A spinal cord injury produces a cost curve unlike any other crash injury. The first hospital admission alone often exceeds the at-fault driver’s full bodily injury limits, and the long-term price tag, including rehabilitation, durable medical equipment, home modifications, attendant care, and the lifetime income gap. The pressure to accept an early settlement before any of that has been quantified is exactly what the at-fault carrier is hoping for. Boesen Law’s Greeley personal injury attorneys have spent decades helping injured Coloradans resist that pressure and build a case that reflects the true cost of the injury, with hundreds of millions of dollars recovered for clients across the state.
Reach out to Boesen Law to schedule a free, in-person consultation. We work on contingency, which means there is no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you.
Reach out to our law firm for a no-cost, no-obligation consultation today. Call our personal injury lawyers in the state of Colorado at (303) 999-9999 or contact us online.
How Our Greeley Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers Can Help You
The first six months after a spinal cord injury are when the legal foundation gets set, and the work that happens during that window directly determines what the case is worth at resolution. Boesen Law is on the file from the start.
- Retain a board-certified life care planner within the first sixty days to project lifetime medical, equipment, attendant-care, and home-modification needs in present-value terms, producing the damages exhibit that drives every serious settlement conversation.
- Coordinate with treating neurosurgery, physiatry, and rehabilitation teams to capture diagnostic imaging, ASIA impairment scoring, and prognosis statements in admissible form rather than relying on records-only summaries.
- Map every applicable insurance layer including the at-fault driver’s primary and umbrella policies, your own UM/UIM coverage, household auto and homeowner umbrellas where you are a resident relative, and any commercial or employer policy in play if a vehicle was being used for work at the moment of the crash.
- Subpoena Weld County Sheriff and Greeley Police records on an expedited basis, including dispatch audio, body-worn camera footage, and any traffic camera coverage.
- Engage an accident reconstruction expert and a biomechanical specialist to tie the spinal injury mechanism to the specific impact, pre-empting the defense argument that the injury was preexisting or unrelated.
- Pursue a vocational economist analysis to quantify lost earning capacity in concrete dollar terms, particularly important for clients whose work in agriculture, energy services, healthcare, or trades cannot continue post-injury.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with attorneys who travel to client homes, hospital bedsides, and rehabilitation facilities throughout northern Colorado. Reach out to discuss your situation.
What a Spinal Cord Injury Claim Involves Under Colorado Law
Spinal cord injury claims operate under the same negligence framework as any other personal injury case in Colorado, and three legal touchpoints shape almost every Greeley spinal cord file.
The Standard of Proof and Causation
A spinal cord injury claim requires proof that the at-fault party owed a duty, breached it, and caused the injury. Causation in catastrophic spine cases is rarely simple. The defense will frequently argue that some portion of the impairment is attributable to preexisting degeneration or to a prior asymptomatic disc condition. Defeating that argument requires diagnostic imaging from before and after the crash where it exists, treating-physician opinions on causation, and where appropriate a biomechanical reconstruction. The legal standard is preponderance of the evidence, but the practical evidentiary work is substantial.
Comparative Fault Under C.R.S. § 13-21-111
Colorado’s modified comparative fault rule, C.R.S. § 13-21-111, permits a recovery as long as the injured party is found to be less than fifty percent at fault, with damages reduced in proportion to the assigned share. In spinal cord cases the at-fault carrier will often try to assign meaningful fault to the injured party in order to drag the recovery down. Boesen Law takes that fight seriously because every percentage point of fault on a multi-million-dollar damages exhibit is significant money.
Damages Caps and the Catastrophic Injury Adjustment
Colorado statutorily caps non-economic damages, but the cap is subject to upward adjustment for inflation and to higher ceilings on a clear-and-convincing showing for serious physical impairment, which spinal cord injuries reliably meet. Economic damages, including future medical care and lost earning capacity, are not subject to that cap. Structuring a damages presentation that captures the full unrestricted value of economic losses, with a properly supported non-economic figure, is one of the technical pieces a serious legal team brings to the file.
If you are unsure how the legal framework will apply to your specific facts, contact Boesen Law for a free consultation.
Injuries Caused by Spinal Cord Trauma
Spinal cord injuries do not present as a single condition. The level of injury, the completeness, and the specific functional consequences vary widely, and so does the legal damages picture for each category.
- Complete tetraplegia (cervical-level complete injury). Loss of motor and sensory function below the injury level affecting all four limbs, with significant respiratory, bowel, bladder, and autonomic involvement and lifetime attendant care needs.
- Incomplete tetraplegia. Partial preservation of motor or sensory function, with varied recovery trajectories and different long-term care profiles.
- Complete and incomplete paraplegia. Thoracic and lumbar injuries affecting lower-extremity function, bladder and bowel control, and sexual function, with significant durable medical equipment and home modification needs.
- Cauda equina syndrome. A surgical emergency producing leg weakness, numbness, and bladder and bowel dysfunction that, even with prompt intervention, can leave permanent deficits.
- Cervical and lumbar disc herniations with radiculopathy. Less catastrophic than cord injuries but still capable of requiring fusion or disc replacement and producing lasting functional limitations.
