Tree Injury Lawyer in Denver, CO
Injured by a falling tree or limb in Denver? Lionheart Injury Law proves the hazard was ignored, and wins full compensation.
Start Your Free Case ReviewRecent Results
What Can You Recover After a Denver Tree Injury?
Tree injury cases at our firm typically settle for $200,000 to $3 million, and the catastrophic ones go seven to eight figures. Notice is everything: a documented dying tree is a case, and arborists document beautifully.
Bigger and faster settlements come from trial preparation that starts the day you sign, and from a firm that, so far, has never lost.
With us, you speak directly with your attorney, and our RN Medical Director manages your medical care from day one, insurance or no insurance. There's no fee unless we win. Contact us now for a free consultation.
What Is a Tree Injury Claim?
Tree injury cases come in two main shapes. The first is a falling tree or limb that hurts someone on or near a property, a premises liability claim under Colorado's Premises Liability Act (C.R.S. § 13-21-115) against whoever was responsible for that tree. The second is a negligent tree-care operation, a trimming or removal crew that dropped a limb, felled a trunk wrong, or hurt a worker or bystander, a negligence claim against the company.
Both turn on a duty most people do not think about until it is too late: the duty to keep trees from becoming dangerous. We figure out who held that duty and how they breached it, whether the tree came down on a sidewalk, a parked car, a home, a tent at a campground, or into a pool.
Why Hire a Denver Tree Injury Lawyer?
Because these cases live or die on a single question, notice, and the proof of it sits with the people you are suing. A property owner is not automatically liable when a tree falls. They are liable when they knew, or a reasonable inspection would have shown, that the tree was dead, diseased, or dangerous, and they did nothing. Insurers know that, so they call a falling limb an unforeseeable "act of God" and close the file.
A lawyer takes that apart. We bring in a certified arborist to read the tree, pull the prior complaints and service records that show the owner was warned, and trace responsibility, including Denver's rule that the abutting owner, not just the city, answers for the street tree. Then we value the claim and hold the number. A Denver County jury also weighs a negligent landlord or tree company differently than an Arapahoe or Adams County jury.
What You Get When You Hire Lionheart Injury Law
- We prove the owner knew. A certified arborist reads the decay, disease, or defect; we pull the prior complaints, service records, and City Forester permits that show the hazard was flagged and ignored.
- We find every responsible party. The abutting owner under Denver's street-tree rule, a landlord, an HOA, a tree contractor, a utility, or the city where it actually maintains the tree.
- No bills unless we win. Contingency fee only. We advance the cost of the arborist and experts. Free consultations, always.
- Community-rooted representation. Lionheart Injury Law is the only law firm in Denver specifically serving the Ethiopian, East African, and broader African community in the metro area. Many of our community's tree-crew and landscaping workers face the most dangerous tree jobs in the city, and we fight for them, and for anyone hurt by a careless crew.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Denver Tree Injury Lawyer?
Nothing up front. We take these cases on contingency; our fee is a percentage of what we recover, and if we recover nothing, you owe nothing. No hourly bills.
We advance the costs of building the case, the arborist, the records, the experts, and recoup them only out of a win. We also connect you with physicians who treat now and bill from the settlement. The consultation is free. Call (720) 763-5207.
When Is a Property Owner Liable for a Falling Tree?
Liability comes down to foreseeability and notice. A property owner has a duty to inspect the trees on their land and address ones that pose a danger, and the more developed and trafficked the property, the higher that duty runs. An owner is generally on the hook when:
- The tree was visibly dead, dying, or leaning, or showed rot, cracks, or hanging limbs;
- An arborist, neighbor, or the city had already flagged it;
- There were prior complaints or incidents the owner ignored; or
- A reasonable inspection would have caught the hazard.
Colorado owners are expected to make periodic inspections of their property, and for large or aging trees a yearly check by a certified arborist is the responsible standard, skip it, and a jury can find the danger should have been caught. An owner can also be liable for creating the hazard, such as a botched pruning job, even without prior notice.
The emerald ash borer makes this urgent. With roughly one in six Denver trees an ash and the beetle now established in the city, dead and brittle ash trees are everywhere, and an owner who lets a known-dead ash loom over a sidewalk or driveway is courting exactly the kind of foreseeable harm the law holds them responsible for. Falling trees and limbs kill roughly a hundred people a year nationwide, and many were known hazards no one removed.
