How To File A Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Losing a loved one is both devastating and life-altering, particularly when they die because of someone else’s negligence. While surviving family members struggle with their grief, they’re also faced with unexpected expenses. Colorado recognizes this and, with the state’s Wrongful Death Act, protects all victims, including the surviving loved ones of a person who dies a wrongful death.
The Wrongful Death Act enables surviving family members to file a Colorado wrongful death lawsuit to hold responsible parties accountable for the negligence that led to their loved one’s death.
If the devastation of a wrongful death has touched your family, it’s crucial you act quickly to ensure you present the strongest case and file your claim before the statute of limitations expires.
The thought of taking legal action and the need to act quickly may compound your grief and feel overwhelming. Hiring an experienced wrongful death attorney ensures you receive expert legal services. Your attorney will investigate the wrongful death and build your case, allowing you to focus on your grief during this difficult time.
At Bachus & Schanker, we understand the complexities of wrongful deaths along with the emotional toll they can take on a family. This article provides essential information about how to file a wrongful death lawsuit, how they’re defined, how long you have to file a claim, how to calculate damages, and how a wrongful death lawyer can help.
Our Elite Litigation Group is a specialized team of attorneys who offer legal options and resources to help you through this challenging time.
Contact us now to schedule a free consultation with our wrongful death attorneys and get a better understanding of your legal rights and options as you navigate the road to healing.
What Is A Wrongful Death?
A wrongful death is a legal action a surviving family member of a wrongfully killed individual can take against the person or entity that caused the death. The standard for bringing a wrongful death claim is whether or not the individual could have filed a personal injury claim if they had survived the accident.
All states have a wrongful death statute that allows the surviving family members to take legal action against parties they deem responsible. In Colorado, a wrongful death is when an individual loses their life because of “a wrongful act, neglect, or default of another” caused by a person or entity.
Surviving family members can take legal action when their loved one dies due to medical negligence, a workplace accident, a car accident, a crime, or any other type of incident stemming from a wrongful act or negligence.
Suppose your loved one was driving home when they were struck by a driver who ran a red light, and your loved one died from their injuries. The other driver did not obey traffic laws, and their negligence caused your loved one’s death. That means they died a wrongful death, and as their surviving family member, you can file a wrongful death lawsuit.
How Long Do I Have To File A Wrongful Death Lawsuit In Colorado?
Each state has wrongful death laws. These laws vary and determine who can file claims and the filing deadlines. In Colorado, Revised Statutes 13-21-201 establishes the guidelines for filing a wrongful death claim, addressing the following:
- The statute of limitations.
- What damages can be claimed?
- Who can file a claim?
The Statute Of Limitations
Colorado law allows surviving family members two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Surviving family members will be barred from recovery if a claim is not filed within two years.
What Damages Can Be Claimed?
Colorado allows the decedent’s family members to seek economic and non-economic damages. Examples of grounds for damages include the following:
- Burial and funeral expenses
- Loss of benefits
- Loss of companionship and intimacy
- Loss of decedent’s future wages
- Medical bills
- Property damage
In some cases, it’s possible to seek punitive damages for a wrongful death. Your attorney will help you identify all valid grounds to seek compensation and help you calculate how much to seek
Who Can File A Claim?
Colorado breaks down the statute of limitations into first year and second year time frames. The surviving family member’s relationship with the decedent determines when they can file.
| Who Can File in the First Year After the Victim’s Death? | Conditions |
| Surviving spouse | N/A |
| Decedent’s heir | Can only file under the following conditions: There is no surviving spouse.The surviving spouse provides written consent. |
In the second year after the wrongful death, the following individuals may file a wrongful death claim:
- The decedent’s spouse.
- The decedent’s heirs.
- Spouse and heirs of the decedent.
- The designated beneficiary of the decedent.
If there is no surviving spouse or surviving children, then the decedent’s parents can also file a claim.
What Needs To Be Proven To Win A Wrongful Death Lawsuit?
The four elements of a wrongful death lawsuit are outlined in the Colorado Wrongful Death Act, C.R.S. 13-21-201 – 12-21-204. Under the statute, these elements must exist for a wrongful death lawsuit to be successful.
- Negligence:
- Definition: The legal concept of negligence describes a failure to act with ordinary and reasonable care. A defendant’s intentional conduct to purposefully cause harm to another person also satisfies the element of negligence.
- Example of criminal act: If a criminal intended to hurt or kill another person, that action is viewed as intentional conduct.
- Example of negligence: A doctor fails to read test results correctly. The patient doesn’t receive a diagnosis or treatment and dies. In this case, the person died a wrongful death due to medical malpractice, which is one type of negligence.
- The death of a person:
- Definition: Wrongful death claims are the legal action that can be applied when an individual dies because of another individual’s actions or inactions.
- Example: A distracted driver doesn’t see a pedestrian on a crosswalk. They hit the pedestrian and the pedestrian dies. Their actions caused the person’s death, establishing grounds for a wrongful death claim.
- Causation
- Definition: Causation is a legal concept that connects an individual’s death to the negligent actions of a person or entity. It means the defendant’s actions caused the death to happen. The intent of the negligent party does not matter when proving causation. Even if a defendant did not intend to cause harm or death, they could still be held liable for doing so.
- Example: An in-home caregiver is trapped at work due to a snowstorm. After 24 hours, they’re exhausted and give the patient the wrong amount of medication. The patient died. They did not intend for the patient to die, but the death occurred because of their actions, establishing causation.
- Damages
- Definition: Damages refer to the losses sustained because of a wrongful death. The surviving family members of the decedent must show they’ve suffered substantial losses because of their loved ones passing.
