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The death of a loved one can leave you reeling from grief, anger, and uncertainty. This emotional turmoil only increases when someone else’s negligence caused your loss.
At Crosley Law, we work to hold the at-fault parties accountable and get you the compensation you deserve for your emotional and financial losses. If you’re unsure how to proceed after the wrongful death of a loved one, call us today or complete the form on this page for a free consultation to discuss your case and options.
The sudden, unexpected loss of a parent, spouse, or child is always devastating. Nothing could ever replace the love, guidance, companionship, and support that your loved one provided. And if you relied on your loved one for financial support and benefits as well, the consequences can seem even more dire.
At Crosley Law, we understand what families are going through. You deserve time and space to grieve, and focus on being a family. Our attorneys do everything they can to make this process as simple and stress free as possible, so you can spend your time an energy on the things that truly matter. We also partner with Loss of Life Advocates (LOLA), an organization that helps families navigate paperwork and connect with essential support services after the loss of a loved one.
In Texas, wrongful death is defined as a death caused by another person’s misconduct, carelessness, lack of skill, or negligence. Wrongful deaths are sometimes caused by:
Wrongful death claims are similar to personal injury claims in the sense that, had the deceased person survived their fatal accident, they would have been eligible to file a personal injury lawsuit. In either case, you must prove that the accident was the result of another party’s negligence.
However, there is an important distinction to understand. The damages in wrongful death lawsuits are meant to compensate close family members for the financial and emotional consequences that they experience as a result of the death, rather than those sustained by the deceased person directly.
In many cases, your wrongful death lawyer will file both a wrongful death lawsuit and a survival action, which covers your loved one’s medical bills, pain and suffering they experienced before death, and other losses.
In Texas, the right to file a wrongful death claim is typically limited to the spouse (including a common law spouse), legal parents, and children (biological and adopted) of the deceased.
Multiple claims are allowed but not required; eligible surviving family members can choose to bring their own claims separately, or multiple family members can file jointly as a group.
If none of the above file a wrongful death claim within three months of the death of their family member, then the personal representative (also known as executor) of the deceased’s estate may file a claim—unless all the above surviving family members ordinarily eligible to file a claim explicitly deny permission to do so.
In Texas, wrongful death actions are for the exclusive benefit of any surviving spouse, children, or parents of the deceased. In other words, only those who are allowed to file a wrongful death claim in the first place are eligible to receive benefits. Siblings, grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins, etc. are not eligible for benefits.
Unlike many other states, Texas has no specific rules for how a wrongful death settlement or verdict must be distributed among the surviving beneficiaries. Ideally, the surviving family members will come to a mutual agreement during the settlement negotiations, and the settlement will be divided according to their wishes.
However, if a wrongful death lawsuit goes to trial, the jury will decide how the payout will be divided. If the family has come to an agreement beforehand about how they would like the verdict distributed, juries will take this into consideration but are not required to abide by it.
According to Texas law, the jury is instructed to award damages as equitably as possible, “in an amount proportionate to the injury resulting from the death.” In general, this means that family members who were more financially dependent on the deceased individual, or who experienced greater emotional suffering, are likely to receive a proportionately higher percentage of the verdict.
For wrongful death claims, the statute of limitations is two years after your loved one’s death. If you file after this period, you may lose your right to compensation.
Remember, also, that if no eligible surviving family members have filed a wrongful death claim within three months after their loved one’s death, the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate can bring forward a claim on behalf of the family, unless all eligible beneficiaries request that they do not.
Even though two years seems like a long time, understand that critical evidence to prove that the negligent party caused your loved one’s death may not last nearly as long. It is wise to seek the help of a wrongful death lawyer as soon as possible so they can begin working on your case.
Insurance companies are notorious for denying wrongful death and life insurance claims. These corporations are businesses first and foremost, and their goal is to minimize the total amount of benefits they have to pay out—not to take care of grieving families.
Some of the most common tactics insurance companies use include:
Moreover, the insurance company knows that most people without any legal experience will not fully understand their rights, and will not know how to calculate a fair settlement amount in a wrongful death case. And during a time of grief, these aren’t the sorts of details you should be forced to focus on anyway.
Working with an experienced wrongful death attorney can put you on even footing with the insurance company and ensure that you file your claim properly, accurately calculate your damages, and fight for the compensation you truly deserve. At Crosley Law, our attorneys go one step further and work closely with probate attorneys, grief counselors, and others to give you the support and compensation you need.
Our personal injury law firm has a reputation for handling wrongful death claims successfully, a reputation that makes defendants and their attorneys more willing to settle for an appropriate sum. Our goal as a firm is to not only get our clients the compensation they need, but also the justice and closure that they deserve.
If you’ve lost a loved one due to another’s negligent actions, please call our San Antonio wrongful death lawyers at 210-LAW-3000 | 210-529-3000, or complete our contact form for your free consultation to get the help you need.
When you file a wrongful death claim, you deserve justice for your loved one’s death and compensation for your financial losses. Calculating these damages can be complicated, and an accurate calculation typically requires the help of a wrongful death attorney.
At Crosley Law, we understand the value of wrongful death claims and fight for full compensation for our clients. Wrongful death damages may include:
Economic damages
When someone you love is taken from you, there are often significant financial repercussions—not just in the short term, but often for as long as your loved one would have otherwise provided financial support. In your wrongful death lawsuit, you are allowed to claim these tangible financial losses, such as:
Non-Economic Damages
A loved one is worth far more to close family members than the amount of financial support they provide, and an untimely death takes a heavy mental and emotional toll that can’t be calculated in the same way that funeral expenses or future income can be.
While money can never truly replace the love, guidance, companionship, and emotional support that your loved one provided, Texas does recognize that these non-economic damages are significant and deserve financial compensation. Examples of non-economic damages that can be claimed include:
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages, also known as exemplary damages, are a special category of damages that are meant to punish the at-fault party, rather than to compensate victims for specific physical or emotional injuries that they have suffered.
Under Texas law, these damages can only be awarded in wrongful death cases where the death was caused by “the willful act or omission or gross negligence” of the responsible party. In other words, their conduct had to go beyond simple negligence but cross the line into extreme recklessness, carelessness, or willfulness.
For example, if your loved one was killed by a drunk driver who was well over the legal BAC limit, or by someone traveling 30 miles per hour over the speed limit, exemplary damages may be awarded.
In addition to a wrongful death claim, which focuses on your losses, you can also file a survival claim on behalf of your loved one.
In a survival action, you demand to recover compensation for their economic and non-economic damages that accumulated before their passing, such as their medical bills and pain and suffering. In this way, a survival action claim is more closely related to a typical personal injury claim than wrongful death, with the primary difference being that the plaintiff is no longer alive.
Survival action claims can be especially important in situations where your family member suffered fatal injuries that eventually caused their death, but did not die right away. In the meantime, they may have experienced significant suffering, as well as racked up extensive medical bills. A survival action claim is the only way to recover these kinds of damages.
Survival action suits can only be filed by the estate, rather than family members. Another key difference is that any money recovered in a survival action lawsuit is awarded to the estate, which can then pay off debts and distribute any additional funds.
This means that, even if a deceased family member left no heirs eligible to file a wrongful death claim (spouse, parents, children), the estate could still bring a survival action. Any financial recovery made would then be distributed according to the deceased person’s will, or otherwise according to the normal rules of inheritance (intestate succession) if there was no will.
Our San Antonio wrongful death lawyers go the extra mile to make wrongs right and get the justice our clients deserve. Have a case you need help with? Call us today.