The legal backbone here is the same one we use in slip and fall cases across Denver: what the owner knew, when they knew it, and what a reasonable owner would have done about it.
Denver's Tree Rules: Who's Responsible for That Street Tree?
Here is the trap that surprises everyone. The strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street, the "tree lawn", is city land, but under Denver ordinance § 57-18 the adjoining property owner is responsible for that street tree's care, including pruning and removal, with permits from the Office of the City Forester. So when a street-tree limb falls and hurts someone, the homeowner or business next to it can be liable, not only the city.
That cuts both ways, and it matters for your claim: we identify every responsible party, the abutting owner, a landlord, an HOA, a tree contractor, and, where the tree sits in a park or right-of-way the city actually maintains, the government. The City Forester's permit and inspection records often tell us who did what.
A street tree is not automatically "the city's problem." In Denver, the homeowner or business next to it usually carries the duty to maintain it. Do not assume no one is responsible; call us to find out who is.
Common Causes of Tree Injuries
The same failures recur. Dead and diseased trees, increasingly ash trees killed by the emerald ash borer, drop limbs without warning. Heavy, wet spring snow loads still-leafed branches until they snap, a signature Denver hazard, and windstorms finish the job. Negligent tree trimming and removal sends limbs and trunks the wrong way.
During tree work itself, struck-by injuries, falls from height, chainsaw and chipper accidents, and electrocution from power lines injure workers and bystanders alike. Trees cause harm in quieter ways too, roots that buckle a sidewalk into a trip hazard, overgrown limbs that block a driver's view, and a limb or trunk falling into the road that triggers a crash. We trace the cause to the party who should have prevented it.
Who Can Be Held Liable for a Tree Injury?
Often more than one party shares responsibility.
Property Owners and Abutting Owners
The owner of the land where the tree stood, or, for a street tree, the adjoining property owner Denver makes responsible, who failed to inspect or remove a known hazard.
Tree-Service and Landscaping Companies
A crew that trimmed or removed a tree negligently, dropped a limb, or felled a trunk into a person or structure.
Landlords, HOAs, and Property Managers
Whoever controlled and was responsible for maintaining the trees on rental or common-area property.
Government Entities
When a tree the city actually maintains, in a park or a right-of-way it controls, causes harm, a public entity may be liable, but the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act requires a written notice of claim within 182 days under C.R.S. § 24-10-109.
Utilities and Employers
A utility responsible for line-clearance, or, for an injured tree worker, the employer and any third party whose negligence contributed.
Tree-Service and Tree-Worker Injuries
Tree work is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country, and Colorado's tree crews get hurt and killed every year, falling from height, struck by limbs, caught in chippers, cut by chainsaws, and electrocuted on overhead lines. An injured tree worker usually has a workers' compensation claim, and often a separate third-party claim against a property owner, a utility, an equipment maker, or another contractor whose negligence caused the harm.
Tree crews are held to the ANSI Z133 safety standard, and a defective chipper, chainsaw, bucket truck, or harness can ground a product-liability claim of its own. We pursue both so nothing is left on the table, and we do the same for bystanders hurt by a careless crew.
Common Injuries in Tree Accidents
The forces are brutal, and we build each claim around the specific injury and the specialists who treat it.
- Traumatic brain injuries and skull fractures, the signature injury of a falling limb.
- Spinal cord injuries and paralysis, requiring lifetime care.
- Crushed and broken bones, from the weight of a trunk or heavy limb.
- Internal organ damage, from the crushing force of impact.
- Amputations and severe lacerations, from chainsaws and chippers in tree-work cases.
- Electrocution injuries, burns, cardiac injury, and death from contact with overhead power lines.
- Psychological trauma, the lasting mental toll of a sudden, violent injury, documented with mental-health experts.
Too many tree incidents end in wrongful death, and we handle those claims with the gravity they demand.
How We Build a Tree Injury Case
These cases are won on proof of what the tree looked like and who knew. We move fast.
- We photograph and preserve the tree, the limb, and the scene before it is cut up and hauled away, the downed tree is the single best piece of evidence.
- We bring in a certified arborist or tree expert to document the decay, disease, or defect and show it was detectable before the fall.
- We pull prior complaints, service and inspection records, City Forester permits, and weather data.
- For a tree-service case, we obtain the company's training records, safety practices, and equipment maintenance.
- A safety engineer and treating physicians round out the proof, and an economist and life-care planner project the lifetime cost.
What Types of Damages Are Available?
