Larimer County, Colorado. CGH Injury Lawyers represents grieving families throughout Loveland and the 8th Judicial District.

Loveland, Colorado

Loveland Wrongful Death Lawyers Who Carry the Legal Weight So Your Family Does Not Have To

When a death at the I-25 and US-34 interchange, on US-34 through Loveland, or anywhere in Larimer County results from someone else's negligence, the Colorado Wrongful Death Act gives surviving spouses, children, and parents the right to pursue civil accountability. CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Loveland office. We serve Loveland and Larimer County families from our Denver office, handle every deadline and standing requirement, and are prepared to try your case in the 8th Judicial District at the Larimer County District Court in Fort Collins when an insurer refuses to be fair. No fee unless we win.

No fee unless we win

Call (303) 209-9395 Who Can File in Loveland

It's More Than Money.

Serving Loveland from our Denver Office CGH Injury Lawyers 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201 Denver, CO 80205 (303) 209-9395 Se habla espanol

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Colorado's Wrongful Death Act, codified at C.R.S. 13-21-201 through 13-21-204, gives surviving family members the right to pursue civil compensation when negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct causes a death in Loveland or anywhere in Larimer County. The claim is civil and can proceed even if no criminal charges are ever filed.
Standing to file follows a strict hierarchy. In the first year after the death, only the surviving spouse may bring a claim. Children gain the right to file in the second year. Parents may file only if no spouse or children survive. Siblings were added by HB 24-1472 as a last-resort class when no spouse, children, or parents survive.
The general filing deadline is two years from the date of death (C.R.S. 13-80-102). If a government entity such as the City of Loveland, Larimer County, or a CDOT crew contributed to the death, a formal written notice of claim must be served within 182 days of discovering the injury (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)), which is a shorter and unforgiving separate clock.

Loveland is a Larimer County city of about 76,000 people, positioned at the documented crash corridor where I-25 meets US-34 on the Northern Front Range. UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies, a Level II Trauma Center located in Loveland, handles the most catastrophic injuries from that corridor, and those trauma records often become the backbone of a wrongful death claim. When someone else's negligence at that interchange, on US-34 through Loveland, or anywhere in Larimer County takes a life, CGH Injury Lawyers manages the law, the deadlines, the insurer negotiations, and the trial. You pay nothing unless we recover for your family.

Year one: the surviving spouse holds exclusive standing

During the twelve months immediately following the death, only the surviving spouse has the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit. That standing is exclusive: it exists even when adult children or parents are equally grief-stricken and equally willing to pursue accountability. The spouse may choose to bring children into the claim, but the choice belongs to the spouse alone during that first year.
Year two: children and heirs gain the right to file

If the surviving spouse does not file within the first year, or if there is no surviving spouse, the deceased's children gain the right to file during the second year. In year two, both the surviving spouse and the children may bring claims. The two-year statute of limitations under C.R.S. 13-80-102 runs from the date of death, so action must be taken before that window closes regardless of which family member holds standing.
Parents, when no spouse or children survive

Parents of the deceased may file only if there is no surviving spouse and no surviving children. This situation arises most often when the victim was a single adult without children. In Larimer County wrongful death cases involving a young victim killed on the I-25 corridor or on US-34 through Loveland, parents frequently become the sole claimants and the only people positioned to hold the at-fault party accountable.
Siblings, under HB 24-1472

Under HB 24-1472, siblings were added to the list of eligible claimants, but only as a last-resort class. Siblings may file only if the deceased left no surviving spouse, no surviving children, and no surviving parents. This change closed a gap that previously left some families without any legal recourse at all when the victim was a single adult with no immediate family of their own.

Because the standing hierarchy is time-sensitive from the moment of death, confirming who holds the right to file should happen as early as possible. A procedural misstep, such as a child filing in the first year when a surviving spouse exists and has not waived their right, can put the entire claim at risk. We identify the correct claimant at the outset so a legal technicality never costs a Loveland family their recovery.

Deadlines that cannot be missed

The general wrongful death filing deadline is two years from the date of death (C.R.S. 13-80-102). Missing it ends the claim entirely, with very few exceptions.
If a Colorado government entity, such as a CDOT maintenance crew responsible for the I-25 and US-34 interchange, a Larimer County vehicle, or a City of Loveland employee, caused or contributed to the death, a formal written notice of claim must be served within 182 days of discovering the injury under C.R.S. 24-10-109(1). That government notice clock runs from the date of discovery of the injury, not the date of the death itself. Missing the notice bars the claim against that government entity permanently.
The standing hierarchy imposes its own internal timeline. The first-year spouse-only window, and the transition of rights to children in year two, must be tracked alongside the two-year filing deadline. Both clocks run from the date of death.