- Wrongful death. When a spinal cord injury or its complications are fatal, surviving spouses, children, and designated heirs may pursue a Greeley wrongful death claim against the at-fault party.
The completeness of the medical record and the inclusion of treating-physician statements on prognosis is what separates a case that resolves at fair value from one that gets undersold. Boesen Law works with the treating teams and independent specialists from the start.
Compensation Available After a Greeley Spinal Cord Injury
A properly built spinal cord injury claim draws from each of Colorado’s three damage categories, and the combined value is almost always significantly higher than the at-fault carrier’s first offer suggests.
Economic Damages
Economic damages include past medical care, future medical care projected through a life care plan, durable medical equipment, home and vehicle modifications, attendant and skilled nursing care for the duration of the client’s life expectancy, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity calculated by a vocational economist. For complete spinal cord injuries, the present-value future medical and care figure is frequently the largest single line item in the damages exhibit.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages compensate for the human consequences that a balance sheet cannot capture, including chronic pain, loss of enjoyment of life, the loss of physical functions most people take for granted, the strain on family relationships, and the psychological consequences of catastrophic injury. Colorado’s statutory cap on non-economic damages includes a higher tier for cases involving serious physical impairment, which spinal cord injuries reliably qualify for.
Punitive Damages
Under C.R.S. § 13-21-102, exemplary damages are available when the at-fault party’s conduct shows willful and wanton disregard for the safety of others. Spinal cord injury cases meet that standard most often when the underlying crash involved an impaired driver, an extreme speed, or a knowingly unsafe commercial operation.
Boesen Law has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for Coloradans across these categories. Contact us to discuss what your case may be worth, based on the types of damages you can claim. We do not settle for less than you deserve.
Do You Have a Greeley Spinal Cord Injury Claim?
Stephen A. Justino has thirty-two years of experience with catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases across Colorado, notes:
“Most clients who contact us after a spinal cord injury fall into one of three patterns. First, the injury came from a crash or workplace incident in which another party was clearly at fault, including an at-fault driver, a commercial truck operator, a property owner who failed to address a known hazard, or a medical provider whose error contributed to the cord injury. Second, there is documentation of the mechanism, including police or workplace incident reports, witness information, photographs of the scene, and prompt medical evaluation showing the spinal involvement. Third, the injury has produced functional impairment that is permanent or that will require long-term care and treatment.”
If your situation fits even one pattern, you should call. The exposure questions, including UM/UIM stacking, employer coverage, and any third-party liability beyond the obvious defendant, often generate the recovery that makes the difference between partial coverage of medical needs and full long-term financial security.
What Cases Like Yours Have Recovered – Contact a Greeley Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer at Boesen Law
Boesen Law has secured significant outcomes in spinal and catastrophic injury files, including a $475,000 recovery for a client rear-ended by a vehicle whose impact worsened a prior spinal condition and required spinal surgery, and a $500,000 recovery in a medical malpractice case where an incorrectly placed nerve block during a leg-tumor procedure damaged the deep peroneal nerve and left the client largely wheelchair-bound. You can review our case results for additional examples of what serious injury and catastrophic claims have produced.
If a spinal cord injury has changed your life or the life of someone you love in Weld County, call us. We will listen carefully, fight relentlessly, and work for everything you are owed.
We offer free, in-person consultations, are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and work on contingency, meaning there is no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you. Contact Boesen Law today to speak with a Greeley spinal cord injury lawyer about your case.
FAQs About Greeley Spinal Cord Injuries
How long does a spinal cord injury case take to resolve in Colorado?
Most spinal cord injury cases take longer to resolve than ordinary personal injury claims, often eighteen months to three years from intake to resolution, and sometimes longer when litigation is required. The reason is medical and economic, not legal. A responsible damages presentation requires the client to reach maximum medical improvement, or for a treating physician to be able to project the recovery trajectory with confidence, before the life care plan and vocational analysis can be completed. Settling earlier almost always undervalues the file, which is exactly why the at-fault carrier will often push for a quick resolution.
Can I still recover if my spinal cord injury is incomplete?
Yes. Incomplete injuries can still produce profound functional consequences and significant long-term medical costs, and the legal claim works the same way as a complete injury claim. The damages picture varies because the recovery trajectory varies, but the categories of recoverable damages are identical. A neurologist or physiatrist’s prognosis statement is what anchors the future medical and care projections.
What if my spinal cord injury came from a workplace accident in Weld County?
Workers’ compensation is usually the primary recovery vehicle for an on-the-job spinal cord injury, but it is rarely the whole story. A third-party claim against a non-employer party, including a contractor, a property owner, an equipment manufacturer, or another driver in a vehicle-related incident, frequently runs in parallel and is not subject to the workers’ compensation limitations. Boesen Law evaluates the third-party exposure on every workplace spinal cord file we take.
How long do I have to file a spinal cord injury lawsuit in Greeley?
Colorado allows three years for most motor-vehicle-related injury claims and two years for personal injury claims arising outside of a motor vehicle. Shorter notice and filing windows apply to claims against government entities, and special timing rules apply to cases involving minors and to wrongful death actions.
Reach out to our law firm for a no-cost, no-obligation consultation today. Call our personal injury lawyers in the state of Colorado at (303) 999-9999 or contact us online.
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