially on high-traffic corridors like US-85 and C-470. We challenge inflated fault attributions with crash reconstruction evidence, vehicle data, and witness testimony from the scene.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have an office in Littleton?

No. CGH Injury Lawyers has one office: 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Littleton office. We serve Littleton residents and families dealing with catastrophic injuries from our Denver office, file cases in Arapahoe County's 18th Judicial District, and handle the full case from investigation through trial without a satellite office in Littleton. You can reach us at (303) 209-9395 or through the free case review form on this page.

Keep reading

Related pages

Catastrophic injury cases often overlap with specific injury types, wrongful death, and the broader practice areas that govern how these claims are built and tried in Colorado.

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CGH Injury Lawyers · 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205 · Serving Littleton, Arapahoe County, and the Front Range