Greeley Wrongful Death Lawyer – CGH Injury Lawyers

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The Colorado Wrongful Death Act (C.R.S. 13-21-201 through 13-21-204) gives Weld County families the right to pursue civil compensation when a loved one dies because of another party's negligence, regardless of any criminal case.
Who may file follows a strict standing hierarchy. In the first year after the death, only the surviving spouse may file. That exclusive window exists even when there are adult children or grieving parents.
The general deadline to file is two years from the date of death (C.R.S. 13-80-102). Shorter deadlines apply when a government entity or employee caused the death.

CGH Injury Lawyers serves Greeley and Weld County families from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. We handle the standing analysis, the Weld County District Court filing, the insurer negotiations, and trial when a negligent party refuses to be fair. You pay nothing unless we recover for you.

Year one: the surviving spouse

During the first year after the death, only the surviving spouse may file. This exclusive standing exists even when there are adult children or parents who are also grieving. The spouse may choose to include other heirs, such as children, in the claim.
Year two: children and heirs

If the surviving spouse does not file within the first year, or there is no surviving spouse, the right passes to the deceased's children. In the second year, both the surviving spouse and the children may file.
Parents, when there is no spouse or child

If there is no surviving spouse and no surviving children, the right to file passes to the deceased's parents.
Siblings, under the 2024 update

Under HB 24-1472, siblings now have standing, but only when the deceased left no surviving spouse, no surviving children, and no surviving parents. This change closed a gap that previously left some single adults and young people without any recourse.

Because standing is time-sensitive and unforgiving, Greeley families should confirm who holds the right to file before the first year runs. We identify the correct claimant in the free case review so a procedural misstep never costs you the claim.

Civil claim, separate from any criminal case

A wrongful death claim is a civil action. It can move forward even if the person who caused the death is never charged with a crime, or is acquitted. The Weld County District Attorney's decisions do not control your family's civil claim.
Civil cases focus on compensation for the family and require a lower burden of proof: a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more likely than not. The family controls whether to settle or go to trial in Weld County District Court.
Criminal cases focus on punishment and require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The Weld County DA controls those proceedings, not the family.

The solatium election: a privacy shield for surviving spouses

Colorado offers a mechanism called solatium under C.R.S. 13-21-203.5. A surviving spouse, and in some cases parents, may elect a fixed certified payment for grief and loss of companionship instead of proving those losses before a Weld County jury.
For claims accruing on or after January 1, 2024, the certified solatium amount is $135,990, as certified by the Colorado Secretary of State. There will be no additional adjustments to that figure going forward.
Electing solatium works as a privacy shield. A traditional non-economic damages claim invites invasive defense discovery into the quality of the marriage, private communications, and personal history. Solatium lets a family bypass that process entirely.
Solatium is paid in addition to economic damages. Choosing it does not reduce or cap what a Greeley family can recover for lost income, medical bills, or funeral costs.

Wrongful death vs. survival action: two claims from one incident

A single fatal incident in Greeley or Weld County can give rise to two separate legal claims, and they are frequently filed together.

The wrongful death claim is brought by surviving family members for the losses they personally experienced: lost financial support, loss of companionship, and grief. The beneficiaries are the spouse, children, or parents, as defined by the standing hierarchy.
The survival action is brought on behalf of the deceased's estate for losses the deceased suffered before passing: pre-death medical bills, lost wages between the injury and death, and the pain they endured. Proceeds are distributed under the will, or under Colorado intestacy law if there is no will.
Example: a victim of a commercial truck crash on US 34 near Greeley survives in Banner North Colorado Medical Center's trauma unit for six days before passing. The pain and medical cost of those six days belongs to the survival action. The next twenty years of lost income and lost companionship belongs to the wrongful death claim. Filed together, the two claims pursue full recovery for the family and the estate.

Courthouse

Weld County District Court, 19th Judicial District

Wrongful death cases arising in Weld County are filed in the Weld County District Court, 19th Judicial District. The main courthouse is the Weld County Courthouse at 901 9th Ave, Greeley, CO 80631 (P.O. Box 2038). Filing and clerk's office functions are also handled at the Weld County Centennial Center at 915 10th Street, Greeley, CO 80631. We file and appear in the 19th Judicial District as needed for our Greeley clients. Surviving from our Denver office does not mean your case is handled remotely; our attorneys appear where the case requires.