Damages and caps that apply to Loveland wrongful death claims

Economic damages, including lost income and benefits the deceased would have provided, medical bills incurred between the injury and the death, funeral and burial costs, and the value of lost household services, are not subject to any cap under Colorado law. For a Loveland family that lost a primary earner in a crash at the I-25/US-34 interchange, the projected income loss alone can be the largest component of the claim.
Non-economic damages, covering grief, loss of companionship, and emotional suffering of the survivors, are capped at $2,125,000 for wrongful death claims accruing on or after January 1, 2025 (C.R.S. 13-21-203(1)(a)). The cap disappears entirely when the death resulted from a felonious killing. Lower caps apply to older claims and to medical malpractice deaths.
Under Colorado's modified comparative fault rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111), a family can still recover even if the deceased was partly at fault, as long as the deceased bore less than 50 percent of the fault. If the deceased is found 50 percent or more at fault, the claim is barred entirely. Insurers routinely try to inflate the deceased's share of fault precisely to reduce or eliminate what they owe a family.

At the I-25 and US-34 interchange and along the US-34 commercial corridor through Loveland, insurers know the fault picture is often disputed. A rear-end crash at a merge point, a left-turn collision on Eisenhower Boulevard, or a pedestrian strike in the Loveland commercial corridor can involve competing liability theories. Insurers use that ambiguity to argue the deceased was partly to blame. We build the liability case with the physical evidence, the crash reports, the road engineering data, and expert witnesses so the fault percentage assigned to the deceased reflects the truth rather than an adjuster's strategy. Economic damages are uncapped and often form the majority of a Loveland wrongful death recovery. We bring in forensic economists and life-care planners before we ever open a settlement discussion.

A strategic choice for surviving spouses

The solatium election: a guaranteed payment instead of proving grief at trial

Colorado law gives a surviving spouse, and in some cases parents, an alternative to fighting over non-economic damages in front of a Larimer County jury. Under C.R.S. 13-21-203.5, a claimant may elect a fixed statutory solatium payment for grief and loss of companionship instead of attempting to prove and quantify those losses through contested evidence at trial.

The certified solatium amount for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2024 is $135,990 (C.R.S. 13-21-203.5). This is a fixed statutory figure paid in addition to economic damages once liability is established. HB 24-1472 ended inflation adjustments to the solatium amount, so this figure does not increase further under current law.
Electing solatium acts as a privacy shield. In a traditional non-economic damages claim, the defense may conduct invasive discovery into the quality and closeness of the marriage or parent-child relationship, through depositions and subpoenas of private communications and records. Solatium bypasses that process entirely, which many Loveland families find important when the grief is still raw.
Choosing solatium does not limit economic damages in any way. Lost income, future earning capacity, funeral costs, and all other economic categories remain fully recoverable and are not subject to a statutory cap regardless of the solatium election.

Whether to elect solatium or pursue full non-economic damages in front of an 8th Judicial District jury drawn from Larimer County is a strategic decision that depends on the specific facts of the case, the strength of the relationship evidence, and the at-fault party's resources. We walk every Loveland family through that decision with a clear explanation of the tradeoffs so they can choose with full information.

Courthouse

Larimer County District Court, 8th Judicial District, Fort Collins

A wrongful death lawsuit arising in Loveland that exceeds the county-court jurisdictional limit is filed in the 8th Judicial District of Colorado at the Larimer County District Court, 201 LaPorte Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80521. Loveland is in Larimer County, and all Larimer County District Court civil cases, including wrongful death claims, are handled at this Fort Collins courthouse. Loveland shares this courthouse with Fort Collins and the rest of Larimer County. The jury pool is drawn from Larimer County residents, the defense firms active in the 8th Judicial District have their own procedural styles and familiarity with this corridor's crash patterns, and the local rules of court apply from the moment a lawsuit is filed. We handle 8th Judicial District wrongful death cases directly, including distribution hearings once a recovery is reached. Most wrongful death cases settle before any lawsuit is filed, but knowing which court applies and who sits on that jury pool shapes how we build every Loveland wrongful death claim from day one.

