IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.
If a crash on US 287, an unsafe property, or another act of negligence in Longmont took someone you love, CGH Injury Lawyers serves your family from our Denver office, files in the Boulder County Combined Court in Longmont, and goes to trial in the 20th Judicial District when insurers refuse to be fair. You pay nothing unless we win.
No fee unless we winWhen negligence in Longmont causes a death, the Colorado Wrongful Death Act gives surviving family members the right to pursue civil compensation separately from any criminal case. A claim filed in Boulder County can recover the financial support your family lost, the cost of medical care before the death, funeral and burial expenses, and recognized compensation for grief and the loss of your loved one's companionship.
CGH Injury Lawyers serves Longmont families from our Denver office, files wrongful death claims at the Boulder County Combined Court in Longmont, and tries cases in the 20th Judicial District when insurers refuse to treat a grieving family fairly. There is no office in Longmont and no implication of one. What we offer is the full weight of a trial-ready firm operating in Boulder County court, with no upfront fees and a free, confidential consultation.
Why these cases are different
Losing a family member on a Longmont road or in a preventable accident is devastating, and no legal process reverses that loss. The Wrongful Death Act exists for a narrower purpose: to hold the negligent party accountable and to secure the financial stability your family needs to move forward. It replaces lost future income, covers funeral costs, and recognizes the loss of companionship that no amount of money can truly measure.
Who has the right to file
Colorado sets a strict order for who may bring a wrongful death lawsuit and when. Filing out of turn can put a Boulder County family's recovery at risk. Getting this right from the first conversation is one of the most important things an attorney does on a wrongful death case.
During the first year after the death, only the surviving spouse has the right to file. That exclusive standing exists even when there are adult children or grieving parents. The spouse may choose to include children or other heirs in the claim, but the decision belongs to the spouse alone in year one.
If the surviving spouse does not file within the first year, or there is no surviving spouse, the right passes to the children of the deceased. In the second year, both the surviving spouse and the children may file. The two-year outer limit under C.R.S. 13-80-102 applies to both.
If there is no surviving spouse and no surviving children, the right to file passes to the deceased's parents. This scenario arises in cases involving younger Longmont residents who were single at the time of the fatal incident.
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 without any surviving family member who could bring a claim on their behalf.
Because standing is time-sensitive, Longmont families should confirm who holds the right to file before the first year runs. If a spouse is unavailable or unwilling to file, children need to understand when their standing activates. We help families sort this out early so no procedural misstep closes the door on the claim.
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A strategic choice
Colorado offers a mechanism called solatium under C.R.S. 13-21-203.5. It lets a surviving spouse, and in some cases parents, elect a fixed statutory sum for grief and loss of companionship instead of proving those losses in front of a 20th Judicial District jury.
Compensation
Colorado divides wrongful death damages into two categories. The distinction matters, because a statutory cap applies to one and not the other. For Longmont families who lost a primary earner, the uncapped economic category often drives the majority of the claim's value.
Economic damages are not subject to a statutory cap. 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 beginning January 1, 2028. The cap disappears entirely if the death resulted from a felonious killing. Lower caps apply to older claims and to deaths caused by medical malpractice, so the date and circumstances of the death directly shape what the family can recover. When gross negligence or willful and wanton conduct caused the death, punitive damages under C.R.S. 13-21-102 may also be available. We calculate every category before we ever discuss a settlement figure with an insurer.
Two different claims
A single fatal incident on a Longmont road or property often gives rise to two separate legal claims. They serve different purposes and distribute funds differently, and they are frequently filed together in the 20th Judicial District.
For the survivors
Brought by surviving family members to recover the losses they personally experienced: lost financial support, loss of companionship, grief. The beneficiaries are the spouse, children, or parents, governed by the First Year Rule. This is the claim families typically think of when they contact a Longmont wrongful death attorney.
For the estate
Brought on behalf of the deceased's estate to recover losses the deceased suffered before passing: pre-death medical bills from Longmont United Hospital, lost wages between the injury and death, and any conscious pain endured. Proceeds are distributed under the will, or under Colorado intestacy law if there is no will.
Consider a victim who survives a crash on SH 119 for several days at Longmont United Hospital before passing. The pain and the medical bills from those days belong to the survival action. The lost future decades of income and the family's grief belong to the wrongful death claim. Filed together, both claims pursue full recovery for the family and the estate.
Cases we handle
Longmont's road network, commercial properties, and industrial activity create a specific set of conditions where negligence can turn fatal. These are the contexts we see most often when representing Boulder County families.
