Practice Area
A brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputation, or severe burn changes every part of life. The claim has to account for all of it, for decades. You pay nothing unless we recover.
When you hire Smith & Weidinger, you work with the lawyer handling your case, not a call center. Founding partner Matthew A. Weidinger focuses on serious-injury cases with complex liability and damages. Before co-founding the firm, he worked at large and small personal injury firms in Denver and Colorado Springs and served as a Deputy District Attorney in Mesa County.
We handle catastrophic injury claims from our offices in Denver (1040 S. Gaylord St.) and Colorado Springs (415 N. Tejon St.), from car and truck crashes, dangerous property conditions, and other negligence. Our team includes Mara Weidinger, M.S.W., whose background in social work and insurance claims helps us document how an injury disrupts work, family, and daily life. That’s the part of a claim insurers most like to discount.
These injuries share one thing: their costs and limits last for years, often for life.
Insurers often make offers before anyone knows the full picture: whether you’ll walk again, return to work, or need surgery in five years. Once you sign a release, the claim is over. We generally don’t settle until your doctors can describe your long-term condition, and we plan for what the insurance can realistically pay: the at-fault party’s liability coverage, umbrella policies, employer coverage, and your own underinsured motorist coverage.
Deadlines still apply while you recover. Most motor vehicle injury lawsuits must be filed within three years, most other injury lawsuits within two, and claims against a government agency need written notice within 182 days. We track those dates so your recovery isn’t rushed by them.
Colorado personal injury
An early offer rarely accounts for a lifetime of care. Get a free consultation with a Colorado injury attorney. Not a screener.
You pay nothing upfront.
Not a call center.
Serious-injury crashes and the insurance claims that follow.
Commercial trucking crashes with complex liability.
Injuries caused by dangerous property conditions.
In a catastrophic case, insurers discount what hasn’t happened yet: the care you’ll need in ten or thirty years, the promotions you won’t get, the help at home you’ll need. The answer is proof that makes the future concrete.
We build it with your doctors and, when the case needs them, life care planners, vocational experts, and economists.
Every catastrophic injury claim is built from the same pieces:
Every responsible party, because one policy is rarely enough.
Diagnosis, imaging, neuropsychological testing, and what your doctors expect long term.
A detailed, priced plan for future care, equipment, and home changes.
What you would have earned over your working life, not just the paychecks missed so far.
Liability, umbrella, employer, and underinsured motorist coverage.
We look at all of it. Then we decide, with you, when and whether to settle or file suit.
You talk with a lawyer, not a screener. We explain your options, the deadlines that apply, and how our contingency fee works.
Get the care you need. We deal with the insurance companies and help coordinate MedPay, health insurance, and providers so your treatment doesn't stall.
We collect the reports, photos, video, witness statements, and records, and we send preservation letters before evidence is lost.
Once your doctors have a clear picture of your recovery, we document your losses (medical bills, lost income, future care, and how the injury changed your life) and present the claim.
We negotiate with every insurer involved, and with the health plans and providers that want to be repaid, so more of the settlement stays with you.
If the insurer won't be fair, we file suit before the deadline and prepare the case for trial. Most cases settle, and that preparation is what gets them to a fair number.
Recent outcomes from our motor vehicle injury cases.
Settlement for a client rear-ended at high speed by a distracted driver.
Settlement for aggravation of neck and back injuries.
Settlement for a client struck by a red-light runner who tried to blame our client.
Results depend on the specific facts and legal circumstances of each case. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome.
Unedited, from our Google profile.
Reviews are published on Google by the people who wrote them. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
These are the questions families ask most after a life-changing injury. The answers below are general. The injury, the cause, and the coverage decide how they apply to you.
There’s no cap on economic damages like medical care and lost earnings. Non-economic damages are capped at $1.5 million for injuries on or after January 1, 2025, but the cap doesn’t limit damages for physical impairment or disfigurement.
Usually not until your doctors can describe your long-term condition. Settling before then risks leaving future surgery, care, and lost income out of the claim, and a signed release ends it.
Generally three years for motor vehicle crashes and two years for most other injuries. Claims against a government agency need written notice within 182 days. We track the deadlines while you focus on recovery.
We look for every source: other responsible parties, umbrella and employer policies, and your own underinsured motorist coverage. In Colorado, underinsured motorist coverage isn’t reduced by what the at-fault driver’s insurer pays.
Often, yes. A spouse can bring a claim for the loss of companionship and help at home that a serious injury causes. It’s usually handled together with the injured person’s claim.
Usually health insurance, MedPay, or both. Some providers will treat you and wait for payment until the case resolves. We help coordinate that so care doesn’t stall, and we negotiate repayment claims out of the settlement.
