CATASTROPHIC INJURY CLAIMS
Denver Catastrophic Injury Lawyer
When an injury changes the rest of a person’s life, the difficult question is often not whether harm occurred. It is what the injury will require for decades.
A spinal cord injury, paralysis, amputation, or severe burn can make the physical injury obvious from the beginning. That does not make the legal case simple. A high-speed collision on I-25, an unsafe property condition, or a defective product can leave someone facing repeated surgeries, rehabilitation, lost earning capacity, equipment needs, home modifications, and daily assistance that continue long after the liability investigation ends.
In these cases, the damages cannot be measured from the bills that have already arrived. The case has to account for the life that comes next.
Build the Liability Case.
The severity of an injury does not prove who caused it. A catastrophic injury claim still begins with duty, breach, causation, and the evidence supporting each part of the case.
The proof depends on the event. A car crash may require vehicle data, roadway evidence, witness testimony, phone records, and reconstruction analysis. A fall on unsafe property can turn on inspection practices, maintenance records, surveillance, and notice of the dangerous condition. A defective product can require preservation of the product and technical evidence concerning its design, manufacture, warnings, or failure.
Severe injury also raises the stakes of identifying every responsible party. An employer, vehicle owner, property operator, contractor, manufacturer, or other entity may become relevant depending on the facts. That is not an invitation to name everyone connected to an event. It is a reason to understand the relationships before evidence and coverage disappear.
Colorado’s modified comparative negligence statute can affect negligence claims as well. Under C.R.S. § 13-21-111, a claimant’s negligence can reduce recovery and can bar it when that negligence is as great as or greater than the negligence against which recovery is sought. The size of the injury does not change the fault analysis.
Secure the Early Evidence.
Catastrophic cases require both preservation and construction. Some evidence already exists and has to be saved. Other evidence does not exist yet and has to be built over time.
The first category includes vehicles, event data recorder information, surveillance, photographs, physical products, maintenance records, incident reports, witness information, and scene evidence. A vehicle can be salvaged. Video can be overwritten. A failed component can be discarded. A property condition can be repaired.
The second category develops with the injured person’s recovery. Rehabilitation records, therapy evaluations, surgical recommendations, functional assessments, photographs, employment records, and observations from caregivers begin to show what the injury actually changes. A person discharged from a Denver rehabilitation hospital six weeks after an injury may still be years away from knowing the full extent of those changes.
Catastrophic-injury proof therefore develops on two tracks: preserve the evidence of what happened, and build the evidence of what the injury will require.
Map Every Coverage Layer.
One insurance policy is rarely the only question worth asking in a catastrophic case. When losses may extend across a lifetime, identifying every responsible defendant and every applicable layer of coverage becomes particularly important.
Depending on the facts, that review can include a driver’s liability policy, coverage for the vehicle owner, an employer’s commercial policy, umbrella or excess policies, premises liability coverage, or insurance connected to another responsible entity. Coverage is contract-specific, and the existence of one policy does not establish that another applies.
Colorado’s minimum automobile bodily-injury liability coverage is $25,000 for one injured person under C.R.S. § 10-4-620. Compliance with that minimum says little about whether the available coverage can address a permanent spinal cord injury, limb loss, or other lifetime impairment.
In a motor-vehicle case, uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may also matter when the responsible party’s liability coverage is insufficient. Auto Insurance and UM/UIM Claims addresses those issues separately and may provide an injured person with additional insurance coverage.
Avoid Premature Valuation.
An early offer can look substantial when it is compared only with the bills currently on a kitchen table. That comparison can be dangerously incomplete in a catastrophic case.
The future may include additional surgery, replacement prosthetics, wheelchairs or other durable medical equipment, medications, rehabilitation, attendant care, accessible transportation, modifications to a home, and reduced or eliminated earning capacity. Some needs recur. Others change as the injured person ages. None of that can be priced responsibly from an emergency-department bill and a few weeks of treatment.
A settlement ordinarily requires a release. If the claim is resolved before future needs are understood, later evidence of those needs generally does not reopen what was released. The relevant question is therefore not whether an early number sounds large. It is whether the evidence is developed enough to evaluate a lifetime of consequences.
Recorded statements require care for a different reason. A person still hospitalized, medicated, exhausted, or beginning intensive rehabilitation may be asked for precise details about an event and its effects before the medical course is clear. Whether a statement must be provided depends in part on who is requesting it and what contractual duties apply.
Deadlines Follow the Claim.
“Catastrophic injury” describes the harm, not the statute of limitations. The filing deadline depends on the underlying claim.
Many Colorado tort claims are subject to a two-year limitations period under C.R.S. § 13-80-102(1)(a). Many tort claims for bodily injury arising from the use or operation of a motor vehicle are subject to the three-year period in C.R.S. § 13-80-101(1)(n). Claims involving a governmental entity or public employee can also trigger the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act, including a written notice requirement within 182 days under C.R.S. § 24-10-109(1) that forever bars the action if it is missed.
The diagnosis does not select the deadline. The event, defendants, claims, and governing statutes do.
Build the Lifetime Record.
Catastrophic-injury cases differ most sharply from ordinary injury claims in the proof of future damages. Future medical expenses and future loss of earning capacity are recoverable when the evidence shows they are reasonably probable. They cannot rest on speculation about every treatment that might someday be useful.
A life care planner can organize anticipated medical and support needs across the injured person’s expected lifetime. Physicians and other treating professionals provide the medical foundation for those needs. Vocational experts can examine what work remains possible. Economists can translate projected care costs and lost earning capacity into financial evidence. Each discipline answers a different question; no single expert proves the entire damages case.
Spinal Cord Injuries.
