Wrongful Death Demand Letter - Colorado

DEMAND FOR SETTLEMENT — WRONGFUL DEATH

STATE OF COLORADO

[FIRM NAME]
Attorneys at Law
[Street Address]
[City, Colorado ZIP]
Telephone: [Phone]
Email: [Email]

DATE: [Date]

VIA: [Certified Mail / Email / Claims Portal / Other Approved Method]

[Claims Representative / Defendant]
[Insurance Company / Entity Name]
[Address]

RE: WRONGFUL-DEATH SETTLEMENT DEMAND
Decedent: [Decedent Full Name]
Date of Death: [Date]
Incident Date: [Date]
Claimants: [Names]
Claim / Policy Number: [Number]

Dear [Recipient Name]:

Our firm represents [Claimant Names] concerning the death of [Decedent Name]. This demand must be tailored to the claimants who have statutory standing, the year in which suit may be filed, the underlying liability theory, and every applicable limitations or notice period.

I. PARTIES, STANDING, AND DEADLINES

A. Statutory Basis

C.R.S. § 13-21-202 imposes wrongful-death liability when the defendant's wrongful act, neglect, or default would have entitled the decedent to maintain an action had death not occurred. C.R.S. § 13-21-203 directs that damages under § 13-21-202 be recovered by the parties and in the manner provided by § 13-21-201.

B. Confirm the Proper Plaintiff Group

Colorado uses year-specific and relationship-specific standing rules. Counsel should identify every spouse, heir, designated beneficiary, parent, sibling, and sibling heir who could fall within C.R.S. § 13-21-201 before sending or filing the claim.

First year after death — C.R.S. § 13-21-201(1)(a):

• The surviving spouse may sue.
• By the spouse's written election, the spouse and heirs may sue together, or the heirs may sue.
• If there is no spouse, the statute addresses suit by the heirs and a designated beneficiary who holds the wrongful-death right under article 22 of title 15.
• Siblings or their heirs may sue only under § 13-21-201(1)(a)(V)'s narrow no-spouse, no-heir, no-designated-beneficiary / no-parent conditions.

Second year after death — C.R.S. § 13-21-201(1)(b):

• The spouse, heirs, or spouse and heirs may sue.
• A qualifying designated beneficiary and the heirs may sue.
• Siblings or their heirs remain limited by § 13-21-201(1)(b)(I)(E)'s conditions.
• If heirs commence the action, the spouse or qualifying designated beneficiary may move to join within 90 days after service of written notice of commencement.

Parents — C.R.S. § 13-21-201(1)(c):

A father or mother may sue when the decedent was an unmarried minor without descendants or an unmarried adult without descendants and without a qualifying designated beneficiary. The statute governs parental interests and permits court apportionment when parents are divorced, separated, or living apart.

Designated beneficiary:

A designated-beneficiary agreement must satisfy C.R.S. § 15-22-104. Wrongful-death standing is one of the rights that may be granted under § 15-22-105(3)(k), and a conflicting superseding legal document may control under §§ 15-22-103 and 15-22-105.

C.R.S. § 13-21-203 permits only one civil action under part 2 for one decedent and requires an election between proceeding under § 13-21-201 and § 13-21-202. Coordinate all persons with potential statutory rights before suit.

C. Limitations and Pre-Suit Requirements

C.R.S. § 13-21-204 incorporates the limitations periods in § 13-80-102. A wrongful-death action is generally subject to a two-year period under § 13-80-102(1)(d). Section 13-80-102(2) provides a four-year period for the specified combination of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of the fatal crash.

Do not use a single calendar calculation without checking the underlying claim:

• Medical or health-care claims are governed by C.R.S. § 13-80-102.5, generally two years after accrual and no more than three years after the act or omission, subject to the statute's exceptions.
• A professional-negligence complaint generally requires a certificate of review for each covered professional within 60 days after service under C.R.S. § 13-20-602.
• A claim against a public entity or employee generally requires written notice within 182 days after discovery of the injury under C.R.S. § 24-10-109. Suit ordinarily may not begin until denial or 90 days after notice, whichever occurs first.