Trauma Care

Banner North Colorado Medical Center

Banner North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley is a Level II Trauma Center, the highest-level trauma designation in Weld County. Victims of catastrophic crashes, workplace accidents, and other fatal incidents on Greeley roads are often transported here first. The detailed medical records from that facility, including admission records, imaging, surgical notes, and the treating physicians' findings, form a critical part of the damages documentation in a wrongful death case. We obtain those records and work with medical experts to translate the clinical language into the economic and human losses your family actually experienced.

Roads and Hazards

US 34, US 85, and the Spaghetti Junction Interchange

U.S. Route 34 is the primary east-west expressway through Greeley. U.S. Route 85 runs north-south and meets US 34 at the complex multi-highway interchange near Garden City known locally as Spaghetti Junction, a documented crash location that is the subject of a $4 million CDOT safety improvement project involving new guardrails, signage, and shoulder widening. Dangerous intersections along US 34 at 35th Avenue and near Weld County Road 17 have documented crash histories. Colorado State Highway 257 adds north-south traffic through the area and has been involved in fatal crashes near its US 34 junction. Heavy commercial truck traffic from the JBS USA beef processing plant on the east side of the city adds large semi-truck volume to local streets. Identifying which road, intersection, or corridor a death occurred on, and whether a CDOT project, a government design defect, or a commercial trucking operation is part of the liability picture, is work we begin at the first case review.

Special Hazard

Hail, severe weather, and agricultural traffic

Greeley sits within Colorado's Hail Alley, a corridor averaging seven to nine hail days per year. A May 28, 2024 hailstorm deposited more than one foot of hail on parts of the city, causing a fatality and turning roads into surfaces as dangerous as ice. Damaging winds, tornado risk, and wildfire smoke reducing visibility are documented seasonal hazards. Weld County is also one of Colorado's most active agricultural counties, meaning farm equipment and livestock trucks share county roads surrounding Greeley at hours and speeds that can surprise other drivers. When weather or road-condition factors are present in a Weld County death, the liability analysis extends beyond just the other driver.

The Statute

C.R.S. 13-21-201 to 13-21-204

The Colorado Wrongful Death Act governs every Weld County case we handle. We do not guess at the standing rules or the cap calculations; we work from the statute and the verified ledger every time.

ABOTA trial advocate on the team

Built for trial, willing to go.

Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and has tried over 25 cases to verdict. When attorneys are genuinely willing to try a wrongful death case in Weld County District Court, insurers treat demands differently than when they know the firm settles everything.

No Greeley Office

We say so plainly.

We serve Greeley from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201. We will not claim a local address we do not have.

19th Judicial District

We file in Weld County.

Our attorneys appear in the 19th Judicial District at the Weld County Courthouse and Centennial Center as the case requires. Distance does not mean absence from the courtroom.

Honest Case Assessment

We decline cases we cannot win.

We do not take wrongful death cases we cannot honestly stand behind. If the facts of a Greeley death do not support a viable claim, we say so in the free review rather than sign up a grieving family and let the matter stall. When the law is on your side, we fight hard. When it is not, you deserve to hear that early, for free.

Bilingual

Hablamos espanol.

Greeley's Spanish-speaking community, including many families connected to JBS USA and Weld County's agricultural industry, can work with CGH entirely in Spanish.

No Win, No Fee

Contingency only.

You pay nothing out of pocket for legal fees. We advance costs and collect only from a settlement or verdict in your favor.

Preserve the evidence immediately

Crash scenes are cleaned. Employer records are altered. Surveillance footage is overwritten. The evidence that proves how a death happened is most available in the first days and weeks. We can issue preservation letters to employers, trucking companies, property owners, and government agencies from the first day of retention. Ask us to do this before anything is lost.
Gather medical and incident records

Secure every record from Banner North Colorado Medical Center and any other treating facility. Obtain the police report, any CDOT incident reports if the death involved US 34, US 85, or SH 257, and the death certificate. We help you request records that require attorney authorization.
Confirm who has the right to file

The standing hierarchy described above is time-sensitive. If a surviving spouse exists, the first-year window is already running. We identify the correct claimant in the free review so no procedural error forfeits the claim.
Do not give recorded statements to insurers

The at-fault party's insurance adjuster may call the family quickly after the death. Do not give a recorded statement or sign any release before speaking with us. Adjusters represent the insurer's interest, not yours. Call (303) 209-9395 first.
We build, negotiate, and litigate

We investigate liability, retain experts, calculate the full economic loss including future earnings and household services, and present a documented demand. Most cases resolve through settlement or mediation. When an insurer refuses a fair offer, we file in Weld County District Court and try your case.

