A high-speed crash on Sheridan Boulevard or West 44th Avenue can sever or compress a spinal cord in a fraction of a second. The resulting paralysis changes a Mountain View family's finances for decades, and the first insurance offer almost never reflects what lifetime care costs in Jefferson County. We serve Mountain View from our Denver office, work with life care planners and neurologists, and build every case to its real long-term value. No fee unless we win.
No fee unless we winIt's More Than Money.
CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Mountain View office. We serve Mountain View residents from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We handle spinal cord injury cases across Jefferson County, file and appear in Jefferson Combined Court in Golden, and build every claim around a life care plan that reflects the actual cost of living with paraplegia or tetraplegia in Colorado. You pay nothing unless we recover.
Spinal cord injuries in the Mountain View area happen in predictable ways. We represent people who have suffered paraplegia or tetraplegia because of another party's negligence, regardless of how the injury occurred.
The spinal cord is divided into four regions. Where the injury occurs determines what movement and sensation are lost, how much care will be needed, and how large the claim needs to be to cover that care over a lifetime.
Cervical injuries affect all four limbs. C1 through C4 injuries are the most severe, often requiring ventilator support and 24-hour attendant care. C5 through C8 injuries allow progressively more arm and hand function, but all cervical injuries involve significant ongoing care needs. The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center's 2025 data sheet estimates lifetime care costs for C5 to C8 tetraplegia at roughly $4.5 million for a 25-year-old, in 2024 dollars. High cervical injuries can exceed $6.2 million. Colorado's healthcare costs and housing market push actual figures higher than those national averages.
Thoracic injuries paralyze the legs while preserving arm and hand use. Upper thoracic injuries (T1-T6) affect trunk stability and sitting balance. Lower thoracic injuries preserve more trunk control, and many people with these injuries live independently with home modifications and adaptive equipment. Lifetime costs are lower than cervical injuries but still substantial, reaching about $3 million for paraplegia under the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center's 2025 estimates, in 2024 dollars, once home modification, vehicle adaptation, equipment replacement, and ongoing medical management are factored in.
Lumbar and sacral injuries often allow some leg movement and ambulation with braces. Bowel and bladder dysfunction requires ongoing medical management, specialized supplies, and periodic procedures. While lifetime costs are lower than cervical or thoracic injuries, they are still significant and must be fully documented in a life care plan to ensure no cost is omitted from the damages claim.
The ASIA scale grades injuries from A to E. ASIA A is a complete injury with no motor or sensory function below the neurological level. ASIA B through D are incomplete injuries with varying preserved sensation or movement. An incomplete injury creates a specific valuation problem: the extent of recovery often is not known for 12 to 18 months after the injury. Insurance companies exploit that uncertainty, offering early settlements based on optimistic recovery projections that rarely materialize. We build the plan to account for both the possibility of improvement and the reality of long-term plateau.
A spinal cord injury case is grounded in real places: the corridor where the crash happened, the trauma center that stabilized you, the rehabilitation hospital where recovery begins, and the courthouse where the claim may be resolved. Here is the ground a Mountain View spinal cord injury case lives on.
Courthouse
Mountain View is in Jefferson County, which is served by the First Judicial District. A spinal cord injury lawsuit exceeding the county court limit is filed in Jefferson Combined Court at 100 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden, CO 80401. This is a different courthouse, different local rules, and a different jury pool than Denver District Court. We handle Jefferson County cases directly, including filing, discovery, and trial in Golden.
Trauma care
The closest Level I Trauma Center to Mountain View is St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, designated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Denver Health, verified by the American College of Surgeons and the State of Colorado as a Level I Adult and Level II Pediatric Trauma Center, is also accessible from Mountain View. Spinal cord injury patients require stabilization at the highest trauma level available, and the records from St. Anthony or Denver Health document the initial neurological presentation and injury level that form the foundation of the damages claim.
Rehabilitation
Craig Hospital in Englewood is consistently ranked among the top spinal cord injury rehabilitation centers in the country. Many Mountain View and Jefferson County spinal cord injury patients transfer to Craig after initial stabilization at a trauma center. Craig's rehabilitation records, functional assessments, and discharge recommendations become critical supporting documents in a life care plan, and we work directly with those records in building every spinal cord injury case.
