How to Know If You Have a Burn Injury Claim Worth Pursuing
Not every burn leads to a lawsuit. But most people we talk to in Greenwood Village do not realize how strong their case is until we walk through the facts together.
The question isn’t really “how bad is my burn?” It’s “did someone else’s carelessness cause it?” If a landlord ignored a faulty water heater in your apartment near the Landmark, that’s a claim. If a restaurant along Arapahoe Road served food from a fryer with a known defect, that’s a claim. If a contractor cut corners on a gas line and you got caught in the explosion, that’s a claim. The burn itself is the damage. The negligence is what makes it a case.
We see people talk themselves out of calling because they think their burn “wasn’t bad enough.” Here’s what we tell them. Second-degree burns that require skin grafts can run up six-figure medical bills fast. Acute burn care alone costs over $10,000 per day, according to the American Burn Association. That’s before you factor in lost income, physical therapy, scar revision surgery, or the emotional toll of living with visible scarring. Even a burn that looks “minor” on the surface can mean months of treatment.
Colorado’s statute of limitations gives you two years for a general personal injury claim under C.R.S. § 13-80-102. If your burn came from a car accident or vehicle fire, you get three years under C.R.S. § 13-80-101. If a government entity is involved, say a City of Greenwood Village property or a CDOT work zone, you have just 182 days to file notice under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (C.R.S. § 24-10-109). Miss that window, your case is dead.
Adjusters will drag their feet on purpose, hoping the clock runs out. They count on you not knowing these deadlines exist.
So if someone else’s action or inaction caused your burn, and you’ve got medical records showing treatment, you likely have a case worth pursuing. The sooner you get the facts in front of an attorney, the stronger your position. We’ve seen too many good claims die because people waited.
For a free legal consultation with a burn injury lawyer serving Greenwood Village, call (303) 465-8733
Common Burn Injury Scenarios That Create Legal Liability
Most people think of house fires. But the burn injury cases we handle in Greenwood Village look nothing like that. They come from restaurants, construction sites, apartment complexes, and vehicles on I-25. The cause matters because it tells us who’s liable.
Workplace burns are some of the most severe we see. A restaurant worker in the DTC gets splashed by a commercial deep fryer with no proper guard. A construction crew member contacts an unmarked live electrical line near Fiddler’s Green. These are not freak accidents. They’re the result of missing safety protocols, OSHA violations, or defective equipment. They open the door to third-party claims beyond workers’ comp. We secured a $26.6 million verdict in a case involving truck brake failure and deep fryer burns. That result happened because we proved the injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, not just bad luck.
Vehicle fires create another category entirely. Fuel system defects, post-collision fires, exploding batteries in electric vehicles. We recovered $20 million for a client burned in a fuel tanker explosion that caused permanent brain injury. These cases involve product liability under C.R.S. § 13-21-401, so strict liability applies. You do not have to prove the manufacturer was careless. You prove the product was defective. That’s a big difference.
Chemical and electrical burns happen more often than you’d expect. Improperly stored chemicals at a commercial property near the Orchard Road corridor. Faulty wiring in an older apartment building. A defective space heater that ignites bedding. Each scenario points to a different defendant, sometimes a landlord, sometimes a manufacturer, sometimes a contractor who cut corners.
Nine times out of ten, the liable party’s insurance company will argue you contributed to your own injury. Colorado’s modified comparative negligence rule under C.R.S. § 13-21-111 means they’ll try to push your fault to 50% or higher, because at that point your recovery drops to zero. We’ve seen this play out hundreds of times. They’ll claim you ignored a warning label or weren’t wearing protective gear. Our job is to prove what actually happened before that evidence disappears.
The Dual-Track Strategy: Workers’ Comp and a Personal Injury Lawsuit
Most people don’t realize you can pursue both at the same time. Workers’ comp covers your medical bills and a portion of lost wages. But it won’t pay for your pain, your scarring, or the fact that your life looks completely different now. A personal injury claim against the party who actually caused the burn fills that gap.
