Colorado Wrongful Death
David Mintz at the Mintz Law Firm is very experienced in helping families get what they need when wrongful death has occurred. When a loved one dies unexpectedly at work or at the hospital, family members are always left in shock and stressed out. Naturally, one of the most difficult things to imagine is whether the person died because of someone else’s negligence. But if this was the case in Colorado, you may be able to recover damages in a wrongful death lawsuit. With the help of a wrongful death lawyer at the Mintz Law Firm, your case will be handled quickly and efficiently.
Damages in wrongful death cases are intended to compensate for losses resulting from the death of a family member. Some losses are measurable – a widow in a wrongful death suit, for example, could seek to recover the financial support that she would have received had her spouse lived. Other damages are more general in nature.
Types of recoverable damages include:
Direct Expenses and Medical bills
Loss of Benefits
Loss of Future Earnings
Loss of Companionship
Colorado wrongful death cases are usually brought on behalf of the deceased by his surviving spouse, child, or parent. There are numerous wrongful death situations that are recognized by each state’s statutes.
Types of Colorado wrongful death cases include:
• Medical mistakes
• Car or airplane accidents
• Criminal attacks
• Work-related exposure to dangerous conditions or substances
• Death during a supervised activity
When your Colorado wrongful death suit goes to court, judges and juries will decide your amount of damages based on pecuniary injury. That means they will look at how much money the family lost in terms of support, services, lost prospect of inheritance, and medical or funeral costs. Damage awards will also include interest from the date the family member died.
EDUCATE YOURSELF ON THE COLORADO WRONGFUL DEATH LAW
Colorado’s Wrongful Death Act specifies the kinds of damages that can be recovered. For some types of damages, Colorado’s wrongful death law provides for limits on the maximum amount of damages that can be recovered. Colorado law specifies that wrongful death claims may be made to obtain monetary damages to cover the earnings the deceased person would have provided.
• Colorado’s wrongful death law is found in the Colorado Revised Statutes (C.R.S. 13-21-201 et.seq.).
• These laws specifically identify which family members are eligible to bring a wrongful death claim in Colorado and provide time limits for bringing these claims. In Colorado, the surviving spouse has the exclusive standing to bring a claim within the first year after the death, and both the surviving spouse and children have the standing to bring a claim thereafter. If there is no spouse, then the children may bring a claim; if there is no spouse and no children, then and only then may the parents of the deceased bring a claim. In wrongful death cases in Colorado, there is a two-year statute of limitation, meaning that a claim must be brought within two years of the death.