- Example: The surviving family members demonstrate the decedent’s earnings provided 90% of the family’s income, and they’re going to lose their home because they can no longer pay the mortgage.
Wrongful death lawsuits are civil suits. Civil suits allow individuals to seek compensation for damages due to a person or entity’s negligence.
Criminal suits occur when a person or entity has broken the law.
Individuals can file a civil suit against a person or entity, even if they’re facing criminal charges. However, having grounds to file a civil suit does not necessarily mean there are grounds for a criminal case.
How Can A Wrongful Death Attorney Help?
Wrongful death attorneys can provide insight into your case, litigate for the damages you are entitled to, identify liable parties, and much more. When you work with the team at Bachus & Schanker, we’ll review the facts of your case, establish liability, prove negligence, and determine the damages to seek.
Review The Facts Of Your Case
Like many families, you may be unsure if you have a strong enough case to bring forward a wrongful death claim. At Bachus & Schanker, we will analyze the facts of your case to help you determine your best options moving forward.
When you schedule a free case consultation with our team, an attorney will review the facts of your case. Our Victim’s Advocate Team provides support to ensure the events causing your loved one’s wrongful death are fully investigated and that all relevant evidence is gathered.
For example, our team may reconstruct the accident, interview witnesses, and review video footage to establish the facts of your case.
Determine Liable Parties
The circumstances of a wrongful death case are never cut and dry. Each case is unique, and the circumstances of your claim could result in more than just one person being liable for your loved one’s death.
When you work with a wrongful death attorney, you’ll have the guidance of a legal representative who thoroughly understands the state’s wrongful death laws. Our wrongful death attorneys will thoroughly investigate your case to determine who could be held liable. Depending on the circumstances of your case, there may be more than just one entity that could be held responsible for your loved one’s passing.
For example, suppose your loved one died when another driver ran a red light. The driver was driving a company vehicle. We will subpoena maintenance records to determine if inadequate maintenance or defective parts caused the accident. In that case, you may have grounds to sue the company or the manufacturer.
Prove Negligence
The burden of proof in a wrongful death lawsuit in Colorado is a preponderance of the evidence. This means you must prove that your case is more likely than not. Wrongful death claims are built on the concept of negligence. Unfortunately, in some cases, negligence can be challenging to prove.
A claimant must show a defendant had a duty to keep your loved one safe. If the defendant failed in their duty to keep your loved one safe, this could satisfy the second element of negligence — the violation or a breach of duty.
When you work with an experienced wrongful death attorney, you’ll have a legal expert who will know how to establish negligence, collect pertinent evidence to prove that negligence occurred, and defend against any counterclaims a defendant makes against your lawsuit.
Suppose our investigation reveals your loved one died in a crash with a vehicle that failed to stop at an intersection because it had faulty brakes. An investigation proves the driver received a recall notice but did not schedule an appointment to have the brakes replaced. This establishes their negligence.
Determine Damages
Every wrongful death lawsuit case is different, and as such, all families will experience different types of loss and suffering following their loved one’s passing. Colorado statute 13-21-203 establishes the damages that plaintiffs may recover in a wrongful death suit. An experienced wrongful death attorney will examine the circumstances of your case to determine what damages can apply.
Colorado allows surviving families to collect economic, non-economic, and exemplary damages in a wrongful death claim.
Economic damages refer to the calculable and often tangible losses a family suffers.
This includes losses like:
- Medical bills, treatment costs, hospital bills, and other expenses that resulted from the medical care your loved one received before their passing.
- Funeral and burial costs.
- Lost wages the person would have earned if they were still alive.
- Other calculable losses.
Suppose your loved one was the primary caregiver for an aging parent. You may be able to seek compensation for the cost of hiring caregivers.
Non-economic damages refer to the difficult-to-calculate losses a surviving family member sustains. Colorado court uses a specialized formula to determine a claimant’s non-economic losses.
Common types of losses include the following:
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of consortium
- Emotional distress
- Mental anguish
Suppose you’re distraught after losing your spouse. You see a therapist, who determines you’re suffering from anxiety, grief, emotional distress, phobias, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of their death. The phobias are affecting your ability to enjoy preferred activities, and your mental state is affecting your quality of life. This information helps establish grounds for non-economic damages and how much to seek.
Although rare, a claimant may also seek exemplary damages. Exemplary damages operate much like punitive damages in that they are designed to punish a defendant for their actions. If a defendant acted with fraud, malice, or willful and wanton misconduct, a claimant may be able to pursue exemplary damages.
Suppose your loved one died because of a product malfunction. If the manufacturer knew the product was defective but did not issue a recall, it may be possible to recover exemplary damages.
You can learn more about the types of damages a claimant can pursue in a wrongful death claim caused by negligence in Colorado Revised Statute 13-21-203.
How much does a wrongful death attorney cost?
All wrongful death lawsuits are unique, and as such, the cost of working with a wrongful death attorney can differ from case to case. With most wrongful death attorneys, the standard cost of retaining legal guidance is done through contingency fees. This means the attorney won’t collect compensation until they win your case. Other common fee structures include hourly rates and flat fees.
When you schedule a free case consultation with the team at Bachus & Schanker, our attorneys will evaluate your case to determine how our services can best meet your needs. With the assistance of the Elite Litigation Group and our Victim’s Advocates Team, you’ll have comprehensive legal support, enabling you to hold liable parties financially responsible to the fullest extent of the law.
Schedule your free case consultation today to learn more about how to file a wrongful death lawsuit and how our team can help you.