A Berthoud Truck Accident, a Traumatic Brain Injury, and a Trucking Company Forced to Answer
Result Snapshot
| Case type | Commercial truck accident, rear-end collision |
|---|---|
| Injury | Traumatic brain injury (concussion), with PTSD and anxiety |
| Location | Berthoud, Larimer County, Colorado (Highway 287 corridor) |
| Resolution | $800,000 settlement in 2025. The insurer’s opening position was that it would pay no more than $400,000. |
| Attorneys | Todd A. Travis and Jordan Travis |
| Year | 2025 |
A semi-truck does not stop the way a car does. When the person behind the wheel is drifting in and out of sleep, the result is the kind of crash our client lived through on Highway 287 in Berthoud. Rampart Injury Lawyers represented a man who was rear-ended by a commercial truck and left with a traumatic brain injury that followed him home, into his work, and through his relationships.
The trucking company had put a driver on the road without checking who he was. It never reviewed his background, his license status, or his qualifications to operate a rig that size. Then, after the crash, it tried to repair the truck before anyone could inspect it. This page explains what happened, the obstacles the defense built, and how the case resolved in 2025.
Names and identifying details are withheld for the client’s privacy. Every fact below comes from the case itself.
What Happened
On Highway 287 near Berthoud Parkway in Berthoud, witnesses watched the truck weave across the road. Some described the driver as appearing to fall asleep at the wheel. Moments later the truck slammed into the back of our client’s vehicle. The driver later admitted he had been on his cell phone and looking at his GPS when the crash happened. A commercial truck closing on slowing traffic leaves almost no room for error, and there was none here.
Injuries and Medical Impact
Our client suffered a traumatic brain injury, often described to patients as a concussion, though that word undersells what a brain injury does to a life. The effects reached into his work, his home, and his social world. On top of the cognitive toll, he developed significant post-traumatic stress and anxiety. A brain injury is not a broken bone that heals on a schedule and shows up on an X-ray. It is an invisible injury, and proving its weight is part of the work.
Legal and Insurance Challenges
The defense did what sophisticated trucking defendants do. The insurer drew a line early and insisted it would not pay more than $400,000, treating that number as a ceiling rather than a starting point.
The harder problem was the evidence. The trucking company tried to repair the truck before our office could inspect it. Physical evidence in a truck case is not just a dented bumper. It can include the vehicle’s condition, its onboard data, and its maintenance history. An attempt to alter or repair that evidence before inspection is the kind of conduct that, once exposed, tells a story of its own.
There was also the question of the invisible injury. A traumatic brain injury and PTSD do not announce themselves on a chart the way a fracture does, and defendants routinely argue that what cannot be photographed cannot be real.
How Rampart Built the Case
The case turned on the company’s own choices, not only the driver’s. We focused on how this driver came to be behind the wheel at all. The company had hired him without reviewing his background, his license status, or his driving qualifications. In Colorado, that opens the door to direct claims against the company itself: negligent hiring, negligent retention, negligent training, and negligent entrustment.
We pressed the conduct after the crash as hard as the conduct before it. When the company tried to repair the truck before our inspection, that attempt became part of the record rather than a problem buried in it.
We built the human side with the same care as the liability side. Eyewitnesses described the truck weaving and the driver appearing to nod off. The driver’s own admission that he was on his phone and his GPS removed the guesswork about distraction. We documented how the brain injury, the PTSD, and the anxiety reshaped our client’s daily life, so the harm was concrete rather than abstract.
Trucking cases also run on rules most drivers never see. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations set the floor for how carriers hire, train, and supervise the people they put behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle. We know those rules and used them to frame what this company should have done and did not.
The Result
The case settled in 2025 for $800,000. The insurer had opened by insisting it would pay no more than $400,000. What moved the number was the combination of facts: a driver the company never should have trusted with a commercial truck, a distracted-driving admission, witnesses to the danger, and a post-crash repair attempt that undercut the defense’s credibility. Every case is different, and the facts that drove this resolution were specific to this client. A result here is not a promise about any other case.
Colorado Injury Law Takeaway
People often assume a truck crash is just a bigger car crash. Legally, it is a different animal. When a trucking company hires someone it never vetted, the company can be on the hook directly, separate from the driver’s own negligence. Colorado recognizes claims for negligent hiring, negligent retention, negligent training, and negligent entrustment, which ask whether the company should have known the driver was unfit and put him on the road anyway.
Federal law sets the baseline. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations apply to commercial vehicles with a weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more (49 CFR 390.5), and a commercial driver’s license is generally required at 26,001 pounds or more (49 CFR 383.5). Those rules govern driver qualification files, hiring, and supervision. You can read them through the FMCSA at https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations.
One practical point. Evidence in a truck case can disappear. If a company repairs or alters a truck before it is inspected, that conduct can matter as much as the crash itself. Acting quickly to preserve evidence is part of why these cases are won or lost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Often, yes. When a company puts a driver on the road without checking his background, license, or qualifications, Colorado law allows direct claims against the company, including negligent hiring and negligent entrustment, separate from any claim against the driver. Whether those claims apply depends on the specific facts.
Negligent entrustment is the claim that a company gave control of a dangerous instrument, here a commercial truck, to someone it knew or should have known was unfit to operate it safely. It focuses on the company’s decision to hand over the keys, not only on how the driver drove.
Altering or repairing a vehicle before it can be inspected can become important evidence. Courts can treat the loss or alteration of evidence as significant, and it can undermine the defense’s credibility. This is one reason it is important to involve a lawyer quickly so evidence can be preserved.
Yes. A traumatic brain injury, including what is often called a concussion, along with related PTSD and anxiety, can be part of an injury claim. Because these are often invisible injuries, documenting how they affect work, home, and daily life is an important part of the case.
Talk to a Colorado Injury Lawyer
If you or someone you love was seriously hurt by a commercial truck in Berthoud or elsewhere in Larimer County, you do not have to sort it out alone. That is especially true if the driver did not have a valid license, lacked training, or was otherwise unqualified, or if you believe a trucking company violated federal safety rules. Rampart Injury Lawyers offers a free consultation, and you pay nothing in attorney fees unless we recover for you. Call (303) 766-8766 to talk through what happened.
Disclaimers
This page describes the result of one specific case. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any other matter. Every case is different and turns on its own facts. (Colo. RPC 7.1)
This is attorney advertising. Rampart Injury Lawyers is a trade name of Travis Legal Offices, LLC. Todd A. Travis is responsible for the content of this communication. (Colo. RPC 7.2(d) and 7.5)
The information on this page is general and provided for educational purposes only. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. (Colo. RPC 1.18)
The settlement figure stated reflects the gross recovery in this matter before attorney fees, costs, and any liens. Individual results vary based on the facts of each case.