US Highway 287 runs through Longmont as Main Street without a median barrier, and CDOT data shows the Erie-to-Boulder County line segment averages approximately 830 crashes per year, accounting for 29 percent of all fatal crashes in Boulder County. SH 119 (Ken Pratt Boulevard and the Diagonal Highway) carries the highest rate of severe crashes per mile in unincorporated Boulder County. Fatal collisions on these corridors regularly involve distracted driving, speed, and failure to yield at the US 287 / SH 119 intersection, which Longmont traffic engineers identified as the city's highest-crash intersection.
State Highways 66 and 52 carry commercial and agricultural freight through Longmont and into surrounding Boulder County. Truck crash deaths often involve corporate liability, federal safety violations, and multiple insurance layers. We identify every responsible party, including carriers, shippers, and maintenance contractors, and pursue each of them.
Fatal falls, drownings, assaults linked to inadequate security, and structural hazards on Longmont commercial properties, apartment complexes near downtown, and the Boulder County Fairgrounds area can all support a wrongful death claim when the property owner failed to maintain a reasonably safe premises.
Surgical errors, misdiagnosis, anesthesia mistakes, and failure to monitor a patient at a Longmont-area facility can produce a wrongful death claim when the care fell below the standard a competent provider would have met. These cases require expert medical testimony and a different damages cap schedule than other wrongful death claims.
Fatal injuries on Longmont construction sites, manufacturing facilities, and in transportation work can support both a workers' compensation death-benefit claim and a separate third-party civil claim against a negligent contractor, equipment manufacturer, or property owner. We pursue every available avenue.
Defective vehicles, dangerous pharmaceuticals, faulty safety equipment, and consumer products with design or manufacturing defects can all cause fatal injuries. If a Longmont death was caused by a product that should have been safe, we investigate the full chain of distribution and hold every responsible party accountable.
When fault is disputed
Insurers defending a Longmont wrongful death claim will often argue that the deceased shared responsibility for what happened. Colorado's comparative fault rule is the primary tool they use to reduce or eliminate a family's recovery.
When the government is at fault
If a death in Longmont involved a government vehicle, a poorly maintained public road, or a hazard on government property, the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act imposes strict procedural requirements and limits on recovery that do not apply to private defendants.
Not every CGIA waiver is automatic. Whether immunity is waived for a specific type of government conduct, such as a road defect or a public vehicle crash on US 287, depends on careful statutory analysis. We handle that analysis as part of the initial case evaluation.
After a recovery
When a settlement or verdict is reached in a Boulder County wrongful death case, Colorado law requires a fair division among eligible survivors, but the statute does not set fixed percentages. That makes the distribution hearing an important step families should prepare for.
Disputes within a family over distribution percentages, between a spouse and adult children from a prior marriage for instance, can add pain to an already difficult process. We routinely help Boulder County families reach a consensus proposal before the hearing at the 20th Judicial District courthouse, which honors everyone's loss and avoids a contested public proceeding.
Local Knowledge
A wrongful death claim arising from a Longmont incident lives in Longmont: the road where it happened, the hospital where your family member was taken, and the courthouse where the lawsuit will be filed. Here is the ground we work on for Boulder County wrongful death families.
Courthouse
A Longmont wrongful death lawsuit is filed in the 20th Judicial District of Colorado at the Boulder County Combined Court, 1035 Kimbark St, Longmont, CO 80501, reachable at (720) 564-2522. The court is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Local practice in the 20th Judicial District, including the pool of Boulder County jurors and the defense firms that insure large Longmont defendants, differs meaningfully from other Colorado jurisdictions. We file and try 20th Judicial District wrongful death cases directly, with no referral to outside counsel.
Trauma Care
Longmont United Hospital at 1950 Mountain View Ave, Longmont, CO 80501 is designated a Level III Trauma Center by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and is certified as a DNV Comprehensive Stroke Center. When a crash or incident in Longmont sends a family member to Longmont United, those trauma records become the cornerstone of the damages claim, documenting injury onset, treatment, and the full medical cost from the day of the incident through death. We work directly with the hospital's records and billing systems to build a complete picture of what your family member endured and what care cost before the loss.
High-Crash Roads
US Highway 287 runs through Longmont as Main Street without a median barrier between northbound and southbound lanes. CDOT data shows the Erie-to-Boulder County line segment averages approximately 830 crashes per year and accounts for 29 percent of all fatal crashes in Boulder County. SH 119, known locally as Ken Pratt Boulevard and the Diagonal Highway, carries the highest rate of severe crashes per mile in unincorporated Boulder County. The intersection of US 287 and SH 119 recorded over 290 crashes in a recent five-year period and handles more than 70,000 vehicles per day, making it Longmont's highest-crash intersection as identified by city traffic engineers. SH 66 and SH 52 add additional arterial and commercial truck traffic. When a wrongful death arises from a collision on any of these corridors, the local road-design history, traffic-signal data, and prior crash reports all become evidence we develop for the Boulder County jury.
