Greenwood Village Wrongful Death Lawyers Who Hold Negligent Parties Accountable for Your Family

Colorado follows a strict standing hierarchy under the Wrongful Death Act (C.R.S. 13-21-201 through 13-21-204). During the first year after the death, only the surviving spouse may file. In the second year, both the surviving spouse and the deceased's children may file. If there is no surviving spouse and no surviving children, the right passes to the parents. Under HB 24-1472, effective January 1, 2025, siblings have standing only when the deceased left no surviving spouse, children, or parents. An attorney review of who holds standing is essential before the first anniversary of the death.

The general deadline is two years from the date of death (C.R.S. 13-80-102). That deadline is hard, and missing it means losing the right to sue no matter how clear the at-fault party's negligence was. A separate, shorter deadline applies when a government entity is involved: written notice of claim must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)), and that clock runs from the date of discovery, not the date of death. Confirm your specific deadlines with an attorney as early as possible after the death.

For wrongful death claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025, Colorado caps non-economic damages at $2,125,000 (C.R.S. 13-21-203(1)(a)). That cap is removed entirely if the death resulted from a felonious killing. Economic damages such as lost future income, funeral costs, and pre-death medical expenses are not capped. For families who lost a primary earner, the uncapped economic damages category is often the largest component of the claim. Lower caps applied to claims that accrued before 2025, so the date of the death determines which figure governs.

Solatium, under C.R.S. 13-21-203.5, is a fixed statutory payment a surviving spouse (and in some cases parents) can elect for grief and loss of companionship instead of proving those losses at trial. For claims accruing on or after January 1, 2024, the certified amount is $135,990. HB 24-1472 ended further inflation adjustments to this figure. Electing solatium lets a family avoid the invasive discovery a traditional non-economic damages claim invites, such as depositions about the quality of the marriage. Electing solatium does not reduce economic damages, which remain recoverable and uncapped. Whether to elect solatium depends on the specific facts of the case and the family's priorities.

Potentially yes. Colorado follows a modified comparative negligence rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111). A wrongful death claim can proceed as long as the deceased was less than 50 percent at fault for the fatal event. If the deceased is found 50 percent or more at fault, the family recovers nothing. The total award is reduced by the deceased's share of fault. Insurers defending fatal crash cases routinely try to inflate the deceased's fault percentage. We challenge those assessments with crash reconstruction evidence, police reports, and witness testimony.

Greenwood Village is in Arapahoe County. A wrongful death lawsuit arising from an incident in Greenwood Village is filed in Arapahoe County District Court, located at 7325 S. Potomac Street, Centennial, CO 80112, within Colorado's 18th Judicial District. The local jury pool, local procedural rules, and the defense firms regularly appearing in that courthouse all affect how a wrongful death case proceeds. Most wrongful death cases resolve before trial, but where a case is tried affects the strategy and the leverage during settlement negotiations. We practice in Arapahoe County District Court.