Burns in and around Montrose can come from a hydraulic line on a tractor, a welder in a machine shop, a fryer at a family restaurant, or a heater in a rented farmhouse. CGH Injury Lawyers represents burn survivors in Montrose from our Denver office, and we start by working out which Colorado rules fit what happened to you.
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Maybe a fuel pump on a swather sprayed diesel across a hot manifold, a grinder threw sparks into a solvent can, or a pressure washer’s burner flared while you stood beside it. If a machine like that burned you or someone close to you, you may be sorting through medical bills and wondering who, if anyone, is responsible. A Montrose burn injury lawyer can look at whether the machine was defective, who owned the property, and whether an outside company had a hand in it.
When you’re ready to talk, call CGH Injury Lawyers at (303) 209-9395, or use the form on our contact page to tell us what happened.
The content on this page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always consult a licensed attorney for advice specific to your situation.
Rural work and small-business settings can involve property owners, employers, and equipment makers, each under different Colorado rules, as our Colorado burn injury page explains.
Tractors, balers, welders, grinders, compressors, and space heaters can all cause burns when something is wrong with them. A product liability case in Colorado can rest on more than one legal theory, including negligence and strict liability (C.R.S. 13-21-401(2)). A strict liability claim centers on two questions: whether the product had a defect, and whether that defect caused the burn.
Farmhands, mechanics, line cooks, and shop employees can be burned doing their regular jobs. If that’s you, workers’ compensation may pay benefits, and it is generally the only claim against your employer (C.R.S. 8-41-102).
A maker of a faulty machine, or a property owner who isn’t your employer, stands in a different position. Colorado law lets you accept workers’ compensation and also pursue that party for damages over and above it (C.R.S. 8-41-203(1)(a)).
A propane leak in a farmhouse, a wiring fault in a feed store, or a hot surface left unguarded at a repair shop may give rise to a premises claim against whoever is legally responsible for the property’s condition (C.R.S. 13-21-115). The property’s tax classification and the reason for your presence can both affect what you need to prove.
Helping a neighbor move an irrigation pipe, picking up an order at a feed store, and renting a farmhouse are different situations, and the reason you were on the property becomes part of the analysis. Colorado’s status rules set the owner’s duty in any Montrose premises liability claim, whatever the injury.
A collision with a truck or a car, including one on a rural highway, can cause fire and electrical and chemical burns. A crash burn can be part of a Montrose car accident claim against a driver whose negligence caused the crash, and a pickup or tractor with a defective fuel system may involve its manufacturer.
Colorado’s premises statute places a person on someone else’s land into one of three categories: trespasser, licensee, or invitee. A social guest counts as a licensee.
An invitee enters to transact business that the two sides are both interested in, or because the landowner expressly or impliedly represented that the public was expected. A landlord can be covered by the Act because it reaches a “person legally responsible for the condition of real property.”
The duty owed rises with each category. An invitee can generally recover when the owner didn’t take reasonable care against dangers the owner “actually knew about or should have known about” (C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(c)(I)). For a licensee, proof of the owner’s actual knowledge is generally needed (C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(b)).
C.R.S. 13-21-115(4)(c)(II) adds a rule for some farm and ranch land. When the landowner’s property is classified for property tax purposes as agricultural or vacant, an invitee’s recovery is limited to dangers the landowner “actually knew about.” The “should have known” standard drops out.
On agricultural or vacant land, what the owner knew, and when, can be central to the premises claim. Your category, whether on a farm, in a rental or at a business, is for the court to decide based on the facts (C.R.S. 13-21-115(6)).
The two-year and three-year periods generally begin once both the injury and its cause are known, or should have been known with reasonable diligence (C.R.S. 13-80-108(1)). Separate rules can affect how the deadline runs for a child’s claim. Ask a lawyer to confirm the date that applies to you, as it depends on who may be responsible and the burn's circumstances.
An insurer may argue you should have noticed a hazard sooner or kept your distance. In a negligence claim, Colorado’s comparative negligence statute allows recovery when your negligence is less than that of the party you’re seeking damages from, with your damages reduced by your own percentage. Equal or greater fault on your side bars recovery (C.R.S. 13-21-111).
Imagine a repair shop owner found 60 percent at fault for leaving the guard off a grinder beside the customer counter, and you, a customer, found 40 percent at fault for walking past a posted warning. Your damages would be reduced by 40 percent.
Colorado places a $1.5 million ceiling on damages for non-economic loss, which includes pain and suffering, inconvenience, emotional stress, and impairment of the quality of life, for claims arising on or after January 1, 2025. Under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5, medical malpractice and wrongful death have their own separate rules. Starting January 1, 2028, the ceiling is adjusted for inflation.
That ceiling applies to noneconomic losses, so medical costs and lost earnings aren’t subject to it (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(3)). Subsection (5) states that the section can’t be construed to limit “the recovery of compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement.” A burned hand that no longer grips a wrench the way it did may raise that kind of claim.
The courts
The Montrose County Justice Center, at 1200 North Grand Avenue, Montrose, CO 81401, houses the Montrose Combined (District and County) Courts. The Judicial Branch also lists the Nucla Montrose Associate Court, at 300 Main Street in Nucla.
Montrose County is part of the 7th Judicial District, along with Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Ouray and San Miguel counties. Where a lawsuit is filed depends on the facts.
Hospital and trauma care
Montrose Regional Health operates its hospital at 800 S. 3rd Street in Montrose. The Colorado health department’s designated trauma facilities list places it at Level III. Request your emergency department and admission records as soon as you’re able, because they can show the burn’s condition when treatment began.
