Why Aviation Accident Cases Require Specialized Legal Counsel
Most personal injury cases involve a car, a truck, maybe a motorcycle. You can point to a stoplight, a speed limit, a lane marking. Aviation accidents don’t work that way. The rules are federal. The investigations are federal. And the defendants often have engineers and corporate lawyers working before the wreckage is even cold.
We’ve handled cases in Greenwood Village where families didn’t even know who to call first. That’s not a knock on anyone. It’s the nature of these cases. A single small-plane crash near Centennial Airport can involve the aircraft manufacturer, the maintenance shop, the parts supplier, the flight school, and the pilot’s estate. Each one points the finger at someone else. Insurance companies use that confusion to lowball or deny claims outright.
Here’s what makes aviation law different from a standard injury claim. The National Transportation Safety Board runs the crash investigation, not local police. FAA regulations control everything from pilot certification to fuel system design. Colorado’s general personal injury statute of limitations gives you just 2 years under C.R.S. § 13-80-102. If a government entity is involved, like CDOT or an FAA contractor, you’re looking at a 182-day notice requirement under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (C.R.S. § 24-10-109). Miss that window and your case is dead.
Then there’s the product liability angle. Colorado follows strict liability under C.R.S. § 13-21-401, so if a defective component caused the crash, you don’t have to prove the manufacturer was careless. You prove the part was defective. But there’s a 10-year statute of repose on product claims, and many aircraft components are decades old. Anne Dieruf on our team handles product liability work and knows those timelines well.
A general practice attorney can file the paperwork. But understanding NTSB protocols, reading maintenance logs, deposing an avionics expert, knowing which federal preemption arguments will come up. That takes a firm that’s done this before. Jason Jordan has over 20 years of trial experience and served as president of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association. We don’t guess our way through aviation cases. As legal technology and documentation continue to evolve, understanding the legal standards shaping modern evidence and AI tools is part of staying ahead in complex litigation.
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Who Can Be Held Liable in a Plane Crash or Aviation Incident
This is where aviation accident cases get complicated fast. A car crash usually involves two drivers. Maybe three. But a single plane crash near Greenwood Village can involve a dozen or more parties who each played a role in what went wrong.
We’ve seen this play out dozens of times. The pilot’s family blames the aircraft manufacturer. The manufacturer points at the maintenance shop. The maintenance shop says the parts supplier sent a defective component. And the airport operator claims they followed every protocol. Everyone’s pointing fingers, and the insurers behind each one are hoping you’ll give up before sorting it all out.
You won’t sort it out alone. That’s the honest truth.
The pilot or flight crew can be liable for errors in judgment, failure to follow procedures, or flying under the influence. But pilot error is often the answer that hides deeper problems. The aircraft owner or operator carries responsibility for proper maintenance schedules and crew training. If a charter company operating out of Centennial Airport cut corners on inspections, that’s on them. The manufacturer falls under Colorado’s product liability statute, C.R.S. § 13-21-401, which allows strict liability claims for design defects, manufacturing defects, or failure to warn. No negligence required. If a faulty fuel pump or cracked engine mount caused the crash, the manufacturer is on the hook regardless of intent.
Maintenance providers and parts suppliers are liable when shoddy repair work or counterfeit parts enter the picture. Air traffic control introduces a government liability angle. Claims against FAA controllers fall under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which has its own strict notice rules and deadlines separate from Colorado’s statutes. Airport operators can also bear fault for runway conditions, obstruction failures, or inadequate safety systems.
Here’s what matters. We don’t pick one target and hope for the best. Our team investigates every link in the chain because the liable parties with the deepest coverage are often hiding two or three layers back. In Greenwood Village cases involving flights connected to Centennial Airport, that is where we start looking.
Steps to Take Immediately After an Aviation Accident
The first few hours after an aviation accident are chaos. Pure chaos. You’re dealing with injuries, emergency responders, maybe a crash site near Centennial Airport or along the DTC corridor in Greenwood Village. Your brain isn’t thinking about evidence. It should be.
