Wrongful Death Lawsuits in Wyoming

When a person dies as a result of another party's intentional or accidental act, the deceased person's survivors could be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit. In this article, we'll look at the laws that govern wrongful death actions in Wyoming.

What Is "Wrongful Death" in Wyoming?

Wyoming law defines a "wrongful death" as a death that results from another party's "wrongful act, neglect or default," under circumstances where the deceased could have filed a personal injury claim had he or she survived.

As with other types of personal injury cases, many kinds of events can be the basis of a wrongful death lawsuit, including:

• negligence-based incidents (such as car accidents)
• medical malpractice, or
• intentional acts (including crimes).

(Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-101 (2025).)

What's the Difference Between a Criminal Homicide Case and a Wrongful Death Claim?

As with personal injury cases in general, the defendant's liability in a successful wrongful death case is expressed exclusively in terms of financial compensation ("damages") that the court orders the defendant to pay to the deceased person's survivors. This is one major difference between a wrongful death lawsuit and a criminal homicide case. In a criminal case, a conviction can result in jail or prison time, fines paid to the state, probation, and other penalties.

Another big difference between the two types of cases is the burden of proof. In criminal court, the government must establish the accused person's guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt"—a very high bar for the prosecution to clear. In a civil lawsuit, the plaintiff must demonstrate the defendant's liability only "by a preponderance of the evidence." In other words, the question in a wrongful death lawsuit is whether it's more likely than not that the defendant is responsible for the death.

Keep in mind that a single incident can result in criminal charges and a wrongful death claim. For example, if a drunk driver kills someone in a car accident, they could face a wrongful death lawsuit in civil court and a criminal trial for vehicular manslaughter.

Learn more about proving liability in a wrongful death case.

Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

Most states' laws allow the deceased person's surviving family or the personal representative of the deceased person's estate to file a wrongful death claim. Wyoming, though, does things a bit differently. Under Wyoming law, only a "wrongful death representative" may file a wrongful death claim. A person wishing to act as a wrongful death representative must file a petition for appointment with the court in the county where:

• the deceased person lived
• the deceased person died
• a defendant lives or can be summoned, or
• an event that caused the death occurred.

Wyoming law doesn't specify who is eligible to serve as a wrongful death representative. It can be, but does not have to be, a close relative of the deceased or someone else who might receive compensation from a wrongful death lawsuit. Similarly, the person administering the deceased person's estate can also act as the wrongful death representative, but does not have to do so.

If there is disagreement about who should serve in the role, different candidates can file motions with the court, which will then choose the wrongful death representative. When deciding whom to appoint, the court looks at who will best represent the interests of all of the claim's beneficiaries. (We'll talk more about beneficiaries below.)

(Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-102 (2025); Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-103 (2025); Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-104 (2025); Archer v. Kallista Mills, 491 P.3d 260 (Wyo. 2021).)

Damages in a Wrongful Death Case

In a successful wrongful death lawsuit, the court awards damages to the deceased person's survivors to compensate for losses associated with the death. Wyoming law addresses both who's entitled to damages, and what kinds of losses can be compensated.

Who Can Receive Damages in a Wyoming Wrongful Death Case?

Although the wrongful death representative must file the lawsuit, any damages awarded are for the benefit of the deceased's beneficiaries. You don't have to have a particular family relationship to the deceased in order to qualify as a beneficiary. But, as we'll discuss below, the kinds of damages available in a wrongful death case mean that the beneficiaries are likely to be the deceased's spouse, children, or other close relatives.

The wrongful death representative is legally required to make "reasonable efforts" to find all potential beneficiaries. They must file a list of these people with the court within 60 days of their appointment.

The court that appointed the wrongful death representative is authorized to resolve disputes over how to allocate the proceeds of a wrongful death settlement.

(Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-102 (2025); (Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-105 (2025).).

What Damages are Available in a Wyoming Wrongful Death Case?

Under Wyoming law, the judge or jury in a wrongful death case may award whatever damages are "fair and just" under the circumstances. This can include economic damages, non-economic damages and, in rare cases, punitive damages.

Economic damages. These damages compensate victims for quantifiable monetary losses, like:

• the deceased person's final medical bills
• funeral and burial expenses, and
• lost wages and income that the person would likely have earned if he or she had lived.