The fire district
The Montrose Fire Protection District provides fire protection, emergency medical services, technical rescue and hazardous materials response across a geographical area of more than 1,100 square miles in Montrose County and portions of Ouray and Gunnison counties. Its Station One is at 441 South Uncompahgre Ave in Montrose. If district crews responded to your fire, their records may help explain how it started.
Our office
We handle Montrose burn cases from CGH Injury Lawyers, 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205.
Burn claims from farms and small businesses can involve several parties at once: an owner, an employer, an equipment maker, and a service company. We don’t publish burn settlement figures, since the value of a case depends on its injury and facts.
A machine fire can leave physical evidence behind: a melted fitting, a scorched wire, and a cracked fuel line. When the other side blames you, we respond with the equipment’s maintenance records, fire origin analysis, and testimony from experts.
Grafts, scar revisions, hand therapy and retraining for different work can continue long after the first surgery. Along with vocational experts, burn surgeons, and medical economists, we develop a Life Care Plan that documents what that future care will cost.
A burn on the palm or fingers can affect the work of someone who farms or fixes machines, and MedlinePlus states: “Burns on the face, hands, feet, and genitals can be particularly serious.” Your treating doctors’ notes on depth, size and location help show what the claim needs to reflect, including whether you can go back to farm or shop work.
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.
If Colorado law or the facts of your burn don’t support a claim, we’ll say so.
Spanish speakers can reach us at (303) 835-9177.
MedlinePlus says, “Major burns need urgent medical care.” Call 911 in an emergency.
Don’t repair, sell, or scrap the tractor, tool, or heater that burned you. Tag it, move it somewhere safe if you must, and photograph it from every side.
Record the make, model, and serial number, along with who last serviced it and when. If the machine was rented, borrowed, or recently repaired, keep the rental agreement, the lender’s name, or the work order.
If you were working, tell your employer in writing. If it happened at someone else’s farm or business, give the owner a written account, date it, and hold on to your copy.
Before you give a recorded statement to an insurance company, you can ask to speak with a lawyer first. Whether the caller represents a farm’s liability carrier or an equipment company, our number is (303) 209-9395.
Hold on to medical bills, receipts, and records of work you’ve missed, including seasonal or self-employment income, and keep notes on how the burn limits your daily tasks.
The compensation available depends on the facts of your case. Colorado law recognizes these kinds of losses.
The noneconomic ceiling in C.R.S. 13-21-102.5 leaves compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement untouched, as subsection (5) spells out.
Colorado sets maximum amounts that can be recovered from a public entity, and the Secretary of State recalculates them every four years (C.R.S. 24-10-114).
On land classified for property tax purposes as agricultural or vacant, an invitee does have to show actual knowledge. That makes evidence of what the owner knew, like earlier repairs, complaints or warnings, all the more important. Your category is still for the court to decide.
An insurer may try to cast you as a trespasser or a licensee to lower the duty the owner owed. The statute leaves that decision to the court, applying its definitions to the facts of how and why you were there (C.R.S. 13-21-115).
Your employer is generally reachable only through workers’ compensation, but a separate claim may exist against an outside party. 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 sets a general two-year filing period for tort claims, such as a burn caused by someone’s negligence (C.R.S. 13-80-102), and that clock generally starts when you knew, or reasonably should have known, about the injury and its cause. A crash claim against a driver runs on a different period, and a claim involving a government body begins with a written notice step measured in days (C.R.S. 24-10-109). Because the deadline for your case depends on its facts, have a lawyer confirm it.
The Montrose Combined (District and County) Courts are at the Montrose County Justice Center, 1200 North Grand Avenue in Montrose, in the 7th Judicial District. The Judicial Branch also lists the Nucla Montrose Associate Court in Nucla. Where a lawsuit is filed depends on the facts.
Scarring may be compensated as disfigurement, and the statute that sets Colorado’s $1.5 million noneconomic ceiling says it doesn’t restrict compensatory damages for physical impairment or disfigurement (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5). The ceiling itself governs claims arising on or after January 1, 2025, other than medical malpractice and wrongful death, which follow different rules.
Hospital bills and lost wages sit outside the ceiling as economic losses. Claims against a government body have their own maximum amounts (C.R.S. 24-10-114).
You may. In a negligence claim, a jury can assign you a share of the blame, and your award goes down by that share. Recovery is barred only if your share is at least as large as that of the party you’re claiming against (C.R.S. 13-21-111).
If a public entity or one of its employees on the job may be responsible, written notice must be filed within 182 days after you discover the injury, even if you don’t yet know everything about the claim. Missing that notice bars the claim for good (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)).
Recovery from a government body is also subject to maximum amounts that the Secretary of State adjusts every four years (C.R.S. 24-10-114). More than one limitation rule can apply to a claim against a public entity, so have a lawyer confirm the deadline.
No. Our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. Montrose callers can reach us at (303) 209-9395.
Possibly. Colorado generally limits product liability claims against a seller that 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).
It can. Colorado has separate rules for children that can change how a deadline runs, so don’t assume the adult deadline applies, or that extra time is available.
If a public entity may be involved, also ask the lawyer about the 182-day written notice rule (C.R.S. 24-10-109). Have a lawyer confirm the date for your child’s claim.
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Call (303) 209-9395 or reach us through our contact page, and tell us how it happened. We’ll listen, explain which Colorado rules may apply, and give you our honest opinion.
CGH Injury Lawyers is located at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. Learn more on our Montrose personal injury lawyers page.
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