We’ve handled these cases enough to know that what happens in the first 72 hours shapes everything that follows. The NTSB will launch an investigation, the FAA will get involved, and the aircraft owner’s insurance team will have lawyers on site before you’ve even left the hospital. That’s not an exaggeration. Most families don’t realize how fast the other side moves — which is exactly why you need a Greenwood Village attorney who takes cases to trial in your corner from day one.
What You Need to Do Right Now
Get medical attention first. Even if you walked away from the wreckage, get checked. Head injuries from aviation accidents don’t always show symptoms right away. Sky Ridge Medical Center is close to Greenwood Village and has trauma capabilities. Go there. Tell them exactly what happened, every detail you can remember about the impact.
Document everything you can. If you’re physically able, use your phone. Photos of the crash site, the aircraft, debris patterns, your injuries, the weather conditions. Nine times out of ten, critical evidence disappears within days. Wreckage gets moved. Fuel spills get cleaned up. Maintenance logs get misplaced.
Don’t give recorded statements. The aircraft operator’s insurer will call you fast. They’ll sound friendly. They’ll say it’s routine. It isn’t. Anything you say gets used to reduce your claim or shift fault onto you under Colorado’s modified comparative negligence rule (C.R.S. § 13-21-111). If they pin even 50% fault on you, your recovery drops to zero.
Contact an aviation accident lawyer before you talk to anyone else. We need to send preservation letters immediately, demanding that maintenance records, flight data recorders, cockpit voice recordings, and pilot training files all get locked down. Once that evidence is gone, it’s gone.
Colorado’s general personal injury statute of limitations is two years (C.R.S. § 13-80-102). If a government entity is involved, like CDOT or a municipal airport authority, you’ve got just 182 days to file notice under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (C.R.S. § 24-10-109). That deadline can sink a case. We’ve seen families lose their right to recover because nobody told them about it in time.
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How Jordan Law Handles Aviation Accident Claims in Greenwood Village
Most law firms won’t touch an aviation case. We get it. The federal regulations alone fill entire bookshelves. But we’ve built a process that cuts through the noise and gets answers fast, because families calling us from Greenwood Village don’t have time to wait while someone figures it out.
The first thing we do is lock down evidence. Aviation accident scenes change quickly. The NTSB takes custody of wreckage. Airlines and charter companies have legal teams on site within hours. Insurance adjusters start recording statements before victims even leave the hospital. We’ve seen this play out dozens of times. If you don’t move fast, critical evidence disappears or gets controlled by the other side.
Our team brings in aviation experts early. Not after discovery. Not after depositions. Day one. We work with accident reconstruction specialists, metallurgists, former FAA inspectors, and maintenance auditors who can read logbooks the way most people read a menu. Jason Jordan’s trial background, including over 20 years of complex injury litigation, means we build a case that holds up in a courtroom, not just in a demand letter.
Here’s what matters about our approach. Insurance companies know which firms try cases and which firms settle everything. That reputation changes the math on every offer. About 85% of our litigation work comes from referrals by other attorneys, many of them from high-volume firms that don’t have the trial infrastructure to take on an aviation claim themselves.
We also handle the coordination that overwhelms most families. Aviation accidents create a tangle of federal preemption issues, manufacturer warranties, maintenance contracts, and overlapping insurance policies. Our office sits right here at 5445 DTC Parkway in Greenwood Village. You can walk in and sit across from the attorney handling your case. Not a paralegal. Not an intake coordinator. The actual lawyer.
Wondering if you even have a case worth pursuing? Give us a call. The consultation costs you nothing, and we can usually tell you within the first conversation whether the facts line up.
Damages You Can Recover in an Aviation Accident Claim
Most people we talk to in Greenwood Village have no idea how much an aviation accident claim can actually be worth. They think about medical bills. Maybe lost wages. But the real number is almost always bigger than what they’d guess on their own.
