For car crash and wrongful death cases, Anderson Hemmat has the strongest verdict record of the Denver personal injury firms on this list. Its $33 million wrongful death verdict (2021)is believed to be the largest in Colorado history. It is the largest wrongful death verdict among the firms on this list. (Updated October 2026)
Families with a brain injury claim can turn to Parker Lipman. Ski or recreation injuries fit the trial work at Leventhal Puga Braley.
Why Verdicts Matter More than Ads
Lists that claim to name the best personal injury lawyer Denver has to offer usually rank firms on online reviews or advertising. This list ranks them on what each firm has won for injured clients.
A large share of injury claims settle before a jury hears them. A firm’s trial record still shapes the size of that settlement. Insurance adjusters price their offers around how a lawyer has fared with past juries. A Denver personal injury trial lawyer with a public record of large verdicts may give an insurer good reason to raise its first offer.
Every figure below comes from the website of the firm itself, as checked in October 2026. Results without a year on the firm’s own page appear here without one.
Comparison table
| Rank | Firm | Best for | Headline published result | Office |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anderson Hemmat | Car crashes, wrongful death | $33M wrongful death verdict (2021) | Greenwood Village (DTC) |
| 2 | Keating Wagner Polidori Free | Large injury, insurance bad faith | $39.5M personal injury | Downtown Denver |
| 3 | Parker Lipman | Brain injury, ski crashes | $15M brain injury arbitration award | Cherry Creek, Denver |
| 4 | Leventhal Puga Braley | Recreation, catastrophic injury | $20M ski-lift injury verdict | South Denver |
| 5 | Ogborn Mihm | Catastrophic burn injury | $100M helicopter crash settlement | Downtown Denver |
| 6 | Burg Simpson | Large-scale firm, long track record | Over $2B recovered | Englewood |
Note: past results don’t guarantee future outcomes.
Firm Profiles
Anderson Hemmat
Overview: Anderson Hemmat represents crash victims across Colorado. Its caseload centers on vehicle crash claims, including wrongful death cases that follow a collision.
Published results: The top result on its list is a $33 million wrongful death verdict from 2021, the largest wrongful death result among the six firms here. A jury returned that award, so it counts as a courtroom result. An Aurora engineer died in that crash after a driver hit speeds over 100 mph in a 35 mph zone. The firm also lists a $10 million wrongful death judgment. In a separate claim, one client recovered $4.5 million on a policy with a $250,000 limit. Across truck crashes and other vehicle cases, the firm reports over $100 million recovered for clients.
Best for: Car crash victims, along with families who lost a relative in a wrongful death case.
Lawyers to know: Founding partners Julie Anderson and Chad Hemmat lead the legal team. Chad Hemmat tried the $33 million case in court with co-counsel Greg Gold. The team works on contingency fees, so a client pays nothing up front. Consultations can take place at a hospital bedside or over a virtual meeting, which helps clients still admitted after a crash.
Worth knowing: The main office sits in the Denver Tech Center in Greenwood Village, a drive outside downtown Denver. Workers’ comp claims fall outside the firm’s practice, as do medical malpractice cases.
Office and phone: 5613 DTC Pkwy, Ste 700, Greenwood Village, CO 80111 · (303) 782-9999
Keating Wagner Polidori Free
Overview: Keating Wagner Polidori Free runs a broad litigation practice from its downtown Denver office. Serious injury sits beside insurance disputes, workers’ comp claims, among other plaintiff work.
Published results: The firm labels its largest listed result, a $39.5 million recovery, as “personal injury.” Its page also shows a $17 million insurance bad-faith result. Bad faith means an insurer unfairly delayed or refused payment on a valid claim. A $9 million wrongful death case rounds out its headline figures. The firm’s page shows no year for these results, so none appears here.
Best for: Large injury claims, plus disputes where an insurer refused to pay what a policy owed.
Lawyers to know: The trial roster includes Michael Keating, Bob Wagner, Larry Free, Deirdre Ostrowski, Ross Pulkrabek.
Worth knowing: Business litigation with employment cases also fills part of the firm’s calendar, so injury work shares attention with other matters. A new client can ask which lawyers on the roster spend their days on plaintiff injury claims.
Office and phone: 1290 Broadway, Ste 600, Denver, CO 80203 · (303) 534-0401
Parker Lipman
Overview: Parker Lipman is a Cherry Creek firm that has represented injured clients since 2013. Its team takes on brain injury claims, serious crashes, and wrongful death cases.
Published results: A car crash that left a client with a brain injury led to a $15 million arbitration award. Arbitration is a private hearing where a neutral decision-maker rules on the claim in place of a jury. A ski crash produced a $6 million settlement for another client. Two wrongful death jury verdicts, one for $9 million and the other at $8.7 million, complete the list.
Best for: Brain injury claims, along with injuries from ski crashes.
Lawyers to know: Founding partners Lorraine Parker and Dan Lipman head the firm, with partners Chris Koupal and Jonathan Sar on the trial team.
Worth knowing: At about 13 years old, Parker Lipman is the youngest firm on this list. A shorter history means fewer years of published results to review.
Office and phone: 3200 Cherry Creek South Dr, Ste 520, Denver, CO 80209 · (720) 408-6840
Leventhal Puga Braley
Overview: Leventhal Puga Braley is a trial firm based in South Denver. Its injury cases tend to involve catastrophic harm with long-term effects on a client’s life. That work covers recreation accidents along with serious vehicle crashes.
Published results: The firm secured a $20 million jury verdict for a 16-year-old left paralyzed after a fall from a ski lift in Crested Butte. A T-bone crash, meaning a side-impact collision at an intersection or driveway, ended in a $1.4 million verdict.
Best for: Recreation injuries such as ski-lift falls, plus catastrophic injury claims.