High-risk corridors
Mountain View's 12-square-block footprint is bordered by Sheridan Boulevard to the east, West 44th Avenue to the north, West 41st Avenue to the south, and Fenton Street to the west. Sheridan Boulevard, a high-speed arterial documented in city safety studies as producing 123 serious injuries or fatalities in recent years, is precisely the kind of corridor where high-force crashes causing spinal cord injuries occur. West 44th Avenue carries I-70 overflow during peak commute hours. The combination of speed, vehicle volume, and pedestrian exposure at these boundaries creates concentrated spinal injury risk for Mountain View residents and visitors.
Spinal cord injury cases require a level of preparation that goes beyond what most firms offer. A life care plan, economic expert, neurologist, and trial-ready attorney must all work together to put the real number on the table.
Lifetime Cost Focus
We work with certified life care planners to project every future need, from attendant care and power wheelchair replacement to accessible housing modifications and ongoing medical management. Without a documented life care plan, the insurer's low offer looks reasonable. With one, the full picture is on the record.
No Local Office
CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Mountain View office. We serve Mountain View residents and injury victims from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. You can reach us at (303) 209-9395. Our attorneys handle Jefferson County spinal cord injury cases directly, including filing and appearing at Jefferson Combined Court in Golden. If a firm tells you they have a Mountain View address, look it up before you sign anything.
Trial Ready
Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and has tried over 25 cases to jury verdict, including in Jefferson County. Insurers treat trial-ready firms differently when the stakes are this high.
Best Lawyers in America
Timothy G. Tarr has been recognized by Best Lawyers every year since 2023. CGH is a eight-attorney Colorado firm founded in 2016, formerly Cheney Galluzzi and Howard.
Bilingual
Spanish-speaking staff and attorneys serve the Mountain View and northwest Denver metro area. A spinal cord injury diagnosis is overwhelming to navigate in any language. We communicate clearly with patients and families in both English and Spanish throughout every stage of the case.
No Win, No Fee
You pay nothing out of pocket for legal fees or case costs. We advance all expenses, including life care planners, neurological experts, and economists, and collect only from a settlement or verdict in your favor.
The first decisions after a spinal cord injury on Sheridan Boulevard or West 44th Avenue affect both the medical outcome and the legal claim. These steps protect both.
Spinal cord injuries require emergency stabilization. Moving an injured person before EMS arrival can convert an incomplete injury into a complete one. If you witness a crash on Sheridan Boulevard or West 44th Avenue, call 911 immediately and keep the scene safe until paramedics arrive. The police report, the EMS record, and the dispatch log all become evidence in the legal claim.
St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood is the designated Level I Trauma Center closest to Mountain View, and Denver Health is a Level I Adult and Level II Pediatric Trauma Center accessible from the northwest metro. Spinal cord injury stabilization requires the highest level of emergency surgical capability. The initial neurological assessment, imaging, and injury classification at the trauma center establish the baseline for the damages calculation and become the foundation for every expert opinion that follows.
If a family member can safely document the crash scene on Sheridan Boulevard, they should photograph vehicle positions, skid marks, road conditions, traffic signals, and any witnesses. Surveillance camera footage from Sheridan Boulevard businesses, dashcam footage from other vehicles, and signal timing data all get overwritten or discarded quickly. We send preservation letters immediately to protect that evidence before it disappears.
If a government vehicle, a public employee, or a publicly maintained road condition contributed to the injury, Colorado's Governmental Immunity Act (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)) requires a written notice of claim within 182 days of discovering the injury. That notice deadline runs separately from and before the lawsuit filing deadline. Missing it bars the claim against a public entity entirely. Do not assume you have time to wait before contacting an attorney.
The at-fault driver's insurer will call quickly, especially in a catastrophic injury case where the exposure is large. Do not agree to a recorded statement, sign a medical authorization, or accept any settlement offer before speaking with an attorney. In spinal cord injury cases the early settlement offer is almost always a fraction of what lifetime care actually costs. Call (303) 209-9395 first. The consultation is free.
