Fort Collins, Colorado is a thriving city with a continuous influx of new residents, new construction, and heavy traffic. Growth is good for our city, but it also causes problems. Despite sincere safety efforts, tragic auto and truck accidents, construction mishaps, and other unfortunate events cause fatal and catastrophic injuries.

When a harmful event injures you or your family member, you must deal with harsh new realities. Life seems unfair when you’re suffering because of a serious injury or grieving a loved one’s death. You may endure pain, anxiety, and physical disabilities. You may manage an endless stream of medical bills, rehabilitation costs, and medications. Physical disabilities often diminish your earning capacity. If you lose your primary breadwinner, your family life and financial outlook change forever.

While nothing can bring back your loved one or restore your physical and emotional health, you should know that you have options. When someone’s negligence causes injuries, our Fort Collins personal injury Lawyers work to recover the damages our clients need to live a better life.

Responsible Parties Should Pay

The Fort Collins personal injury lawyers at Tenge Law Firm believe that whoever causes an injury should pay for the damages. We’re dedicated to recovering fair compensation for our clients. Whether the negligent party is an individual, a company, or a government entity, we use our firm’s resources, our aggressive negotiation skills, and our tireless effort to achieve the best possible outcomes.

When you consider hiring a lawyer, your choice is critical to your case results. If you’re seriously or catastrophically injured, or your loved one sustained a fatal injury, you need an aggressive personal injury law firm with complex liability and damage experience. Tenge Law Firm attorneys have resolved many serious and catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases in the Fort Collins area and throughout Colorado. We’re dedicated to obtaining a recovery that fairly compensates our clients for all of their economic and non-economic damages. We do everything we can to make negligent parties pay.

Our Firm’s Case Results

At Tenge Law Firm, we’re proud of our reputation as an excellent personal injury firm in the Colorado community. We’ve earned respect and gratitude from our clients and our peers in the legal community. Our lawyers have resolved complex personal injury cases throughout the Fort Collins area. We have negotiated our clients’ settlements face-to-face with defense attorneys and insurance companies. We’ve resolved cases through Alternative Dispute Resolution, avoiding lengthy court battles. We rely on our resources to thoroughly prepare our clients’ cases beginning from day one. This enables our team to produce comprehensive evidence and meet any challenge inside the courtroom or out.

Each injury case is unique with its own set of issues; while it’s impossible to guarantee a specific outcome in a potential case, our past case results illustrate our successful track record.  

• $1,000,000: A semi-truck killed our client’s husband after colliding with his vehicle on I-70 and forcing him off the highway. Without having to file a lawsuit, we settled the widow’s wrongful death case for the trucking company’s policy limits.  
• $1,050,000: When a truck driver rear-ended our client’s vehicle, his serious back injuries required surgery. Long-term disabilities affected his life and decreased his work capacity. We settled for the truck driver’s insurance policy limits.
• $1,025,000: A pickup truck driver pulled in front of our client while she was riding her motorcycle. She sustained multiple fractures and a traumatic brain injury. The driver disputed liability, falsely accusing our client of speeding. We settled with the driver’s insurance company a few months before the trial date.

Types of Cases Our Law Firm Handles

For over 26 years, injured persons in the Fort Collins area have trusted Tenge Law Firm to protect their legal rights. We take that responsibility seriously, and we’ve worked hard to maintain our clients’ trust. We are a plaintiff-only law firm, and our lawyers are sincere about holding negligent parties legally accountable for their actions.

We developed our firm’s professional reputation over 26 years of experience. Our attorneys understand complex Colorado statutes and liability issues. We recognize the concerns inherent to serious and catastrophic injury cases. We’ve used our knowledge to investigate, evaluate, and resolve a wide variety of cases, including:

• Car accidents
• Truck accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist claims
• Bicycle and pedestrian accidents
• Common carrier transportation accidents
• Construction accidents
• ATV accidents
• Fires
• Defective products
• Swimming pool injuries
• Slip, trip, and fall premises accidents
• Insurance disputes and ERISA claims
• Nursing home abuse
• Wrongful death

Do You Need a Lawyer to Recover Damages?