Non-economic damages. These damages cover less tangible harms, like the loss of the deceased person's future companionship, society, and comfort. Notably, Wyoming draws a distinction between these damages and the pain-and-suffering damages sometimes available in a personal injury case. For example, in a case where children had lost their parent, the Wyoming Supreme Court distinguished:

• the loss of the companionship and comfort the parent probably would have provided in the future (which could be compensated with wrongful death damages), and
• the mental anguish caused by the parent's death, which could not be compensated.

Essentially, Wyoming allows compensation for the non-economic support and companionship the deceased would have provided had they lived, but not for the death's emotional impact on the people around them.

Punitive (or "exemplary") damages. These damages are intended to punish the defendant for "willful and wonton misconduct" rather than to compensate the deceased's beneficiaries. Therefore, they are only awarded in rare cases where the defendant intentionally behaved in a very dangerous way.

So, for example, exemplary damages probably wouldn't be awarded in a case where someone caused a car accident because they got distracted for a few seconds and didn't see a stop sign. On the other hand, they could be awarded in a case where someone causes a car accident by deliberately speeding through a stop sign.

(Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-102 (2025); Danculovich v. Brown, 593 P.2d 187 (Wyo. 1979); Knowles v. Corkill, 51 P.3d 859 (Wyo. 2002); Gaston v. Life Care Ctrs. of Am., Inc, 488 P.3d 929 (Wyo. 2021).

Learn more about the types of damages that might be available in a wrongful death case.

Wyoming Does Not Cap Potential Damages in Wrongful Death Cases

Many states place limits (called "damage caps") on the amount of money a person or their survivors can be awarded in a personal injury lawsuit. For example, most states limit the amount of money plaintiffs can collect in medical malpractice lawsuits.

Wyoming, however, does not place these kinds of caps on wrongful death damages. In fact, the state's constitution bars the legislature from passing any law limiting the amount of money plaintiffs can recover in a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. (Wyo. Const. art. 10, § 4.)

Wyoming's Comparative Fault Rule

Wyoming uses a modified comparative fault rule to resolve wrongful death cases in which the deceased person was partly or completely at fault for his or her own fatal injuries. The deceased person's beneficiaries cannot recover damages in a wrongful death case if the deceased person was more than 50 percent at fault. If the deceased person was 50 percent or less at fault, the total damages in the case are reduced by a percentage equal to the fault assigned to the deceased person. (Wyo. Stat. § 1-1-109 (2021).)

For instance, suppose that while crossing a street, a pedestrian is hit by a car and suffers fatal injuries. The driver had run a red light, but the pedestrian had stepped into the crosswalk without pausing to check whether the intersection was clear. At trial, the judge or jury decides that the deceased pedestrian was 25 percent at fault and the driver was 75 percent at fault. The total damages in the case are calculated at $100,000.

Under Wyoming's comparative fault rule, the pedestrian's survivors will be able to recover a total of $75,000 in damages. This number equals the $100,000 total minus $25,000, or the 25 percent, of fault assigned to the pedestrian. If the pedestrian had been found to be 51 percent or more at fault, however, the beneficiaries would have been barred from collecting any damages at all.

The Deceased's Creditors Don't Get Paid Out of a Wrongful Death Award

Wrongful death damages compensate the deceased's survivors. The money goes directly to the beneficiaries, rather than becoming part of the deceased person's estate. Therefore, under Wyoming law a decedent's husband, wife, child, father or mother receive the full amount of any wrongful death award or settlement. The deceased person's creditors are not entitled to any of the compensation paid to those beneficiaries. (We'll talk in the next section about so-called "survival actions," which work a little differently.)

(Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-102(b) (2025).)

Wrongful Death lawsuits Versus Survival Actions

Survival actions and wrongful death lawsuits share some similarities, and it's possible to pursue both causes of action at the same time. But it's important to understand the differences.

Harm to beneficiaries versus harm to the deceased. In a wrongful death lawsuit, beneficiaries (through the wrongful death representative) seek compensation for the harm they've suffered because of the death of the deceased. In a survival action, on the other hand, the deceased person's estate brings a lawsuit on behalf of the deceased. The cause of action must be harm that the deceased suffered while they were still alive.