A spinal cord injury can affect strength, sensation, bowel and bladder function, mobility, sexual function, breathing, skin integrity, and independence depending on the location and completeness of the injury. The damages analysis may include inpatient rehabilitation, wheelchairs, transfers, pressure-injury prevention, supplies, medications, recurring specialty care, accessible housing, transportation, and paid or family-provided assistance. The injury may be immediately visible. The lifetime cost is not.
Paralysis and Mobility Loss.
Paralysis changes more than whether a person can walk. The legal record has to address transfers, bathing, dressing, toileting, transportation, household tasks, work access, community access, secondary medical complications, and the amount of assistance required throughout a normal day. A functional-capacity assessment and testimony from rehabilitation professionals or caregivers can show limitations that a diagnosis alone does not capture.
Amputation and Limb Loss.
An amputation claim extends beyond the surgery that removed the limb. Prosthetic needs can change with activity level, residual-limb condition, technology, age, and the person’s work. Components wear out and require replacement. The record may also include revision surgery, phantom or residual-limb pain, skin problems, physical therapy, altered gait, overuse injuries, vehicle modifications, and vocational limitations. A current prosthetic does not answer what will be needed decades later.
Traumatic Brain Injuries.
A severe traumatic brain injury can produce permanent limitations on memory, attention, judgment, communication, behavior, and the ability to live or work independently. The damages record may include neurorehabilitation, cognitive and behavioral therapy, supervision or attendant care, assistive technology, medication, and the loss of a career the person can no longer perform. Because the proof problem is different from a physical injury — the harm can be disputed rather than obvious — brain injury claims are addressed in full on their own page.
Severe Burn Injuries.
Serious burns can require grafting, reconstructive procedures, scar management, compression garments, therapy, and treatment for contractures that restrict movement. Disfigurement and physical impairment can remain separate practical consequences even after wounds close. Where burns cross joints or involve the hands, face, or large areas of the body, future care may continue through repeated procedures and rehabilitation rather than ending with the initial hospitalization.
Traumatic brain injury claims remain separate because their central proof problem is different. Cognitive and behavioral changes can be difficult to see, conventional imaging can be normal, and the existence or extent of the injury itself may be disputed. In a catastrophic physical-injury case, the spinal cord injury, paralysis, missing limb, or burn is often not the contested point. The harder question is what permanent impairment will cost over a lifetime.
Direct Counsel Matters.
Rex Legal builds catastrophic-injury cases around the complete future record, not simply the medical expenses accumulated to date. Michael Rex remains directly involved in the liability, coverage, medical, vocational, and damages analysis from evaluation through resolution.
Catastrophic Injury Questions.
What counts as a catastrophic injury?
There is no single diagnosis that automatically defines every catastrophic-injury claim. The term generally describes an injury producing severe, lasting physical impairment or major long-term care needs. Spinal cord injuries, paralysis, amputations, and severe burns are common examples. The important legal question is not the label itself, but what permanent limitations, treatment, assistance, lost earning capacity, and other future losses the evidence supports.
What is a life care plan?
A life care plan is a structured assessment of medical treatment, equipment, therapy, assistance, and other support an injured person is expected to need in the future. It may address items such as wheelchairs, prosthetics, medications, attendant care, home modifications, and recurring treatment. The plan must be grounded in the medical evidence; it is not simply a list of every service that might someday be useful.
How are future medical costs proved?
Future medical expenses require evidence that the care will probably be needed, not speculation about every possible treatment. Medical providers can establish the clinical need, while life care planners and other experts may identify frequency and cost. The proof therefore connects medical necessity, anticipated duration, and cost, and it has to be reasonably probable rather than merely possible.
What happens if the at-fault party’s insurance is not enough?
The entire coverage picture should be examined before assuming the first liability limit is the only available source. Depending on the facts, other defendants, commercial coverage, umbrella or excess policies, or first-party uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may apply. In an auto case, Auto Insurance and UM/UIM Claims explains that coverage separately, though whether any additional policy applies remains fact- and contract-specific.
Is a spinal cord injury claim different from another personal injury claim?
Yes in the damages proof, even though the basic liability principles remain the same. A spinal cord injury can create lifelong needs involving mobility equipment, rehabilitation, personal assistance, supplies, accessible housing, transportation, and secondary medical complications. The claim therefore requires evidence of both present impairment and future needs, often involving physicians, rehabilitation specialists, life care planners, vocational experts, and economists.
How is lost earning capacity calculated if I cannot return to work?
Lost earning capacity focuses on the ability to earn income that the injury has impaired, not simply wages already missed. Evidence can include prior earnings, education, work history, career trajectory, physical restrictions, transferable skills, and the work the person can still perform. Vocational experts may address employability and alternative occupations, while economists can calculate the financial effect of the proven change in earning capacity.
How long do I have to file a catastrophic injury lawsuit in Colorado?
The deadline depends on the claim that caused the injury. Many Colorado tort claims have a two-year limitations period under C.R.S. § 13-80-102(1)(a), while many motor-vehicle injury claims have three years under § 13-80-101(1)(n). Claims subject to the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act can also require written notice within 182 days under § 24-10-109(1). Other exceptions or deadlines may apply.
Can a family member bring the claim if the injured person cannot?
Sometimes, but incapacity does not automatically transfer the injured person’s claim to a relative. Under Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 17(c), a duly appointed representative such as a guardian or conservator may sue on behalf of an incompetent person, and the rule also provides for a next friend or a court-appointed guardian ad litem when no representative is acting. The proper procedure depends on the person’s capacity and any existing court appointments.
Tell Us What Happened.
If a catastrophic injury has permanently changed your life or a family member’s life, Michael Rex can review how the injury occurred, what coverage may apply, and what evidence is needed to establish its long-term consequences. Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.