This is a critical question, because the honest answer is no. You don’t need an attorney to recover damages from an insurance company or a responsible party, but that doesn’t mean you should handle your injury claim without legal assistance. Before you decide to deal directly with insurance company adjusters, you should understand their agenda.

Adjusters need to gain your trust

Gaining your trust is the ultimate goal of every move an insurance adjuster makes during the days following your accident. They often contact injured victims’ immediately after a damaging event occurs. They visit their homes and hospital rooms and may offer to pay the initial medical bills. Trust isn’t a problem when the person you trust has your best interests in mind. Unfortunately, insurance adjusters use trust as a tool to gain your confidence, control your case, get the information they need: often, this helps insurers settle for the lowest dollar amount possible, or avoid liability altogether.

Adjusters need your information

During a stressful time, trust may set you at ease with an adjuster. It also makes you more cooperative. Ultimately, your trust motivates you to give an insurance adjuster access to your personal and medical information. This allows them to craft their case files and provide reports helpful to the company. It also gives them more control over you and your case. Failing to guard against adjusters’ tactics can mean:

• You’re more likely to provide a recorded statement.
• You may sign an informed consent medical release for the adjuster to obtain medical bills and physician reports.
• Adjusters review bills and doctor reports for injury details and contradictory information.
• They may send your bills for a medical review to dispute the costs of your care.
• If you allow an adjuster into your home, they observe you and how your injury affects what you do.
• While in your home, adjusters judge your lifestyle, a critical factor in evaluating your damages.

Adjusters need to control your case

Adjusters are professionally friendly people. They realize that most injured people know very little about injury values, and often want to keep it that way. They’d prefer that you don’t contact an attorney, but they aren’t allowed to tell you that. Instead, they rely on confidence and trust to influence your legal choices. When you decide to handle your own case, it’s easier for an adjuster to control you and your injury claim.  

Your trust lays the groundwork for adjusters to negotiate a low settlement

When you’re injured and the liability claims adjuster pushes to gain your trust, it sometimes blurs the realities of that critical choice. Liability adjusters are usually good people, but don’t forget that they work for the negligent party’s insurance company.

During each personal encounter with you, they have goals in mind: protect their insured’s interests, keep claim settlement costs down, and resolve your claim quickly before they lose control of you and your case. Whether you trust them or not, this often makes a liability adjuster your adversary.

So, do you need a personal injury attorney?

While there’s no law that forces you to hire a Fort Collins personal injury lawyer, consulting with a lawyer is the most important step you can take when you’re seeking the best legal and financial outcomes for you and your loved ones. An experienced personal injury attorney knows how negligent parties, insurers, and defense teams use their resources to avoid liability: an attorney you trust can be the single most important weapon in your arsenal.

What Types of Injuries Do Negligent Parties Cause?

Personal injuries occur in many different ways. When a semi-truck crashes into a private passenger vehicle, they cause serious, catastrophic, and fatal injuries. OSHA consistently documents injuries and fatalities caused by Construction’s Fatal Four—incidents involving electrocutions, falls, struck-by-object, and caught-in/between events.

The CDC reports that drowning contributes to more deaths among children ages 1 – 4 than any cause other than birth defects. Premises falls, violent acts, negligent premises conditions, motorcycle defects, defective products, and unsafe circumstances contribute to these and other injuries:

• Spinal cord trauma and paralysis
• Severe sprains and strains
• Back and neck injuries
• Severe burns
• Dislocated and herniated discs
• Traumatic brain injury
• Anoxic brain damage
• Multiple limb and digit fractures
• Skull and facial fractures
• Traumatic amputations
• Internal organ injuries
• Wrongful death

Who Can Be Held at Fault?