Here’s where it gets tricky in Greenwood Village. Workers’ comp is a no-fault system. You don’t have to prove anyone was negligent. You just file and get benefits. But those benefits are limited, they cap your wage replacement at two-thirds, and they don’t touch noneconomic damages like disfigurement or emotional distress. For a serious burn, that’s where most of the real harm lives.
When a Third-Party Claim Opens Up
If someone other than your employer caused the burn, you’ve got a third-party personal injury claim. We see this constantly with equipment that malfunctions on a job site, chemicals supplied by an outside vendor, or a vehicle collision during a work route near the DTC corridor. The manufacturer, the property owner, the subcontractor who cut corners. They’re all potentially on the hook under Colorado product liability law (C.R.S. § 13-21-401) or premises liability (C.R.S. § 13-21-115).
Most injured workers don’t know a separate lawsuit exists. The workers’ comp claim gets processed, and no one mentions that a third-party case could recover five or ten times more. We’ve seen this play out hundreds of times.
One thing to watch: your workers’ comp carrier has a subrogation lien. That means if you win a personal injury verdict, they’ll want reimbursement for what they already paid. We negotiate those liens down aggressively. Colorado law gives us room to do that, and it can mean tens of thousands more in your pocket.
The statute of limitations for a general personal injury claim in Colorado is two years under C.R.S. § 13-80-102. Don’t assume your workers’ comp filing protects the other deadline. It doesn’t. If you’re recovering from a workplace burn in Greenwood Village and haven’t talked to a burn injury lawyer about the third-party angle, call us before that window closes.
Greenwood Village Burn Injury Lawyer Near Me (303) 465-8733
What a Burn Injury Case Actually Recovers for You
People think a burn injury case is about one hospital bill. It’s not. Not even close. The real cost of a serious burn unfolds over months and years, and most of it hits after you leave the hospital.
We handle burn injury claims in Greenwood Village where the medical bills alone run into six figures before the client even starts skin graft surgery. Acute burn care can cost $10,000 or more per day. That’s just the ICU. Then come the surgeries, the wound care, the compression garments, the physical therapy to restore range of motion. None of that accounts for the reconstruction work that might stretch out over two or three years — and an experienced trial attorney in Greenwood Village makes sure every dollar of that cost is documented and fought for.
Under Colorado law, there’s no cap on economic damages. That matters here. Your medical bills, lost income, future earning capacity, home modifications, ongoing care needs. All of it is recoverable without a ceiling. Many claimants never learn this until it’s too late to act on it.
Beyond the Medical Bills
Noneconomic damages cover what the spreadsheet can’t capture. Pain during wound debridement. The way scars change how people look at you. Sleep disruption that lasts years. Under HB 24-1472, effective January 2025, noneconomic damages are capped at roughly $1.5 million, but that cap can be exceeded with clear and convincing evidence. In severe burn cases near the Landmark area of Greenwood Village, we’ve built records that push past that threshold.
We recovered $26.6 million in a case involving deep fryer burns combined with a truck brake failure. And $20 million in a fuel tanker explosion that caused permanent brain injury alongside the burns. Those numbers didn’t happen by accident. They happened because we documented every category of loss from day one.
Here’s what gets missed most often. Future care. A burn survivor might need scar revision surgery five years from now. They might need mental health treatment for PTSD that doesn’t surface until long after the case settles. If your attorney doesn’t build a life care plan with the right specialists, that money disappears from your case before anyone even asks for it.
Punitive damages also come into play when the conduct was reckless. Colorado allows punitive damages equal to compensatory, and they can triple on clear and convincing evidence under C.R.S. § 13-21-102. A landlord who ignored a known gas leak. A manufacturer who skipped safety testing. Those cases carry real punitive exposure.
Steps to Take After a Burn Injury Before the Evidence Disappears
Evidence in burn cases vanishes fast. We’re talking days, sometimes hours. A restaurant cleans and replaces a fryer. A landlord patches faulty wiring. A construction site gets cleared before anyone documents what happened. If you do not move quickly after a burn injury in Greenwood Village, the proof you need to build your case may be gone for good.