II. FACTUAL BASIS AND LIABILITY

A. Decedent and Claimants

[Describe the decedent, family relationships, employment, expected financial support, household services, and other facts relevant to provable loss.]

B. Incident

On [Date], at [Location], [describe the acts or omissions that caused the death, the persons involved, and the evidence supporting duty, breach or other wrongful conduct, causation, and damages].

C. Liability Theory

The claim is based on [negligence / professional negligence / statutory liability / other supported theory]:

1. Duty or legal obligation: [Describe and cite claim-specific authority.]
2. Breach or wrongful act: [Describe.]
3. Causation: [Explain factual and legal causation.]
4. Death and loss: [Explain.]

Do not retain a placeholder statute or negligence-per-se theory unless counsel has verified that the cited provision protects the relevant class against the type of harm that occurred.

D. Comparative Negligence

C.R.S. § 13-21-111 reduces damages in proportion to negligence attributable to the person for whose death recovery is sought. It bars recovery when that negligence is equal to or greater than the negligence of the person against whom recovery is sought. Address multi-party allocation separately when applicable.

Claim-specific analysis: [Explain why comparative negligence does or does not apply.]

III. WRONGFUL-DEATH DAMAGES

A. General Measure

Under C.R.S. § 13-21-203(1)(a), the trier of fact may award damages it deems fair and just with reference to the necessary injury resulting from the death. The statute includes noneconomic loss such as grief, loss of companionship, pain and suffering, and emotional stress.

B. Economic Loss

Document each claimed loss and avoid duplicating an estate survival item:

C. Noneconomic Loss and Applicable Limit

For a wrongful-death claim accruing on or after January 1, 2025, C.R.S. § 13-21-203(1)(a) generally limits total noneconomic damages to $2,125,000, with inflation adjustment beginning January 1, 2028. The statute removes that limit for a qualifying felonious killing determined under its incorporated probate standard. Older claims, medical-malpractice claims, and governmental claims require separate date- and defendant-specific analysis.

For a wrongful-death claim against a health-care professional or institution based on an act or omission occurring in 2026, C.R.S. § 13-21-203(1)(b)(II) sets the total derivative or direct noneconomic limit at $810,000. The statute uses different amounts for other act-or-omission years.

Claimed noneconomic damages: $[Amount], subject to the legally applicable limit.

D. Optional Solatium Election

Instead of proving noneconomic damages under § 13-21-203, eligible plaintiffs may elect the solatium under C.R.S. § 13-21-203.5. It is added to economic damages and reasonable final-disposition expenses and is awarded upon a finding or admission of liability. The Colorado Secretary of State's current certification sets the solatium at $135,990 for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2024, with no additional adjustment under the current certification.

Election analysis: [Traditional noneconomic damages / solatium / undecided pending counsel review.]

E. Exemplary Damages

The frontmatter and demand must not state that exemplary damages are categorically unavailable. C.R.S. § 13-21-203(3) permits exemplary damages when the death was attended by fraud, malice, or willful and wanton conduct. The initial pleading may not include that claim; amendment is allowed only after the statutory disclosure period and prima facie showing. The ordinary statutory ceiling is the amount of actual damages, subject to the court's powers in § 13-21-203(4)-(5) and statutory exclusions.

Supported exemplary-damages facts, if any: [Describe without including an unsupported demand.]

IV. SURVIVAL CLAIM — KEEP SEPARATE

C.R.S. § 13-20-101 preserves most causes of action, but a personal-injury survival claim is generally limited to loss of earnings and expenses sustained or incurred before death. It excludes pain, suffering, disfigurement, and prospective profits or earnings after death. Specific statutes may create exceptions for particular claims; do not generalize an exception to an ordinary personal-injury survival action.

