A Red Light, a Distracted Commercial Driver, and a Brain Injury in Columbine Valley
Result Snapshot
| Case type | Rear-end collision with a heavy commercial vehicle; distracted driving; corporate negligence |
|---|---|
| Injuries | Traumatic brain injury (persistent post-concussion syndrome, mild neurocognitive disorder), multi-level cervical fusion, chronic occipital headaches, major depressive disorder, driving anxiety with PTSD symptoms |
| Location | S. Platte Canyon Road at W. Ponds Circle, Columbine Valley (Arapahoe County), Colorado |
| Resolution | $3,000,000 settlement, reached after nearly three years of litigation, funding lifetime medical care and lost earning capacity |
| Attorneys | Todd A. Travis and Jordan M. Travis |
| Year of resolution | CONFIRM BEFORE PUBLISHING (see items needing your confirmation) |
Our client did everything right. Stopped at a red light on the way home from work, hands on the wheel, waiting for green. Then a heavy commercial vehicle came up from behind, driven by someone looking at a phone instead of the road. Rampart Injury Lawyers represented that driver, and after nearly three years of litigation the case resolved for $3 million.
This was not a fender bender. The crash left our client with a traumatic brain injury, a multi-level cervical fusion, and a headache condition that will follow them for the rest of their life. Todd A. Travis and Jordan M. Travis handled the case together, and they treated it for what it was: the story of a company that put an under-trained driver in a heavy vehicle and looked the other way.
The settlement pays for the medical care our client needs going forward and replaces the working years the crash took away. Every case is different, and no outcome is ever guaranteed. But this one shows what it looks like to build a brain injury case instead of settling it cheap.
What Happened
Our client was stopped at the red light where S. Platte Canyon Road meets W. Ponds Circle in Columbine Valley, in far western Arapahoe County. Behind them, a heavy company-owned commercial vehicle approached. The driver was using a phone. When the driver finally looked up, traffic had already stopped. The driver hit the brakes. They did not respond right away. By the time they grabbed, it was too late.
The impact drove our client’s car forward into the vehicle stopped ahead of it. Two failures stacked on top of each other that day: a distracted driver, and a vehicle with a mechanical history the company already knew about.
The Injuries and What They Cost
Before the crash, our client was healthy, active, and near the top of a demanding career, with a long marriage and a life built around hard physical activity. The crash took that apart.
An MRI showed disc herniations at several levels of the neck. A pinched nerve sent numbness and tingling down one arm. Injections and physical therapy did not hold, so a neurosurgeon performed a multi-level cervical fusion, joining vertebrae with hardware. The surgery calmed the arm symptoms. It also forced the levels above and below to carry more load than they were built for. A chronic headache condition set in at the base of the skull. Doctors expect our client will need nerve-block injections on a repeating schedule for the rest of their life.
The deeper injury did not show up on a scan. The blow to the head caused a traumatic brain injury. A traumatic brain injury can change how a person thinks, remembers, and feels long after the visible bruises fade. Nearly three years out, neuropsychological testing confirmed that our client’s thinking speed, memory, and ability to learn new information had not come back to where they were. The diagnoses stacked up: persistent post-concussion syndrome, mild neurocognitive disorder, major depressive disorder, and driving anxiety with post-traumatic stress. Our client avoids the intersection where it happened. At work, they lose the thread mid-sentence, forget the question they are answering, and repeat themselves. A normal week ends in punishing headaches.
Physicians assigned permanent whole-person impairment ratings for the spine, the headaches, and the brain injury. Our client estimates functioning at about a quarter of what they could do before. Sleep comes in short broken pieces. Driving more than 45 minutes brings real pain. Carrying groceries hurts. Reaching a shelf hurts. Our client and their spouse have both spoken openly about what the injuries did to their marriage. Medical bills had already climbed into six figures during the case, with more still coming.
The Legal and Insurance Fight
A rear-end crash sounds simple. This one was not. The defense did not seriously contest that the driver hit our client. They fought over what the crash actually caused, and they fought hard to keep the company itself out of it.
That is the pattern in brain injury cases. Because a TBI often does not appear on a standard CT or MRI, the defense leans on the clean scan and argues the cognitive problems come from something else: stress, depression, age, anything but the crash. On the corporate side, the company moved for partial summary judgment to throw out the claims against it, which would have left only the individual driver and a much smaller target.
There was also the question of value. In Colorado, economic damages like medical bills and lost earning capacity are not capped. Noneconomic damages, meaning pain and suffering, are limited by statute. House Bill 24-1472 raised that noneconomic cap to $1,500,000 for civil actions filed on or after January 1, 2025, and ended the older provision that let a court double it (see also the Colorado Secretary of State’s certified damages figures). In a catastrophic case, that split is exactly why the lifetime medical and lost-earnings numbers, proven by real experts, carry so much of the weight.
How Rampart Built the Case
We did not treat this as a rear-end file. We treated it as a corporate accountability case that happened to start with a rear-end crash.