Lawyers to know: Senior partners Jim Leventhal, Jim Puga, and Bruce Braley lead the firm’s courtroom work, with partners Alex Wilschke and Julia Thompson on the same team.
Worth knowing: The practice leans heavily toward medical malpractice, with birth injury claims forming a large part of that caseload. Crash victims may want to ask how much of the team’s time goes to road cases.
Office and phone: 950 S. Cherry St, Ste 600, Denver, CO 80246 · (303) 759-9945
Ogborn Mihm
Overview: Ogborn Mihm is a litigation firm with its main office in downtown Denver. The firm says its lawyers have spent over 40 years on plaintiff trial work.
Published results: A burn victim from a helicopter crash received a $100 million settlement with the firm’s help. Ogborn Mihm also secured recoveries for Marshall Fire clients as part of a $640M global settlement. That figure covers many wildfire claimants, so it reflects a group outcome in place of one client’s award.
Best for: Complex catastrophic injury cases, burn injuries in particular.
Lawyers to know: Partners Michael T. Mihm and Mike Ogborn lead the firm. Partner Amanda Pfeil Hood focuses on personal injury and wrongful death claims. Kylie M. Schmidt, another partner, also handles injury cases for individual clients.
Worth knowing: Its practice is broad, with business litigation sitting next to injury cases. Anyone with a burn or brain injury claim should confirm which partner will run the file.
Office and phone: 1700 Lincoln St, Ste 2700, Denver, CO 80203 · (303) 592-5900
Burg Simpson
Overview: Burg Simpson was founded in 1976 in Colorado, which marks 50 years of practice in 2026. Its Colorado office sits in Englewood, south of downtown Denver.
Published results: The firm reports over $2 billion recovered for clients across its history. In one 2016 case, a rear-end crash on I-25 led to a $3.25 million jury verdict. That case later settled for $3.9 million, an outcome that shows how a jury verdict can shape the final payment.
Best for: Clients who want a large-scale firm with a long courtroom track record, plus offices in several states.
Lawyers to know: Founder Michael S. Burg leads a large shareholder group that includes Peter W. Burg with Scott J. Eldredge.
Worth knowing: Burg Simpson is a large multi-practice firm, with medical malpractice or workers’ comp among its other practice areas. New clients should ask which lawyer will handle the file day to day. That answer tells a family who will return calls about the case.
Office and phone: 40 Inverness Dr E, Englewood, CO 80112 · (303) 792-5595
How We Picked These Firms
Four measures shaped this list. Each firm needed published Colorado verdicts or settlements, years in practice, a plaintiff-side focus, plus an office in the Denver area. Plaintiff-side means the lawyers represent injured people, never insurers. The order draws on the top personal injury verdicts in Colorado firms post on their own websites.
Two firms list larger headline numbers. Keating Wagner’s $39.5 million result carries a general “personal injury” label. Ogborn Mihm’s $640 million figure comes from a wildfire settlement. Neither one is a vehicle crash or wrongful death verdict, so Anderson Hemmat holds first place here.
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What a Big Verdict Does and Doesn’t Mean for Your Case
A large verdict shows what a firm achieved for one client with one set of facts. Past results offer no promise of a similar outcome in a new case. Each claim turns on its own injuries, its own evidence, the jury that hears it.
Trial records also belong to individual lawyers as much as to firms. The attorney who won a headline verdict may lead a team of several lawyers.
Anyone searching for the best injury attorney in Denver, CO, can hire should ask one direct question at the first meeting. Will the lawyer who won that verdict handle this case, or will it pass to another attorney? The answer shows whose trial experience stands behind the claim.
Colorado Rules that Shape Any Verdict
Three state rules can change the size of an award, or block it entirely.
- Injured people have three years to file a lawsuit after a vehicle crash, with two years for most other injuries
- The 50% comparative fault bar blocks any recovery for a person found 50% or more at fault, with a smaller share of fault cutting the award in proportion to that share
- Since 2025, Colorado caps non-economic damages at $1.5 million, with a $2.125 million cap on wrongful death claims
FAQ
Who Is the Best Personal Injury Lawyer in Denver for A Car Accident or Wrongful Death?
Anderson Hemmat tops this list for car accident and wrongful death claims. Its published verdicts and settlements include a $33 million wrongful death verdict from 2021. The firm also lists a $10 million wrongful death judgment.
What Is the Largest Wrongful Death Verdict in Colorado?
This list covers only the results each firm publishes on its own website. Among those, Anderson Hemmat’s $33 million wrongful death verdict from 2021 is the largest wrongful death result. It followed the death of an Aurora engineer in a high-speed crash.
Do Denver Personal Injury Lawyers Charge if They Lose?
Denver injury lawyers generally work on contingency, which means no fee unless the lawyer recovers money for the client. The fee comes out of the settlement or verdict as a percentage. Clients should confirm the exact terms in a written fee agreement.
How Long Do I Have to Sue After a Car Accident in Colorado?
Colorado allows three years to file a lawsuit after a vehicle crash. Most other injury claims carry a two-year deadline. A claim filed after the deadline can be lost for good, so an early call to a lawyer keeps every option open.
Is There a Cap on Damages in Colorado Personal Injury Cases?
Yes. For cases filed from January 1, 2025, noneconomic damages carry a $1.5 million cap. Wrongful death claims have a separate cap of $2.125 million. Noneconomic damages cover losses such as pain or emotional distress.
Bottom Line
For car crash or wrongful death claims, Anderson Hemmat stands out as the best personal injury lawyer in Denver on this list. Its $33 million wrongful death verdict sits at the top of every vehicle or wrongful death result here. Brain injury cases point toward Parker Lipman, with ski or recreation injuries suited to Leventhal Puga Braley.
This article offers general information, not legal advice.