Economic damages (not capped)

Net pecuniary loss: the future income and benefits the deceased would have provided to the family
Medical expenses incurred between the injury and the death, including Banner North Colorado Medical Center costs
Funeral and burial costs
Loss of household services such as childcare and home maintenance

Non-economic damages (capped)

Grief and emotional suffering
Loss of companionship and consortium
Loss of guidance and parental support for surviving children
Pain and suffering of the survivors

Economic damages are not subject to a statutory cap. For families who lost a primary earner, such as a Weld County worker at JBS USA or a commercial driver, these damages often form the largest part of the claim and are the ones experts calculate most rigorously.

Non-economic damages in a Colorado wrongful death case are capped at $2,125,000 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-203), with inflation adjustments starting in 2028. The cap disappears entirely if the death resulted from a felonious killing. Lower caps apply to older claims and to medical malpractice deaths, so the date and type of claim matter. When a death results from gross negligence or willful and wanton conduct, punitive damages may also be available (C.R.S. 13-21-102). We calculate the full value of every category before we ever discuss settlement.

Comparative fault: "your family member was partly to blame"

Colorado is a modified comparative fault state (C.R.S. 13-21-111). Under the verified 2026-06-13 addendum to the statute ledger, the correct rule is: a family can still recover as long as the deceased was less than 50 percent at fault. If the deceased is found 50 percent or more at fault, recovery is barred entirely. Below 50 percent, the award is reduced by the deceased's share of fault. Insurers routinely try to inflate the deceased's fault percentage to reduce or eliminate the claim. We investigate the incident independently and challenge those assessments with evidence.
Government entity defense: CGIA notice requirements

If the death involved a government vehicle, a government-owned road defect, or a public employee, the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (C.R.S. 24-10-109) requires a written notice of claim within 182 days after discovering the injury. Missing that notice forfeits the claim against the government defendant entirely. When US 34, US 85, SH 257, or a Weld County road is part of the picture, we identify government involvement at intake and preserve the notice right immediately.
"The deceased assumed the risk"

Defense lawyers in commercial truck cases, workplace deaths, and product liability deaths often argue the deceased accepted a known risk. We examine what the deceased actually knew, the specific hazard that caused the death, and whether the risk was obvious or concealed. Greeley's agricultural and industrial work environment makes these arguments common in Weld County cases, and we are prepared for them.
Statute of limitations disputes

The general two-year deadline from the date of death (C.R.S. 13-80-102) is the baseline. A four-year extended period applies in some vehicular-homicide-plus-flight cases (C.R.S. 13-80-102(2)). Medical malpractice wrongful deaths carry their own limitations period. Defendants raise limitations defenses whenever a family delays. We track every applicable deadline from the first day we are retained.

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Motor vehicle deaths typically involve the at-fault driver's auto liability policy, and may also involve the deceased's own uninsured or underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage if the at-fault driver carried insufficient limits. Commercial truck fatalities on US 34 or US 85 near Greeley involve the trucking company's commercial liability policy, which often carries higher limits and a specialized claims team trained to minimize payouts.
Workplace deaths at JBS USA or in Weld County's agricultural or construction industries may involve both a workers' compensation death benefit and a separate third-party civil claim. The two tracks are not mutually exclusive, and the civil claim often recovers more than workers' comp alone provides.
Premises liability deaths may involve a property owner's commercial general liability or homeowner policy. Product liability deaths involve the manufacturer's product liability coverage.
Insurance adjusters contact grieving families quickly and with purpose. Do not give a recorded statement or sign any document before speaking with us. Call (303) 209-9395 first, from Greeley or anywhere in Weld County.

Who can file a wrongful death claim in Weld County?

Colorado follows a strict hierarchy under the Wrongful Death Act (C.R.S. 13-21-201 through 13-21-204). In the first year after the death, only the surviving spouse may file. In the second year, both the surviving spouse and the children may file. Parents may file only if there is no surviving spouse or children. Siblings have standing only if the deceased left no surviving spouse, no children, and no parents (per HB 24-1472). The free case review confirms who holds the right to file for your specific family situation.

How long do I have to file a wrongful death claim after a Greeley death?

The general deadline is two years from the date of death (C.R.S. 13-80-102). A four-year extended period may apply in certain vehicular-homicide-plus-flight cases (C.R.S. 13-80-102(2)). If a government entity or employee caused or contributed to the death, a written notice of claim must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (C.R.S. 24-10-109), which is a shorter and separate requirement. Medical malpractice wrongful deaths have their own timeline. Because multiple deadlines can run simultaneously, consult an attorney as soon as possible after any Weld County death.

