Denver Jury Holds Contractors Accountable with $8.26M Verdict in Dangerous Sidewalk Case

K.C. Harpring

personal injury Attorney

Dormer Harpring is proud to announce that a Denver jury returned an $8,260,000 verdict for our client in a case under the Colorado Premises Liability Act (“PLA”) after he suffered serious injuries when his e-scooter hit a section of mangled sidewalk in Lowry. 

Background: 

In the spring of 2022, our client was riding his electric scooter on Alameda, along Fairmount Dr., when he encountered a section of sidewalk that had been jackhammered and left in broken chunks of concrete. The mangled surface also included a misplaced “handhole” – which is a small cover to access below-ground utilities – exposed in the sidewalk. The hazards caused him to lose control and be thrown over the handlebars, landing face-first. He suffered numerous injuries, including multiple brain bleeds, a traumatic brain injury, fractures throughout his skull, and spinal injuries. He spent ten days in the ICU, including three in a medically induced coma.

The hazard that caused his injuries was the result of an incomplete construction job by a telecommunications company and its general contractor. In 2020, the telecommunications company hired a general contractor to install fiber optic infrastructure throughout Denver. A portion of the project required the general contractor to install underground fiber optic cable in the Lowry neighborhood. This specific project was a little over half a mile long, and the permit and plans indicated the project ended at an existing handhole in front of our client’s apartment complex. 

However, the plans were wrong. The general contractor hired a subcontractor, who discovered the plans were inaccurate and a termination handhole was missing. The subcontractor cut into the sidewalk to install a new handhole, rather than placing a handhole in the grass to the side of the sidewalk where the plans called for it to be. Although the general contractor was responsible under the permit and contract for restoring the broken sidewalk, they never repaired it. Instead, broken concrete slabs were placed loosely together around the handhole – leaving the sidewalk in a dangerous condition for nearly 18 months – until our client hit it with his scooter. Two months after our client was injured, the general contractor paid for the repairs to the sidewalk. 

Although the City and County of Denver has an ordinance prohibiting scooters (like those that can be rented from Lime, Bird, or Lyft) from using public sidewalks, the ordinance has various exceptions, such as when the sidewalk is part of a designated bike route and considered a “Shared Use Sidewalk”. According to Denver’s bike maps, this stretch of Alameda where our client crashed is one of those areas where scooters can ride on the sidewalks. 

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Major Jury Verdict: 

Dormer Harpring trial attorneys Tim Garvey and Greg Bentley tried the case to a jury of seven people in Denver District Court before the Honorable Judge Sarah Wallace. The jury returned a verdict for our client against the general contractor for his claim under the Colorado Premises Liability Act.

In the end, the jury returned a verdict totaling $4,260,000 in economic damages for past and future medical bills, $2,000,000 in noneconomic damages for pain and suffering, and $2,000,000 in permanent impairment and disfigurement to our client’s body and brain.

From everybody at Dormer Harpring, we are deeply grateful to the jury for their service and to our client for his courage throughout this long and difficult process. Our client bravely stood up to these large corporations and trusted a Colorado jury with deciding the issues. This verdict is a reminder that even powerful companies must be held accountable when they fail to protect the public by putting profits over safety. Next time these companies are installing handholes or jack-hammering sidewalks, they’ll be sure to safely restore the sidewalks and walkways for Denver pedestrians, wheelchair users, cyclists, E-scooter riders, and others.

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JUDY B.

1 months ago

“I would recommend them to anyone who needs an attorney for a personal injury case!!“

I was under the gun with my statute of limitations less than a month away, and K.C. at Dormer Harpring took on my case anyway. They gave me super professional and super personal service and got me a settlement that was FAR more than the insurance company offered me on my own. I would recommend them to anyone who needs an attorney for a personal injury case!!

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