Trauma Care

UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies (Level II Trauma Center, Loveland)

UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies is a Level II Trauma Center located in Loveland. A Level II designation means the facility provides comprehensive trauma care around the clock, including surgical services, intensive care, and specialist coverage. In a wrongful death case, the medical records from Medical Center of the Rockies documenting the emergency treatment, the surgical interventions, and the final hours of a patient's care become central evidence: they establish the nature and severity of the injury and the timeline leading to death. When injuries exceed a Level II facility's capacity, transfers to higher-level Denver-area centers can occur, creating records at multiple institutions that must all be obtained and reviewed. McKee Medical Center is a second Loveland-area hospital providing additional acute care capacity. We gather every treatment record from every facility involved and work with medical experts to translate those records into evidence that a Larimer County jury can understand.

Roads Where Fatal Crashes Happen

The I-25 and US-34 Interchange, US-34 (Eisenhower Boulevard), and US-287

The interchange where I-25 meets US-34 is a documented crash cluster on the Northern Front Range. Vehicles transitioning from freeway speed on I-25 to arterial speed on US-34 encounter merge conflicts, rear-end chains, and intersection timing failures that produce serious and fatal crash outcomes at a rate disproportionate to the surrounding corridor. In a wrongful death case arising from this interchange, the physical configuration of the road, the signal timing, the CDOT volume data, and the documented incident history are all relevant to establishing that the at-fault driver bore the liability. US-34, known locally as Eisenhower Boulevard, is Loveland's primary east-west commercial artery, carrying high vehicle volumes through a long corridor of retail developments, driveways, and cross-traffic intersections. Left-turn conflicts, pedestrian crossings, and commercial access-point collisions on this corridor produce angle crashes, pedestrian fatalities, and rear-end collisions. US-287 provides the primary north-south route through the Loveland area, connecting Northern Front Range communities and carrying a mix of commuter and commercial vehicle traffic. These three corridors together generate the majority of serious crash claims in Larimer County that originate in or near Loveland, and knowing their documented hazard patterns is how we build the liability side of a Loveland wrongful death case.

For the surviving family

The wrongful death claim

Brought by eligible family members, in the priority order set by the First Year Rule, for the losses they personally experienced. This includes the lost financial support the deceased would have provided, loss of companionship, grief, and emotional suffering. Eligible family members control this claim, including whether to settle, elect solatium, or take the case to a Larimer County jury in the 8th Judicial District.

For the estate

The survival action

Brought on behalf of the deceased's estate to recover losses the deceased personally suffered before passing. These include pre-death medical bills from UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies and any other treating facility, wages lost between the injury and the death, and pain and suffering the deceased endured. Proceeds flow through the estate and are distributed under the will or under Colorado intestacy law if no will exists.

To illustrate: a Loveland resident struck at the I-25 and US-34 interchange survives four days in UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies before passing away. The pain and suffering of those four days, and the medical bills incurred at the Level II Trauma Center during that time, belong to the survival action. The fifteen or more years of income that family members would have received belongs to the wrongful death claim. Filing both claims together in the 8th Judicial District ensures nothing is left on the table. We evaluate both at the outset of every engagement with a Loveland family.

Why CGH

Why Loveland families choose CGH Injury Lawyers for wrongful death claims

Wrongful death cases require a different kind of preparation than ordinary personal injury claims: they involve standing analysis, economic modeling of future income loss, solatium election decisions, probate coordination for any survival action, and distribution hearings at the end of a recovery. We do all of it. We are also honest about something from the start: CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Loveland office. We serve Larimer County from our Denver office and come to you. What you receive is rigorous legal work, not a local storefront.

Trial-Ready

Built to try your case in Larimer County.

Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and has tried over 25 cases to verdict. When a wrongful death attorney is genuinely prepared to take a case in front of a Larimer County jury at 201 LaPorte Ave. in Fort Collins, insurers respond to demand letters very differently than they would otherwise. A real willingness to litigate in the 8th Judicial District is the foundation of every serious demand we make for a Loveland family.

Colorado-Licensed Attorneys

Not a paralegal. Not a call center.

Every Loveland wrongful death case is handled by a licensed Colorado attorney from the first call through the distribution hearing. Managing Partner Kevin Cheney holds ABOTA membership and has tried over 25 cases to verdict. Timothy G. Tarr has been recognized by Best Lawyers every year since 2023. Both attorneys know how to present a wrongful death damages case to a Larimer County jury and how to negotiate from that position of strength against the insurers and defense firms that regularly appear in the 8th Judicial District.