What is solatium, and should a Greeley surviving spouse choose it?

Solatium (C.R.S. 13-21-203.5) is a fixed certified 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 amount is $135,990, as certified by the Colorado Secretary of State, with no further adjustments. It is paid in addition to economic damages. Families often choose solatium to avoid invasive defense discovery into the marriage. We analyze the specific facts of each Greeley case before recommending whether to elect it or pursue a traditional non-economic damages claim.

My loved one died in a crash on US 34 or US 85 near Greeley. Who is liable?

Liability depends on the specific facts. The at-fault driver and their insurer are the most direct defendants. If a commercial truck from JBS USA or another Weld County operation was involved, the trucking company and its insurer may also be liable. If a known road defect, an inadequate guardrail, or a missing sign at the Spaghetti Junction interchange or another documented hazard contributed to the crash, a government entity may be involved, triggering the 182-day CGIA notice requirement. We identify every responsible party from the first investigation rather than limiting the claim to the most obvious defendant.

Is there a cap on what a Greeley wrongful death case can recover?

Economic damages such as lost income, medical bills, and funeral costs are not capped. Non-economic damages such as grief and loss of companionship are capped at $2,125,000 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-203), with inflation adjustments starting in 2028. The cap does not apply at all if the death resulted from a felonious killing. Lower caps apply to older claims and to medical malpractice deaths. The date the negligence occurred and the type of claim it was controls which cap applies to your family's case.

My family member was killed at work in Weld County. Can we file a wrongful death claim as well as workers' comp?

Often yes. Workers' compensation provides a death benefit, but it is paid by the employer's workers' comp insurer and is limited by the workers' comp schedule. A separate civil wrongful death claim can be filed against a third party, meaning anyone other than the employer, whose negligence contributed to the death. In a workplace death at a Greeley meatpacking, agricultural, or construction site, the third party might be an equipment manufacturer, a subcontractor, or a property owner. We evaluate both avenues at the free case review.

Does CGH have a Greeley office?

No. CGH Injury Lawyers serves Greeley and Weld County families from our Denver office at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We do not have a Greeley location. Our attorneys travel to and appear in the Weld County District Court and Centennial Center as cases require. We say this plainly because you deserve to know exactly where the firm that represents your family is located. Call (303) 209-9395.

What is the difference between a wrongful death claim and a survival action in Colorado?

A wrongful death claim is brought by surviving family members for the losses they personally experienced: lost financial support and loss of companionship. A survival action is brought on behalf of the deceased's estate for losses the deceased suffered before passing: pre-death medical bills, lost wages between injury and death, and the pain endured. Proceeds of the survival action are distributed under the will, or under Colorado intestacy law. Both claims can and often should be filed together to pursue full recovery for the Greeley family and the estate.

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Greeley Wrongful Death Lawyers Who Carry the Legal Weight for Your Family

Colorado's standing hierarchy: who can file a wrongful death claim

Year one: the surviving spouse

Year two: children and heirs

Parents, when there is no spouse or child

Siblings, under the 2024 update

Colorado's Wrongful Death Act decoded for Greeley families

Civil claim, separate from any criminal case

The solatium election: a privacy shield for surviving spouses

Wrongful death vs. survival action: two claims from one incident

Greeley roads, hospitals, and courts: the ground a wrongful death case is built on

Weld County District Court, 19th Judicial District

Banner North Colorado Medical Center

US 34, US 85, and the Spaghetti Junction Interchange

Hail, severe weather, and agricultural traffic

Why Greeley and Weld County families choose CGH Injury Lawyers

C.R.S. 13-21-201 to 13-21-204

Built for trial, willing to go.

We say so plainly.

We file in Weld County.

We decline cases we cannot win.

Hablamos espanol.

Contingency only.

What Greeley families should do after a wrongful death

Preserve the evidence immediately

Gather medical and incident records

Confirm who has the right to file

Do not give recorded statements to insurers

We build, negotiate, and litigate

What a Greeley wrongful death claim can recover

Economic damages (not capped)

Non-economic damages (capped)

Defenses Weld County defendants use, and how we answer them

Comparative fault: "your family member was partly to blame"

Government entity defense: CGIA notice requirements

"The deceased assumed the risk"

Statute of limitations disputes

Insurance companies in Greeley wrongful death cases

Greeley wrongful death: frequently asked questions

Related pages

You lost someone. We carry the legal weight for your Greeley family.