As many circumstances cause injuries, there’s an extensive list of potentially responsible parties depending on the case:

• Auto accidents: A driver’s negligent vehicle operation, distracted driving, and driving under the influence often cause accidents. Knowingly allowing an unsafe driver access to a vehicle is an act of negligent entrustment. A manufacturer is liable when a defect causes or contributes to an accident.  

• Truck accidents: A truck drivers’ negligent operation, loading, and other acts make them legally responsible for the damages they cause. Their employer/motor carrier is responsible for their actions and also for negligent entrustment and supervision. Truck manufacturers and maintenance contractors are responsible for injuries caused by defective products or services.

• Sports incidents: When an organized sports participant sustains injuries, league organizers, promoters, and school districts are often liable. They often fail to warn of dangers, create an antagonistic environment, and push youthful athletes beyond the point of exhaustion and harm. If defective protection equipment causes injuries, the product manufacturer is responsible.  

• Medical error: A physician, hospital, anesthesiologist, or other medical professionals often share liability for surgical mishaps, birth injuries, and other negligent acts.

• Construction: A General Contractor is responsible for job site safety. Subcontractor actions, heavy equipment operators, and defective equipment used in elevated operations cause or contribute to accidents and injuries. Architects are responsible for injuries caused by defective design and site planning.

• Premises accidents: Owners, lessors, maintenance, and security contractors are liable for injuries caused by premises conditions, pool safety, and maintenance issues or failure to warn of known hazards.

What Kind of Damages Can an Injured Person Recover?

When we negotiate our clients’ cases, the settlement or award often includes economic damages and general damages.  Courts sometimes award exemplary or punitive damages when evidence proves the responsible party’s actions demonstrate fraud, malice, or willful and wanton conduct.

We calculate economic damages based on incurred and projected future out-of-pocket costs. Economic damages include these and other expenses:

• Current and future wage losses
• Medical bills
• Prescriptions
• Prosthetics
• Mobility devices
• Physical and mental therapy
• Medical transportation costs
• Replacement household services
• Funeral expenses

General damages are more complicated, as they involve the injured person’s feelings, emotions, experiences, and responses to lifestyle changes. We help our clients recognize their mental and emotional issues. We evaluate how their injuries affect their lifestyle. General damages include these and other considerations:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Inability to provide spousal services
• Inability to care for children
• Loss of reproductive capacity
• Loss of bodily functions
• Scarring and disfigurement
• Permanent disabilities

How Do Liable Parties Defend Against Claims?

To avoid liability, negligent parties often report accidents in a way that makes them seem negligence-free. General contractors, property owners, and other commercial entities execute contracts that transfer some of their legal liabilities to other parties before an incident occurs. Even when liability is clear, responsible parties, their insurance companies, and defense attorneys may negotiate unfairly. They try cases hoping to eliminate or reduce the damages by asserting these and other affirmative defenses:

• No Negligence: The negligent party refuses to acknowledge fault.  

• Comparative Negligence: If a defendant proves the injured person is 50% or greater negligent, Colorado’s comparative negligence statute prevents the plaintiff from recovering damages

• No Defect: When a vehicle, product, or other defect causes an injury, manufacturers defend themselves by denying a malfunction or defect exists. They also allege product misuse.

• Damage dispute: When a defendant can’t defend liability, they often dispute damages to try and minimize their losses.

How Much Does a Fort Collins Personal Injury Lawyer cost?

If you or a family member sustained a serious or catastrophic injury or you’re struggling with your loved one’s wrongful death, our firm wants to hear your story. We invite you to participate in a no-cost, no-obligation consultation. Our lawyers will review your case and determine if we can help you. We never charge our clients attorney fees until we resolve their case, whether through settlement or a trial award.

Personal Injury Attorneys in Fort Collins

When you’re trying to recover from a tragic event in the Fort Collins area, you shouldn’t have to do it alone. The Tenge Law Firm has recovered millions for our clients: we want the opportunity to see If we can do the same for you. Call our Fort Collins personal injury lawyers at 970-212-4777, or contact Tenge Law Firm online to schedule your free consultation.