Colorado law recognizes two broad categories of damages after a spinal cord injury: economic losses documented by bills and projections, and non-economic losses for the human cost of living with paralysis. Understanding both categories, and which is capped, shapes how a claim is built.
For non-economic damages such as pain and suffering in claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, Colorado's cap is $1.5 million under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5. Compensation for physical impairment or disfigurement is not subject to that cap. Economic damages, including the full cost of a life care plan, are never capped regardless of amount. In spinal cord injury cases, economic damages often dwarf the non-economic cap, which is why the life care plan is the most important document in the case. Colorado also follows modified comparative fault (C.R.S. 13-21-111): if you were less than 50 percent at fault, you recover, with your award reduced by your percentage. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Insurers push the fault percentage aggressively in high-value catastrophic cases for exactly this reason.
I wish I could leave more than 5 stars!
CGH Injury Lawyers is a Colorado firm founded in 2016, formerly Cheney Galluzzi and Howard. Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Timothy G. Tarr has been recognized by Best Lawyers every year since 2023. Every spinal cord injury case is handled by a licensed Colorado attorney working alongside the medical experts, life care planners, neurologists, and economists these cases require. No case managers, no hand-off to junior staff.
If the injury came from a motor vehicle crash, Colorado gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit under C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n). That deadline applies to crashes caused by a driver on Sheridan Boulevard, West 44th Avenue, or any other road in or around Mountain View. If a government vehicle or public entity played a role, a written notice of claim is also required within 182 days of discovering the injury under C.R.S. 24-10-109(1). Missing that notice bars the government-entity portion of the claim entirely. Contact an attorney well before the filing deadline, because life care plan development, expert retention, and evidence collection all take time.
A life care plan is a document built by a certified planner, usually a nurse or rehabilitation specialist, that projects every future medical and non-medical need across a person's expected lifespan. In a legal case it becomes the foundation for economic damages. Without one, an insurer's offer for a $1 million settlement sounds large. With one, the record shows that a person with C5 tetraplegia may need more than $4.5 million in lifetime care, and that the offer falls far short. Life care plans in Colorado cases are built using the Medical Consumer Price Index, which historically runs 3 to 4 percent annually, to account for healthcare cost inflation over decades.
Economic damages such as medical bills, attendant care, wheelchair and equipment costs, home modification, and lost wages are never capped in Colorado. For claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, non-economic damages such as pain and suffering are capped at $1.5 million under C.R.S. 13-21-102.5. Compensation for physical impairment and disfigurement is not subject to that cap at all. In spinal cord injury cases, the uncapped categories, particularly economic damages and physical impairment, typically represent the bulk of the total recovery. That is why a complete life care plan built by expert planners is essential: it puts the real number behind the uncapped portion of the claim.
Yes, in most cases. 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, and your damages award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Insurance companies fight especially hard to inflate the injured person's fault percentage in spinal cord injury cases because the damages are so high. An attorney can challenge that assessment with accident reconstruction, police reports, witness accounts, and traffic data from Sheridan Boulevard or West 44th Avenue.
A complete injury, graded ASIA A, means no motor or sensory function is preserved below the neurological level. An incomplete injury, graded ASIA B through D, leaves some neural pathways intact, so a person may retain partial sensation, partial movement, or both. Incomplete injuries are harder to value because the extent of recovery often is not clear for 12 to 18 months after the injury. Insurers regularly offer early settlements on optimistic recovery projections that do not hold. A sound life care plan accounts for both the possibility of some improvement and the reality that many people plateau far short of independence. We do not recommend accepting any settlement before the medical picture is clear.
No. CGH Injury Lawyers has one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. Mountain View is a small Jefferson County enclave of 541 residents covering 12 square blocks. We serve Mountain View residents and injury victims from our Denver office, handle Jefferson County spinal cord injury cases directly, and file and appear in Jefferson Combined Court in Golden when the case calls for it. Call us at (303) 209-9395 for a free consultation.
Statewide spinal cord injury practice
Nearby Jefferson County cities
It's More Than Money.
Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Serving Mountain View from our Denver office. Jefferson County cases handled directly.
Prefer to read first? See how Colorado spinal cord injury law works statewide.
CGH Injury Lawyers · 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205 · Serving Mountain View, Jefferson County
