Fatal Car Accident Lawyer Colorado Springs: A Guide to Justice

This is an impossible situation—the kind you read about, the kind that happens to other people. Now it’s your reality, and in the middle of a blur of grief, you’re suddenly facing a legal maze that feels deliberately cruel.

The truth is, it is. The system is not designed to help you. It’s designed to protect insurance companies and government agencies from paying what they owe after a fatal car accident in Colorado Springs shatters a family.

My entire job is to bend that system back toward justice—to shoulder the legal fight so you can focus on the impossible task of healing. Here in El Paso County, that fight is uniquely complex. It’s a battlefield where unforgiving state laws collide with the rigid, specialized rules of federal military liability. You don’t just need a lawyer; you need a specialist who lives at that intersection and knows how to win there.

This isn’t about legal tactics; it’s about securing your family’s future when it has been ripped away. Let's start.

The Clock is Ticking—And There are Three of Them

Grief doesn’t follow a schedule, but the law does. After a fatal crash, several different legal clocks start ticking immediately—and missing a deadline can extinguish your family’s right to justice forever. It’s a procedural trap, plain and simple.

Knowing which clock applies is the first, most critical step.

• The State Clock: Colorado’s general two-year Statute of Limitations (SOL) from the date of death. But there’s a twist—a strict hierarchy dictates who can file the lawsuit.
• The Government Clock: A shockingly short 182-day Notice of Claim deadline if a state or local entity—like CDOT or El Paso County—is even partially at fault for the crash.
• The Federal Clock: A separate two-year deadline with an ironclad administrative form requirement if an on-duty military member from Fort Carson or the Air Force Academy is the at-fault driver.

Which one applies to you? Let’s break it down.

1. The Strict Hierarchy of the Colorado Wrongful Death Act

For most fatal car accidents, the state’s two-year deadline applies. But the law gets incredibly specific about who can file and when. It's not a free-for-all.

1. Year One: The right to file a wrongful death claim belongs exclusively to the Surviving Spouse. No one else—not children, not parents—can initiate a lawsuit during this first year.
2. Year Two: If the spouse hasn’t filed, the right opens up. The Spouse, the Heirs (children), or a Designated Beneficiary can then bring the claim.

This statutory hierarchy is a trap that many families fall into, losing their rights because they didn’t understand the sequence.

2. The 182-Day Government Ambush

If a government entity is potentially at fault—think a dangerous road design, a missing guardrail on a county road, or even a CDOT snowplow causing the crash—a different clock starts. You have a brutally short 182 days to file a formal, written Notice of Claim.

This isn’t a lawsuit. It’s a mandatory prerequisite. Miss it, and your claim against the government is dead on arrival. It is a procedural knockout punch designed to protect them, not you.

The Fort Carson Problem—You’re Suing the U.S. Government

Here in Colorado Springs, this is the single biggest legal minefield. When an on-duty soldier, an Air Force cadet, or any federal employee causes a fatal crash, you are not suing an individual. You are suing the United States Government.

And the feds have their own rulebook: the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA).

You cannot just walk into court. Before you do anything else, you must file a specific administrative claim with the responsible federal agency.

• The Form: It must be a Standard Form 95 (SF-95). No exceptions.
• The Deadline: You have two years from the date of death to file this form. One day late, and your claim is permanently barred from federal court.

Filing this SF-95 is an absolute, non-negotiable requirement. The government knows this. Their adjusters are masters of the slow roll—they offer condolences while quietly running out the clock on your FTCA deadline. Once that window slams shut, your claim vanishes. It’s a brutal, ruthlessly effective strategy.

The government’s primary tactic is to stall and delay. They know the procedural rules are unforgiving and will use any misstep to deny your claim. We see this coming a mile away.

Your Claim’s True Value—The New $2.125 Million Wrongful Death Cap

This isn’t just about accountability—it’s about securing your family’s financial future. In a Colorado wrongful death claim, we pursue two categories of damages.

First, economic damages. These are the tangible, calculable losses: lost lifetime income/benefits, funeral expenses, and the value of household services. These are completely uncapped. We use forensic economists to project these losses over decades.

Second, non-economic damages. This is the law’s attempt to compensate for the immense, invaluable human cost—the grief, sorrow, and loss of companionship. And this is where a critical new law comes into play.

For wrongful death lawsuits filed on or after January 1, 2025, the cap on non-economic damages has been massively increased to $2.125 Million.

This new, higher cap provides the financial security families deserve. It is a powerful tool that your fatal car accident lawyer in Colorado Springs must be prepared to leverage to its absolute maximum.

The Ultimate Weapon—The Felonious Killing Exception

There’s one more rule—and it’s the most powerful one we have. It’s called the felonious killing exception.

If the at-fault driver’s actions lead to a felony conviction—like vehicular homicide from a DUI—that $2.125 Million cap on non-economic damages is removed entirely. Gone.

A jury is then free to award an amount that truly reflects the catastrophic nature of your family’s loss, with no artificial ceiling. In these cases, we also pursue punitive damages designed to punish the offender and deter future conduct. This is how we demand true justice.

How We Immediately Protect Your Family’s Claim

From the moment you call, my team moves to build a fortress around your claim. Your only job is to grieve. The fight is ours.

Our first actions are swift and decisive:

• Evidence Lockdown: We immediately send legal preservation demands for police reports, toxicology results, and traffic camera footage. We pull the “black box” data from the vehicles and subpoena cellphone records.
• Expert Deployment: We dispatch top-tier accident reconstructionists to the scene to build a scientific, irrefutable model of the crash.
• Total Communication Shutdown: We take over all contact with insurance adjusters, government lawyers, and corporate agents. You will never have to speak to them again. Their job is to trap you on a recorded line; our job is to shut that line down permanently.

We identify every deadline—the two-year SOL, the 182-day government trap, or the two-year FTCA clock—and build a strategy tailored to your specific fight.

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Disclaimer: The information contained in this blog post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by reading or interacting with this content. You should consult with a qualified attorney for advice regarding your individual situation.

Call me. I handle the insurance companies so you can focus on your family. I got you.