When a family unexpectedly loses a loved one due to a tragic accident, the loss is often unbearable. Family members are left feeling confused, sad, angry, and terrified.
Financial and legal issues often accompany this unimaginable grief. Those responsible for the wrongful death must be held accountable. At the Bison Law Firm, we are dedicated to helping families dealing with wrongful death cases.
If your family has lost someone to a wrongful death accident, let the team at the Bison Law Firm.
Common Questions:
What Is “Wrongful Death” in Texas?
In Texas, a “wrongful death” occurs when:
- an injury causes a person’s death or a fetus’s failure to be born alive
- the injury is caused by another person’s or entity’s “wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default,” and
- the injured person would have been entitled to file a personal injury lawsuit had he or she lived or been born alive.
(Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 71.001 to 71.003 (2021).)
It can be useful to think of a wrongful death claim as a type of personal injury claim in which the injured person is no longer able to bring the claim on his or her own behalf. As with personal injury claims in general, many types of events can be the basis for a wrongful death lawsuit, including:
- negligence based incidents (such as car accidents)
- medical malpractice or
- intentional acts (including crimes).
How Does a Wrongful Death Case Differ from a Criminal Homicide Prosecution?
In a successful wrongful death case, the defendant’s liability is expressed solely 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, where a conviction can result in jail or prison time, fines paid to the state, probation, and other penalties.
Another big difference between a criminal prosecution for homicide and a wrongful death civil lawsuit: In criminal court, the state or federal 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,” meaning it’s more likely than not that the defendant is responsible for the death. It is possible, though, for one event to result in criminal charges and a wrongful death claim: A defendant can be sued for wrongful death in civil court while facing criminal charges related to the same death.
Who May File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Texas?
Texas law specifies that the deceased person’s surviving spouse, children, and parents—or one or more of those individuals on behalf of them all—are eligible to file a wrongful death lawsuit in the state’s civil courts.
If the surviving spouse, children, or parents do not file a wrongful death claim within three months of the date of death, the personal representative (sometimes called the “executor”) or administrator of the deceased person’s estate may file the claim instead, unless all of the surviving family members listed above specifically request that the wrongful death lawsuit not be filed. (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004 (2021).)
What Types of Damages Are Possible in a Texas Wrongful Death Case?
In a successful Texas wrongful death case, ‘damages’—or the plaintiff’s claimed losses—are awarded to the deceased person’s surviving spouse, children, and parents for their losses stemming from the death. Damages in a Texas wrongful death case may compensate for a range of losses, including:
- lost earning capacity
- lost care, maintenance, services, support, advice, and counsel the deceased would have provided his or her surviving family members
- mental pain and anguish experienced by the surviving family
- lost love, companionship, comfort, and society, and
- lost inheritance, including what the deceased would likely have saved and left to surviving family members if he or she had lived.
In addition, exemplary damages (sometimes called “punitive damages”) may be available in a Texas wrongful death case, but only if the death was the result of a “willful act or omission or gross negligence.” The purpose of exemplary damages is not to compensate the family for losses associated with the death, but to punish the wrongdoer and deter other parties from engaging in similar conduct.
Get more information on damages that may be available in a wrongful death case, and read the full text of Texas’s wrongful death statutes at Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 71.001 to 71.012.
What Is the Time Limit for Filing a Texas Wrongful Death Claim?
A wrongful death case must be filed in court within a certain period of time, set by a law called a “statute of limitations.” In Texas, the statute of limitations that applies to wrongful death claims states that the lawsuit must be filed within two years of the person’s death. (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003 (2021).)
For more details on Texas’s wrongful death laws—and how they could apply to your potential claim—please contact our attorneys at the Bison Law Firm.
