No Denver Wrongful Death Lawyer Can Tell You the Odds. Here Is What They Can Tell You

The content on this page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always consult a licensed attorney for advice specific to your situation.

What This Page Covers

• What changed on January 1, 2025
• Who Colorado allows to bring the claim, and when
• The deadline, and the one narrow exception to it
• What the law permits a family to recover
• The two sections of the statute, and the choice between them
• Why no one can tell you the odds

What Changed on January 1, 2025

House Bill 24-1472 was signed on June 3, 2024, with an effective date of January 1, 2025. The General Assembly’s own summary of the act states that “for civil actions filed on or after January 1, 2025, the act increases the cap on damages for noneconomic loss or injury from $250,000 to $1.5 million, and, starting January 1, 2028, and every 2 years thereafter, adjusts the damages cap based on inflation.”

If you have come across that $1.5 million figure, here is the part to be careful with: it does not govern a wrongful death claim. The general cap statute expressly carves wrongful death out and sends it elsewhere. Section 13-21-102.5(3)(a)(IV) says, in full, that “the damages for noneconomic loss or injury in a wrongful death action shall be governed by section 13-21-203.”

So if you have read that Colorado now allows $1.5 million in a wrongful death case, that is not what the statute says. The wrongful death numbers live in their own section, covered further down this page.

Who Colorado Allows to Bring the Claim

Colorado answers this with a structure rather than a single name. Under the Colorado wrongful death statute, who may bring the claim depends on which year after the death you are in.

The first year after the death

Section 13-21-201(1)(a) sets out the first-year order. The claim may be brought “by the spouse of the deceased.” Then, “upon the written election of the spouse,” it may be brought by the spouse and the heirs together, or by the heirs alone. If there is no spouse, it may be brought by the heirs of the deceased or by a designated beneficiary. If there is no spouse, no heirs, and no designated beneficiary, it may be brought by siblings or their heirs.

In plain terms: in that first year, a surviving spouse holds the position, and the heirs come in either because the spouse elects in writing to bring them in, or because there is no spouse.

The second year

Section 13-21-201(1)(b) opens it up. In the second year after the death, the claim may be brought by the spouse, by the heirs, by the spouse and heirs together, or by a designated beneficiary and the heirs. Siblings or their heirs may bring it where there is no spouse, no heirs, and no designated beneficiary.

The written election requirement that shapes year one is not part of year two.

Siblings

Siblings being on that list at all is one of the 2025 changes. Their place in it is conditional, not equal: they appear where the deceased left no spouse, no heirs, and no designated beneficiary. Whether a particular family falls into that situation is a question about that family’s circumstances, and it is one to put to a lawyer rather than settle from a web page.

CGH has an existing post on who is allowed to sue in a Denver fatal car accident that goes further into the standing question.

The Deadline Is Two Years, With One Narrow Exception

Section 13-80-102(1) provides that the listed civil actions “must be commenced within two years after the cause of action accrues, and not thereafter,” and subsection (1)(d) names “all actions for wrongful death, except as described in subsection (2) of this section.”

That exception is specific and narrow. Subsection (2) provides four years, and only in defined circumstances: “a civil action for a wrongful death against a defendant who committed vehicular homicide, as described in section 18-3-106, C.R.S., and, as part of the same criminal episode, committed the offense of leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in the death of a person, as described in section 42-4-1601(2)(c), C.R.S., regardless of the theory upon which suit is brought, or against whom suit is brought, must be commenced within four years after the cause of action accrues, and not thereafter.”

Both of those conditions have to be present for the longer period. Two years is the general rule, and the point at which the clock starts running is itself a legal question that depends on the facts. If you are anywhere near a deadline, that is a reason to talk to someone soon rather than to read further. There is more general background in CGH’s post on how long after an accident you can sue in Denver.

What the Law Permits a Family to Recover

Section 13-21-203 is where the wrongful death numbers actually live.