Here’s what we tell every client to do, in order, as soon as they’re able.
- Get medical treatment and make sure everything is documented. Go to the burn center or ER. Tell them exactly how the burn happened, where it happened, and what caused it. That medical record becomes your first piece of evidence. If you were burned at a commercial property near the Landmark or along Arapahoe Road, the treating physician’s notes about the cause matter later.
- Report the incident in writing. If it happened at work, file a report with your employer that same day. If it happened at a business, ask for a manager and get an incident report number. Don’t leave without it.
- Photograph everything you can. Your burns. The scene. The equipment, product, or condition that caused the injury. Take video if possible. Get wide shots and close-ups. We’ve seen cases turn on a single photo of a warning label that was missing from a defective product.
- Get witness names and contact information. Coworkers, bystanders, anyone who saw what happened. People forget details quickly. They move. They change jobs.
- Call a burn injury lawyer before talking to any insurance adjuster. The adjuster who calls you within 48 hours isn’t trying to help. They’re building a file to minimize your claim. That call is not in your interest.
One thing we do immediately when a burn case comes in is send a spoliation letter. That’s a formal notice telling the responsible party they can’t destroy, alter, or discard any evidence. No cleaning the equipment. No wiping the surveillance footage. No “routine maintenance” on the machine that burned you. We’ve handled cases in Greenwood Village where critical security camera footage from a commercial property was overwritten within 72 hours. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
You don’t need to have everything figured out before you call us. That’s our job. But the sooner you reach out, the more evidence we can preserve.
Click to contact our Trial Attorney in Greenwood Village today
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 do I know if my burn injury is serious enough to file a claim in Greenwood Village?
If someone else’s carelessness caused your burn, you likely have a case worth pursuing. The severity of the burn matters less than you think. Second-degree burns requiring skin grafts can generate six-figure medical bills fast. Acute burn care alone costs over $10,000 per day. Even burns that look minor can mean months of treatment, lost income, and scar revision surgery. Talk to a burn injury lawyer before deciding your case isn’t strong enough.
What deadlines apply to burn injury claims in Greenwood Village?
Colorado gives you two years to file a general burn injury claim under C.R.S. § 13-80-102. If your burn happened in a vehicle fire, you get three years. But if a government property in Greenwood Village is involved, you have just 182 days to file a notice under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act. Missing that window ends your case completely. Insurance adjusters count on you not knowing these deadlines. Contact a lawyer as soon as possible.
Can I file a personal injury lawsuit even if I’m already getting workers’ comp for my burn?
Yes, you can pursue both at the same time. Workers’ comp covers medical bills and part of your lost wages, but it does not pay for pain, scarring, or how your life has changed. If a third party caused your burn, like a defective piece of equipment or an outside contractor near the DTC corridor, a separate personal injury claim can recover far more. Most injured workers never hear about this option until it is too late.
What types of burn injuries create legal liability in Greenwood Village?
Burn injury claims come from restaurants, apartment complexes, construction sites, and vehicles on I-25. A faulty water heater in a rental near the Landmark, a commercial fryer with no safety guard, a defective fuel system in a vehicle, or improperly stored chemicals near the Orchard Road corridor can all create liability. The cause tells us who is responsible. That could be a landlord, manufacturer, contractor, or employer depending on the situation.
How does Colorado’s comparative negligence rule affect my burn injury case?
Colorado follows a modified comparative negligence rule under C.R.S. § 13-21-111. If the insurance company can push your share of fault to 50% or higher, your recovery drops to zero. Insurers often argue you ignored a warning label or skipped protective gear. A burn injury lawyer’s job is to prove what actually happened before that evidence disappears. Getting ahead of this argument early makes a real difference in your outcome.
What should I do right after a serious burn injury to protect my claim?
Get medical treatment first, then document everything you can. Keep all records of your care, including emergency visits, follow-up appointments, and any prescriptions. Take photos of the injury site and the location where the burn happened. Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance adjuster before speaking with a lawyer. Evidence disappears quickly, especially on job sites or commercial properties in Greenwood Village. The sooner you act, the stronger your position.