Built for trial
CGH Injury Lawyers is a Colorado trial firm founded in 2016, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard. We serve Longmont from our Denver office and are transparent about that. We do not claim a Longmont address or a local office. What we offer is a trial-ready team that files and tries cases in the 20th Judicial District, negotiates from documented case strength, and does not settle cheap because a family is vulnerable.
Frequently asked questions
No. CGH Injury Lawyers has one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We serve Longmont and Boulder County wrongful death families from that office, file cases at the Boulder County Combined Court in Longmont, and meet you wherever is most convenient. You can reach us at (303) 209-9395. We do not claim a Longmont address, and we are direct about that because you deserve honesty from the start of the relationship.
The general deadline under C.R.S. 13-80-102 is two years from the date of death. Shorter deadlines can cut that window significantly. If the death involved any government entity, including the City of Longmont, Boulder County, a CDOT-maintained road, or a government vehicle, a written notice of claim must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109). Missing the 182-day notice bars the claim entirely. Because the First Year Rule also runs concurrently, Longmont families should contact an attorney as soon as possible after the loss.
Colorado follows a strict standing hierarchy. 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 and no surviving children. Under HB 24-1472, siblings now have standing but only when the deceased left no surviving spouse, no children, and no parents. Filing out of turn or waiting past the applicable deadline can forfeit the claim. We confirm standing and timing at no cost in an initial consultation.
Under Colorado's modified comparative fault rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111), a family can still recover as long as the deceased was less than 50 percent at fault. The award is reduced by the percentage of fault attributed to the deceased. If the deceased is found 50 percent or more at fault, the family recovers nothing. Insurers regularly try to inflate that percentage on high-speed corridors like US 287 and SH 119 in Longmont, where fault is often disputed at crash scenes. We retain reconstruction experts, gather the CDOT and city crash records for those corridors, and challenge unfair fault assignments before a Boulder County jury when necessary.
A Longmont wrongful death case that exceeds the county-court jurisdictional limit is filed in the 20th Judicial District of Colorado at the Boulder County Combined Court, 1035 Kimbark St, Longmont, CO 80501, (720) 564-2522. Local rules, the Boulder County jury pool, and the defense firms retained by Longmont-area insurers all differ from other districts. We handle 20th Judicial District wrongful death cases directly and regularly, without referring you to outside Boulder County counsel.
Solatium, under C.R.S. 13-21-203.5, is a fixed statutory payment a surviving spouse or parents can elect for grief and loss of companionship instead of proving those damages at trial. The certified amount is $135,990 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2024, and no further adjustments are scheduled. Electing solatium bypasses the invasive discovery that a traditional non-economic damages claim can invite, including depositions about the quality of the marriage. It does not reduce economic damages, which remain recoverable and uncapped. Whether to elect solatium is a strategic decision that depends on the full profile of the claim, and we walk every Longmont family through that analysis.
Longmont families may recover economic damages including net pecuniary loss (future income and benefits the deceased would have provided), pre-death medical expenses, funeral costs, and loss of household services. Economic damages are not capped. Non-economic damages such as grief, loss of companionship, and emotional suffering are capped at $2,125,000 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-203), with inflation adjustments beginning January 1, 2028. The cap disappears entirely if the death resulted from a felonious killing. Where gross negligence or willful and wanton conduct caused the death, punitive damages may also be available.
A wrongful death claim is brought by surviving family members for losses they personally experienced: lost income, loss of companionship, grief. A survival action is brought on behalf of the deceased's estate for losses the deceased suffered before passing, such as pre-death medical bills from Longmont United Hospital, lost wages between the injury and death, and any pain the deceased endured. Both claims frequently arise from the same Longmont incident and are filed together to pursue full recovery for the family and the estate. The survival action proceeds are distributed according to the will or under Colorado intestacy law.
Start your claim
Tell us what happened in Longmont. We will review your case at no cost, serving Boulder County families from our Denver office with complete confidentiality.
IT'S MORE THAN MONEY.
Free consultation for Boulder County families. No fee unless we win. Available in English and Spanish. Serving Longmont from our Denver office.
Read next: All Longmont personal injury cases we handle
CGH Injury Lawyers · Serving Longmont from 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205