Do not include in the ordinary survival calculation: pre-death pain and suffering, disfigurement, or post-death future earnings.

The survival claim is brought or continued by the decedent's personal representative under § 13-20-101(2). Confirm probate authority and creditor-claim requirements before asserting it.

V. GOVERNMENTAL OR PROFESSIONAL-NEGLIGENCE OVERLAYS

A. Governmental Defendant

If a public entity or employee is involved:

• Confirm waiver and immunity before asserting liability.
• Ensure the § 24-10-109 notice states the claimant and attorney addresses, factual basis, involved public employee if known, nature and extent of injury, and requested damages.
• Apply the current Secretary of State adjustment and any public-entity resolution under § 24-10-114; do not assume the private-defendant cap controls.
• Do not demand exemplary damages from a public entity without authority; § 24-10-114(4) generally bars public-entity liability for punitive, exemplary, and outrageous-conduct damages, subject to its stated exception.

B. Health-Care Defendant

If the death arose from health care:

• Apply § 13-80-102.5's accrual, repose, and exception rules.
• Calendar the § 13-20-602 certificate-of-review deadline.
• Use the act-or-omission year to select the correct § 13-21-203(1)(b) wrongful-death noneconomic limit.
• Verify every other Health Care Availability Act limitation and procedural requirement before use.

VI. EVIDENCE-PRESERVATION REQUEST

Please preserve potentially relevant evidence, including:

• Incident reports, photographs, recordings, and physical evidence
• Electronic data and metadata
• Vehicle event data, if applicable
• Medical records and audit trails, if applicable
• Communications with involved persons
• Insurance policies and nonprivileged coverage information
• Employment, training, maintenance, and inspection records
• [Claim-specific evidence]

This is a preservation request. Counsel should separately determine whether a preservation duty exists, when it arose, and what remedies are available for loss or destruction of evidence.

VII. SETTLEMENT DEMAND

Based on the supported liability and damages described above, claimants demand:

$[DEMAND AMOUNT]

or, if properly supported and authorized:

TENDER OF AVAILABLE POLICY LIMITS

This offer remains open until [Date and Time, Time Zone]. The response period is a term of this settlement offer, not a representation that Colorado's wrongful-death statutes create a universal 30-day demand deadline.

Please direct the response to [Attorney / Contact Information].

Respectfully submitted,

[FIRM NAME]

By: _________________________________
[Attorney Name]
Colorado Attorney Registration No. [Number]
Attorney for [Claimants]

ENCLOSURES

• [Death certificate]
• [Incident records]
• [Medical records and bills]
• [Final-disposition expense records]
• [Income and support documentation]
• [Expert reports]
• [Other]

ATTORNEY VERIFICATION CHECKLIST

• Confirm every claimant's status under C.R.S. § 13-21-201.
• Confirm whether a designated-beneficiary agreement grants the § 15-22-105(3)(k) right.
• Coordinate the one-action rule and statutory election.
• Calendar general, medical, governmental, and claim-specific deadlines.
• Separate wrongful-death losses from survival damages.
• Select the correct noneconomic cap by accrual date, defendant type, and act-or-omission year.
• Evaluate the solatium election.
• Include exemplary damages only when § 13-21-203(3)'s conditions are supportable.
• Verify professional-negligence certificate requirements.
• Confirm current governmental damages adjustments and waiver provisions.

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• Colorado Revised Statutes 2025 — Title 13 (official OLLS printout)
• Colorado Revised Statutes 2025 — Title 15 (official OLLS printout)
• Colorado Revised Statutes 2025 — Title 24 (official OLLS printout)
• HB 24-1472 signed session law (wrongful-death standing and damages amendments)
• Colorado Secretary of State — adjusted damages and solatium certification
• HB 26-1322 signed act (effective July 1, 2026; statute-specific survival exception)
• HB 26-1237 signed act (effective August 12, 2026; terminology-only amendment to § 13-80-102(2))

This template must be customized and reviewed by a Colorado-licensed attorney before use.