8th Judicial District

Larimer County courts.

Wrongful death lawsuits arising in Loveland are filed in the 8th Judicial District at the Larimer County District Court in Fort Collins. We file there, appear there, and handle distribution hearings there when a Loveland family reaches a recovery.

Honest About Location

Serving Loveland from Denver.

CGH Injury Lawyers does not have a Loveland office. Our office is at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We serve Loveland and all of Larimer County from Denver, file cases at the Larimer County District Court in Fort Collins, and meet you wherever works for you. Call (303) 209-9395.

Bilingual

Hablamos espanol.

Spanish-speaking attorneys and staff serve Loveland and the broader Larimer County Spanish-speaking community through every stage of a wrongful death claim, from the first call through the distribution hearing.

No Win, No Fee

Contingency only. No upfront cost.

You pay nothing out of pocket for legal fees or case costs. We advance expenses and collect only from a settlement or jury verdict in your favor. A Loveland family in the middle of grief should not have to worry about a legal bill at the same time. The consultation is free and completely confidential.

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Secure the evidence before it disappears

In fatal crash cases at the I-25 and US-34 interchange or on the US-34 commercial corridor through Loveland, physical evidence including electronic data from vehicle black boxes, dashcam footage from surrounding vehicles, roadway surveillance video, and weather and road-condition data from CDOT sensors can be lost or overwritten within days. We issue litigation hold letters and preservation demands early to prevent spoliation that could undermine the claim. The same urgency applies when the death happened on US-287 or at a commercial property along Eisenhower Boulevard.
Gather all medical records from every facility

Treatment records from UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies and any Denver-area Level I center the patient was transferred to are the foundation of both the wrongful death claim and any parallel survival action. We obtain every record, every imaging study, and every bill from every facility involved. McKee Medical Center records may also be relevant if the patient received initial care there. We retain medical experts to translate those records into evidence a Larimer County jury can understand and act on.
Identify the government entity deadline if one applies

If a CDOT maintenance failure at the I-25 and US-34 interchange, a Larimer County vehicle, or any other government actor contributed to the death, the 182-day notice of claim requirement under C.R.S. 24-10-109(1) runs from the date of discovery of the injury, not the date of the death. That clock is separate from and shorter than the two-year wrongful death statute of limitations. We identify every potentially liable government party at the outset, because missing the notice deadline closes that avenue of recovery permanently.
Confirm who holds standing and get the right claimant on file

The First Year Rule means we need to know immediately whether a surviving spouse exists and whether they intend to file. If the spouse chooses not to file in year one, the family needs to know exactly when the children's right to act begins. We map the standing hierarchy against the two-year statute of limitations at the start of every Loveland wrongful death engagement so no clock is missed.
Build the full economic damages picture

Economic damages are uncapped in a Colorado wrongful death case and frequently represent the majority of the claim's total value. We work with forensic economists to project lost income and benefits over the remaining work-life expectancy of the deceased, calculate the present value of those future losses, and document all other economic categories including the value of household services and the pre-death medical bills belonging to the survival action. No category is left out before we open a settlement discussion.
Negotiate or litigate in the 8th Judicial District

Most wrongful death claims resolve through settlement or mediation once the insurer understands we are genuinely prepared to try the case. When an at-fault party's insurer refuses to pay the full value of the claim, we file in the 8th Judicial District at the Larimer County District Court, 201 LaPorte Ave., Fort Collins, and try your case in front of a Larimer County jury. We handle the distribution hearing as well, working to ensure a fair allocation of the recovery among all eligible survivors.

How long does a Loveland family have to file a wrongful death claim?

The general wrongful death filing deadline in Colorado is two years from the date of death (C.R.S. 13-80-102). If any government entity contributed to the death, such as a CDOT crew responsible for the I-25 and US-34 interchange or a Larimer County vehicle, a separate written notice of claim must be served within 182 days of discovering the injury under C.R.S. 24-10-109(1). That government notice clock runs from the date of discovery, not the date of death, and missing it bars the claim against that entity permanently. Both clocks must be tracked at the same time, and the standing hierarchy described above adds a further internal timeline. Contact an attorney immediately after a wrongful death in Loveland to make sure every deadline is identified and protected.

My spouse was killed in a crash at the I-25 and US-34 interchange. Can I still recover if the insurer says my spouse was partly at fault?