From the first weeks, we sent an evidence-preservation letter. We demanded the company hold onto the vehicle, the driver’s personnel file, dispatch and cargo records, and every text, email, and electronic message tied to the crash. Evidence like that has a way of disappearing if no one nails it down early.
When the company answered the complaint, we did not stop at driver negligence. We pled negligent hiring, negligent entrustment, and negligent training. We pled corporate responsibility for putting a vehicle with a known mechanical problem on the road. And we put the company’s own cell phone policy in front of it: a written rule against phone use that the company did not actually enforce. A policy nobody follows is not a defense. It is evidence.
Then we built the proof, expert by expert. A human factors expert explained how using a phone behind the wheel of a heavy commercial vehicle creates distraction the driver cannot overcome, and why the company’s failure to stop it mattered. A neuropsychologist documented the brain injury the scans could not show. Treating physicians laid out why the injuries are permanent and what a lifetime of care will require. A vocational economist calculated the working years our client will lose. A functional capacity evaluator turned the medical findings into a plain picture of what our client can and cannot do on the job.
The company fought the whole way and pushed its summary judgment motion on the corporate claims. We held our ground and kept building the record. That is the difference between a firm that prepares a case for trial and a firm that hopes for a quick check.
The Result
The case settled for $3,000,000.
What drove that number was not luck. It was permanent, well-documented injuries, a lifetime of future care, lost earning capacity, and a corporate-negligence record the company could not wish away. The settlement funds the medical care our client needs going forward, replaces the years of work the crash erased, and stands as an acknowledgment of what our client and their family lost. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case turns on its own facts.
What This Case Teaches About Colorado Injury Law
If you are researching a brain injury claim in Colorado, a few things from this case are worth knowing.
A normal brain scan does not mean there is no brain injury. TBI frequently does not show on a standard CT or MRI, which is exactly why an insurance company will point to a clean image. What documents the injury is neuropsychological testing, treating-provider records, and expert testimony. That is how a brain injury is actually proven in court.
Deadlines are strict. For most Colorado motor vehicle crashes, you generally have three years from the date of the crash to file suit under C.R.S. § 13-80-101. Claims against a government entity can require formal written notice far sooner. Waiting can end a case before it starts.
Fault still matters even when you are stopped at a red light. Colorado uses modified comparative negligence under C.R.S. § 13-21-111: your recovery drops by your share of fault, and if you are 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. Defense lawyers look for any sliver of blame to pin on the injured person, which is why the facts of how a crash happened get fought over so hard.
And where the money comes from matters. Colorado caps pain-and-suffering damages but not economic damages like medical costs and lost earning capacity. In a serious case, the future-care and lost-income proof usually carries the value. If you want the deeper version, we wrote about what really drives a brain injury settlement and the lifetime costs a brain injury creates.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the injury and how hard the other side fights. This case ran nearly three years through active litigation. Serious brain injury claims often take longer because the injury needs time to stabilize and be documented before anyone can put a fair value on it. Rushing usually helps the insurance company, not you.
Yes. Many traumatic brain injuries do not appear on standard imaging. The injury is documented through neuropsychological testing, treating-provider records, and qualified experts who can explain both the mechanism and the deficits. A clean scan is a defense argument, not the end of the story.
For most motor vehicle crashes, the deadline is generally three years from the date of the crash under C.R.S. § 13-80-101. Different and shorter deadlines can apply, especially for claims against a government entity. Talk to a lawyer early so a missed deadline does not decide your case for you.
Noneconomic damages, meaning pain and suffering, are capped by statute. HB 24-1472 set that cap at $1,500,000 for civil actions filed on or after January 1, 2025. Economic damages like medical bills and lost earning capacity are not capped, which is why documented future care and lost income matter so much in a serious case.
Talk to a Colorado Brain Injury Lawyer
Were you or someone you love seriously hurt in a crash in Columbine Valley, Littleton, or anywhere in Arapahoe County? Rampart Injury Lawyers builds catastrophic injury and brain injury cases from one office in Castle Rock, serving communities up and down the I-25 corridor. Todd A. Travis and Jordan M. Travis handle these cases personally. Call (303) 766-8766 for a free consultation. We take injury cases on a contingency fee, so you pay no attorney fee unless we recover for you. A client may still be responsible for case costs and expenses, and those costs can be owed even if the case is not successful.
Disclaimers
Prior results do not guarantee, predict, or warrant a similar outcome in any future case. Every case is different and depends on its own facts.
Rampart Injury Lawyers is a trade name of Travis Legal Offices, LLC. Todd A. Travis is responsible for the content of this page. Office: 333 Perry Street, Suite 203, Castle Rock, CO 80104. Phone: (303) 766-8766.
This page is provided for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Contacting Rampart Injury Lawyers, including through any form or phone number on this website, does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please do not send confidential or time-sensitive information until an attorney-client relationship has been established in writing.