Colorado law splits damages into two buckets. Economic damages cover everything with a receipt or a dollar figure attached. Medical bills from day one through future surgeries. Lost income, both what you’ve already missed and what you won’t be able to earn going forward. Rehabilitation costs. In-home care. Adaptive equipment. Flight crews and charter pilots who can’t return to the cockpit face career-ending losses that run into the millions. There’s no cap on economic damages in Colorado, so every dollar gets counted.
Then there’s noneconomic damages. Pain. Emotional distress. Loss of enjoyment of life. Under HB 24-1472, effective January 1, 2025, noneconomic damages are capped at roughly $1.5 million. That cap can be exceeded if we show clear and convincing evidence that a higher award is justified. We’ve done it before.
Wrongful death claims carry their own rules. A surviving spouse can file in the first year. Spouse or children can file in the second year. The wrongful death cap sits at approximately $2.125 million, with an exception for felonious killing. The statute of limitations is two years under C.R.S. § 13-21-204. Miss that window and the claim is gone.
And here’s something many families near the DTC Parkway corridor don’t realize. If the conduct that caused the crash was reckless or intentional, punitive damages come into play. Under C.R.S. § 13-21-102, punitive damages can equal compensatory damages and can triple on clear and convincing evidence. A charter operator who skipped required maintenance inspections, a manufacturer who buried a known defect. That’s the kind of conduct that opens the door.
The financial pressure after an aviation incident hits fast. Getting the damage picture right from the start changes everything about how a case moves forward.
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Our Greenwood Village, Colorado Office Location
Our main office is located in Greenwood Village, also known as the Denver Tech Center, just south of Downtown Denver.
Jordan Law Accident and Injury Lawyers
5445 DTC Parkway Suite 1000 Greenwood Village CO 80111
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file an aviation accident claim in Greenwood Village?
You have 2 years under Colorado’s personal injury statute, C.R.S. § 13-80-102. But if a government entity is involved, like an FAA contractor, that window shrinks to 182 days. Miss that notice requirement and your case is gone. We’ve seen families lose their right to recover simply because they didn’t know about that shorter deadline. Call as soon as possible after the accident.
Who can be held liable after a plane crash near Centennial Airport?
Multiple parties can be liable, including the pilot, aircraft owner, manufacturer, maintenance shop, parts supplier, and even the airport operator. Greenwood Village cases connected to Centennial Airport often involve all of these. Each party’s insurer will point fingers at the others. That’s exactly why we investigate every link in the chain, not just the most obvious one. The party with the deepest coverage is often buried two or three layers back.
Do I need to prove the manufacturer was careless to hold them responsible?
No, you do not. Colorado follows strict product liability under C.R.S. § 13-21-401. You only need to prove the part or component was defective. You don’t have to show the manufacturer was careless or knew about the problem. This matters a lot in aviation cases because many aircraft parts are decades old. Our team handles these product liability timelines and knows the 10-year statute of repose that applies.
What should I do in the first hours after an aviation accident in Greenwood Village?
Get medical attention first, even if you feel fine. Head injuries from aviation accidents often have delayed symptoms. Sky Ridge Medical Center is close to Greenwood Village and has trauma capabilities. After that, document everything you can with your phone. The aircraft owner’s insurance team will have lawyers on site fast. You need someone working on your side just as quickly. Don’t wait to make that call.
Can a general personal injury attorney handle my aviation accident case?
A general attorney can file paperwork, but aviation cases go much deeper than standard injury claims. NTSB investigations, FAA regulations, maintenance logs, avionics experts, and federal preemption arguments all come into play. These are not areas where guessing works. You need a lawyer with real aviation case experience who knows how federal and state law interact in a crash claim.
What if the pilot error caused the crash — can I still recover damages?
Yes, and pilot error is often just the surface answer. Beneath it, you may find a maintenance failure, a defective part, or a training gap from the charter company. In Greenwood Village cases, we start by questioning whether the pilot error was the real cause or just the easiest explanation. Other liable parties often have far more coverage than the pilot’s estate alone. A full investigation almost always reveals more.