Colorado splits your recovery into categories. Some are uncapped, some are capped, and the caps rose significantly in 2025 under HB24-1472.
Economic Damages
Your hard losses, which Colorado does not cap: past and future medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, the value of services you can no longer perform, and out-of-pocket costs. We project the future losses with physicians and economists.
Non-Economic Damages
Pain and suffering, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium. Under HB24-1472, effective January 1, 2025, Colorado raised the general non-economic cap from approximately $642,000 to $1.5 million and scrapped the old rule that let defendants argue it down. The cap holds through 2027, then adjusts for inflation every two years from 2028.
How Colorado Courts Evaluate Pain and Suffering
There is no formula in the statute. Lawyers and adjusters lean on two recognized working methods to put a value on suffering.
The Multiplier Method
Take the total economic damages and multiply by a figure, commonly 1.5 to 5, scaled to severity and permanence.
The Per Diem Method
Assign a daily dollar value to your suffering and multiply by the days you are affected. We use whichever method, or combination, drives the larger fully supported number.
Exemplary (Punitive) Damages
When conduct was willful and wanton, an owner who left a known-dead tree hanging over a walkway, a crew that ignored obvious power-line danger, Colorado allows exemplary damages under C.R.S. § 13-21-102, capped at an amount equal to your actual damages. We build the record to support them.
Wrongful Death Damages
When a tree injury kills, Colorado's wrongful death cap rose to $2,125,000 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, with economic losses uncapped. Families navigating a fatal incident can start with our overview of Colorado wrongful death claims.
Medical Liens and Subrogation
Health insurers, hospitals, and Medicare or Medicaid can assert liens to recoup what they paid, and any provider who treated you on a letter of protection gets paid from the recovery. We map and negotiate them down so more lands in your pocket.
How Much Is My Denver Tree Injury Case Worth?
No honest lawyer hands you a number before reviewing the file. Value runs on the severity and permanence of the injury, the strength of the notice evidence, whether the conduct rises to gross negligence, and the available insurance, a homeowner's, commercial, or tree-service policy. We value the case against real Colorado outcomes, then build it to back the number up.
How Colorado's Comparative Negligence Rule Affects Your Claim
Colorado's modified comparative negligence rule (C.R.S. § 13-21-111), the 50% bar, reduces your recovery by your share of fault and erases it if you are 50% or more at fault. Expect the defense to argue you ignored an obvious hazard, walked under a roped-off tree, or assumed the risk. Owners also designate a "non-party at fault" under C.R.S. § 13-21-111.5 to spread blame to a tree company or another party. We answer with the arborist's findings and the record of what the owner knew.
Should I Accept the Insurance Company's First Offer?
No. The first offer is an anchor, not a value, and it usually arrives wrapped in the claim that the falling tree was an unforeseeable act of nature. It rarely was. Accept the check and you sign away the claim before the full injury and the owner's knowledge are known. The adjuster will push a recorded statement and a broad records release to hunt for a way to blame you. We shut it down and do not engage on a number until the case is built.
How Long Do I Have to File a Tree Injury Claim in Colorado?
Generally two years from the date of the injury under C.R.S. § 13-80-102. The exceptions matter:
- Government entity that maintains the tree (a city park or right-of-way): a written notice of claim is due within 182 days under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act.
- Minor children: the deadline can be paused (tolled) in certain circumstances.
Because the tree itself is the key evidence and gets cleared away within days, it is best to call early even though the deadline is two years out.
When Should I Hire a Denver Tree Injury Lawyer?
As soon as you can. The downed tree or limb is the single best piece of evidence, and it is usually cut up and gone within days. Hiring early lets us preserve it, get an arborist to it, gather the notice records, and get between you and the insurer before a recorded statement can be turned against you.
Will My Denver Tree Injury Case Go to Trial?
Most tree injury cases settle, but the ones that settle well are built for trial, an owner or tree company that sees an arborist's report and a paper trail of ignored warnings pays very differently than one that senses a claimant who will fold. Venue matters too: a case in the city is tried in Denver District Court, one near our office in Arapahoe County at Centennial or Adams County at Brighton. If trial is what it takes to get full value, we are ready for it.
Talk to a Denver Tree Injury Lawyer Today
If a falling tree, a dropped limb, or a careless tree crew hurt you or someone you love, do not accept that it was just bad luck. The consultation is free, and you pay nothing unless we win.
Get a Free Case Review Call 720-763-5207Get a FREE Case Evaluation Today
We're here to help, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week