What the jury may consider

The statute directs that in a wrongful death action the jury “may give such damages as they may deem fair and just, with reference to the necessary injury resulting from such death, including damages for noneconomic loss or injury as defined in section 13-21-102.5 and subject to the limitations of this section and including within noneconomic loss or injury damages for grief, loss of companionship, pain and suffering, and emotional stress, to the surviving parties who may be entitled to sue.”

Grief, loss of companionship, pain and suffering, and emotional stress are named in the statute itself. They are not an add-on someone argues for.

The limit that applies when there is no close surviving family

The same subsection sets a specific figure for a specific situation. It provides that “if the decedent left neither a widow, a widower, minor children, nor a dependent father or mother, the damages recoverable in any such action shall not exceed the sum of two million one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars in any wrongful death action or binding arbitration filed on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2026, or any wrongful death claim that accrues on or after January 1, 2025, in which damages for derivative or direct noneconomic loss or injury may be awarded.”

Note what that clause is doing. The $2,125,000 figure attaches to the situation where the person who died left no widow, widower, minor children, or dependent parent. Which limitation applies to a family that does include those survivors is a different question, and it turns on the statute’s own terms and on the facts of the case. That is a question for a lawyer with the file in front of them, and no article can answer it for your situation.

When there is no limit at all

The statute carries an exception. Where the wrongful act, neglect, or default causing the death “constitutes a felonious killing, as defined in section 15-11-803(1)(b), and as determined in the manner described in section 15-11-803(7), in which case there shall be no limitation on the damages for noneconomic loss or injury recoverable in such action.”

Whether a death meets that definition is determined in the manner the statute describes. It is not something a family decides, and it is not something that follows automatically from a criminal charge.

Solatium: the fixed alternative

Colorado offers something unusual, and it may not have been mentioned to you. Under section 13-21-203.5, “the persons entitled to sue under section 13-21-201(1) may elect in writing to sue for and recover a solatium in the amount of fifty thousand dollars.”

Solatium is a fixed sum elected in writing, in place of the noneconomic damages that would otherwise have to be proved. The appeal may not be the amount. Electing it can mean not having to put your grief in front of a jury and have it argued over. Whether that trade makes sense is a decision to make with a lawyer, knowing what the alternative would involve.

Two Sections, and the Choice Between Them

Colorado’s wrongful death law runs on two sections that work together. Section 13-21-202 creates the liability: “when the death of a person is caused by a wrongful act, neglect, or default of another, and the act, neglect, or default is such as would, if death had not ensued, have entitled the party injured to maintain an action and recover damages in respect thereof, then, and in every such case, the person who or the corporation which would have been liable, if death had not ensued, shall be liable in an action for damages notwithstanding the death of the party injured.”

Read that slowly, because it contains the whole idea. If the person who died could have sued had they lived, the responsible party is still liable even though they did not live.

Section 13-21-201 then governs who may sue, and section 13-21-203, covered above, sets the limits on what may be recovered. The interaction between these sections, and the elections available under them, are procedural choices with real consequences, and they are made early. They are a large part of why families in this position get advice before filing rather than after.

For background on the claim generally, CGH maintains a Denver wrongful death lawyer page and a wrongful death practice area page, including a page on workplace fatality claims.

Why No One Can Tell You the Odds

You came here wanting a percentage, so it is worth saying directly why you will not find one here.

How a wrongful death claim turns out depends on what happened, what can be proved, who the defendants are, what insurance exists, and how a particular judge and jury see it. Those are facts about your case, and yours has not been looked at yet. A firm that answers with a success rate is describing cases that are not yours.

What you can find out is concrete: whether the person who died falls within the statute, who in the family may bring the claim and in which year, how much time is left, and what the statute permits to be recovered. Those are answerable questions, and they are the ones worth asking first.

Speak With a Denver Wrongful Death Attorney

You do not have to have decided anything to ask a question. If what you need right now is to understand where your family stands under Colorado law, that is a reasonable place to start.

CGH Injury Lawyers is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, in Denver. Call (303) 209-9395, or use the contact page. Se habla español: (303) 835-9177.

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Written by CGH Injury Lawyers.

Published: September 9, 2026. Last reviewed: September 9, 2026.

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