So, for example, consider a case where someone is badly injured in a car accident, and passes away several weeks later. In a situation like that:

• the estate could bring a survival action seeking compensation for the deceased's pain, suffering, lost income, and medical bills while they were still alive, and
• the wrongful death representative could file a wrongful death lawsuit seeking compensation on behalf of the deceased's beneficiaries.

Who is entitled to compensation? In a wrongful death lawsuit, compensation is paid directly to beneficiaries. In a survival action, compensation becomes part of the deceased person's estate. In many cases, the assets in a deceased person's estate end up being distributed to the same people who'd receive compensation in a wrongful death case. But that's not always the case.

In a wrongful death lawsuit, a judge or jury distributes money to beneficiaries based on how each beneficiary has been harmed. In a survival action, on the other hand, money is paid to the estate. It is then distributed according to the deceased's will and other estate planning documents. (Or, if the deceased had no will, the estate is settled according to Wyoming's rules for intestate succession.) Therefore, the harm suffered by a particular beneficiary plays no role in how much compensation they'll receive in a survival action.

In addition, a deceased person's creditors can seek to satisfy debts with the estate's assets. So, unlike wrongful death compensation, some or all of the compensation in a survival action might end up being used to pay off creditors.

What's the deadline for filing a claim? As we'll discuss in more detail below, Wyoming wrongful death actions are subject to an extremely strict two-year filing deadline. On the other hand, a survival action is governed by the same four-year deadline that applies to a personal injury case the deceased could have filed if they'd survived. But remember that a survival action is based on harm the deceased suffered while they were still alive. The clock starts ticking when the deceased knew (or should have known) that they were harmed, not when they died.

(Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-3-105(a)(4)(B) (2025); Gaston v. Life Care Ctrs. of Am., Inc., 488 P.3d 929 (Wyo. 2021).)

How Long Do I Have to File a Wyoming Wrongful Death Claim?

The wrongful death representative has two years from the date of the person's death to file a wrongful death claim in a Wyoming court. If a lawsuit is not filed by this deadline, it will almost certainly be dismissed.

There are extremely limited exceptions to Wyoming's strict enforcement of the two-year limit:

• Wyoming requires medical malpractice claims to be submitted to a state panel before they're filed in court. If a malpractice claim is submitted on behalf of a deceased person, the time it takes for the panel to consider the claim does not count against the two-year deadline.
• The time it takes for a court to approve the appointment of a wrongful death representative doesn't count towards the two-year deadline.
• If someone uses fraud or other illegitimate methods to hide their responsibility for a death, then the two-year deadline can be extended.

In general, though, wrongful death representatives and potential beneficiaries should assume that missing the two-year deadline permanently eliminates the possibility of filing a lawsuit.

(Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-102 (2025); Wyo. Stat. § 1-38-103(b)(ii) (2025); Corkill v. Knowles, 955 P.2d 438, 439 (Wyo. 1998).)

Other Options for Seeking Compensation

In addition to wrongful death lawsuits and survival actions, survivors may have other options for seeking compensation for the death of a loved one.

Compensation for criminal acts. If someone is killed because of a criminal act, then their survivors may be entitled to compensation. This can take the form of restitution, where the court orders the convicted person to pay money to the victim's family members or others affected by the crime. Wyoming also has a Crime Victims Compensation Fund, through which family members can receive compensation of up to $15,000 each. Survivors are entitled to pursue these options even if they've also filed a wrongful death lawsuit. However, if survivors receive money in a civil case it will affect how much compensation they receive through these programs. (Wyo. Stat. § 1-40-109 (2025); Wyo. Stat. § 7-9-102 (2025); Wyo. Stat. § 7-9-110 (2025).)

Compensation for on-the-job deaths. Wyoming employers must purchase workers' compensation coverage from the state. If an employee is killed on the job, then their surviving dependents can file a claim for compensation. (Wyo. Stat. § 27-14-403 (2025).)

Getting Help With Your Wrongful Death Claim

Wrongful death claims can be complicated, and the law can change at any time. If you're considering a wrongful death lawsuit in Wyoming, it might be time to consult a personal injury attorney. An experienced lawyer can explain how the law applies to your specific case.