Yes, in most cases. Under Colorado's modified comparative fault rule (C.R.S. 13-21-111), a surviving family can still recover as long as the deceased was found to be less than 50 percent at fault. The total award is reduced by the deceased's percentage of fault. If the deceased is found to be 50 percent or more at fault, the claim is barred entirely. Insurance companies routinely try to inflate the fault percentage attributed to the person who died precisely because doing so can reduce or eliminate what they owe the family. At the I-25 and US-34 interchange, where merge conflicts and signal timing disputes often leave the fault picture unclear, having an attorney who can challenge that fault assessment with road engineering data and reconstruction evidence is one of the most valuable things we do.

What is the solatium election and should a Loveland surviving spouse choose it?

Solatium under C.R.S. 13-21-203.5 lets a surviving spouse (and in some cases parents) elect a fixed statutory payment of $135,990 for grief and loss of companionship, rather than proving those losses through contested evidence at trial. The appeal of solatium is privacy: a traditional non-economic damages claim exposes the relationship to invasive defense discovery, including depositions about the quality of the marriage and subpoenas for private communications. Solatium bypasses all of that. Electing solatium does not reduce economic damages, which remain fully recoverable and uncapped. Whether to elect solatium or pursue full non-economic damages in front of a Larimer County jury depends on the specific facts. We present that decision clearly so Loveland families can choose with full information.

Where would a Loveland wrongful death lawsuit be filed?

A wrongful death lawsuit arising from a Loveland death is filed in the 8th Judicial District of Colorado at the Larimer County District Court, 201 LaPorte Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80521. Loveland is in Larimer County, and all Larimer County District Court civil cases including wrongful death claims go to this Fort Collins courthouse. The court draws jurors from across Larimer County and operates under local procedures that differ from the Denver metro. We file and try 8th Judicial District wrongful death cases directly, and we handle distribution hearings there once a recovery is reached.

Does CGH Injury Lawyers have an office in Loveland?

No. CGH Injury Lawyers has one office, at 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205. We do not have a Loveland office. We serve Loveland and all of Larimer County from Denver, file wrongful death lawsuits in the 8th Judicial District at the Larimer County District Court in Fort Collins, and meet families wherever is most convenient for them. Call us at (303) 209-9395 for a free, confidential consultation.

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

A wrongful death claim is brought by the surviving family members for the losses they personally experienced: lost financial support, loss of companionship, grief, and emotional suffering of the survivors. The eligible family members control the claim. A survival action is brought on behalf of the deceased's estate for losses the deceased personally suffered before death: pre-death medical bills from UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies or other treating facilities, wages lost during the period between the injury and the death, and pain and suffering the deceased endured. Proceeds from the survival action flow through the estate and are distributed under the will or under Colorado intestacy law. Both claims can be filed together in the 8th Judicial District to capture every available category of recovery.

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You lost someone. We carry the legal weight so your family does not have to.

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CGH Injury Lawyers · Serving Loveland from 2701 Lawrence St., Suite 201, Denver, CO 80205

Loveland Wrongful Death Lawyers Who Carry the Legal Weight So Your Family Does Not Have To

Who can bring a wrongful death claim after a Loveland death?

Year one: the surviving spouse holds exclusive standing

Year two: children and heirs gain the right to file

Parents, when no spouse or children survive

Siblings, under HB 24-1472

Colorado wrongful death law decoded for Loveland families

Deadlines that cannot be missed

Damages and caps that apply to Loveland wrongful death claims

The solatium election: a guaranteed payment instead of proving grief at trial

Loveland courts. Loveland trauma care. Loveland roads where fatal crashes happen.

Larimer County District Court, 8th Judicial District, Fort Collins

UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies (Level II Trauma Center, Loveland)

The I-25 and US-34 Interchange, US-34 (Eisenhower Boulevard), and US-287

Wrongful death claim vs. survival action: Loveland families often have both

The wrongful death claim

The survival action

Why Loveland families choose CGH Injury Lawyers for wrongful death claims

Built to try your case in Larimer County.

Not a paralegal. Not a call center.

Larimer County courts.

Serving Loveland from Denver.

Hablamos espanol.

Contingency only. No upfront cost.

What to do after a wrongful death in Loveland

Secure the evidence before it disappears

Gather all medical records from every facility

Identify the government entity deadline if one applies

Confirm who holds standing and get the right claimant on file

Build the full economic damages picture

Negotiate or litigate in the 8th Judicial District

Loveland wrongful death, frequently asked questions

Related pages

You lost someone. We carry the legal weight so your family does not have to.