Texas Attorney Micheal Grossman on Why You Should File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit
A wrongful death lawsuit has two primary goals: to secure adequate financial compensation to the family of the deceased and to prevent future accidents by bringing about changes with the negligence parties.
Under Texas civil law, defendants who may not be held accountable under criminal law can be held fiscally responsible for deaths they caused under civil law, so a wrongful death lawsuit is often the only way to bring the parties who caused your loved one’s death to justice. The laws governing wrongful death often overlap and can be very complex, so you will likely need the assistance of an experienced wrongful death attorney to secure the compensation you seek.
The unexpected and sudden shock caused by the tragic death of a loved one in a fatal accident can be devastating no matter where it happens — on the road, at work or on someone else’s property. While nothing compares to the emotional loss you have sustained, the financial distress caused by the death of a family member can also be tremendous. On top of figuring out how to live without the deceased family member, surviving loved ones must also try to determine whether or not the family has legal recourse for compensation and whether or not they need a Texas wrongful death attorney. The attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have been successfully litigating wrongful deaths claims all over the Lone Star State for 20 years, and we want to help you understand that recovering from the this financial setbacks is one of the primary intentions of wrongful death lawsuits.
What are Damages in Wrongful Death Lawsuits?
The surviving family members in wrongful death lawsuits have the right to damages. From a legal perspective, damages do not refer to the harm done to the plaintiffs but to the financial value of that harm. The loved ones of the deceased in most wrongful death lawsuits may pursue two types of damages: wrongful death damages and survival damages.
Wrongful Death Damages
Only spouses, children, parents and in rare cases dependent siblings may seek wrongful death damages in most car accident cases. Wrongful death damages may include:
- The victim’s medical expenses prior to death
- Funeral expenses
- Loss of future monetary support the victim would have provided
- Compensation for mental and emotional trauma and the loss of the unique familial love provided by the deceased
Survival Damages
With Survival damages, the closest living relative may purse compensation for the damages the victim could have pursued had he or she only suffered injuries in the accident and not died. The line of ascension for survival damages goes from spouse to children to parents and finally to siblings. Examples of survival damages include:
- Medical bills.
- Property damage.
- Lost wages during the hospital stay the victim would have had if he or she had survived and recovered.
- Lost earning capacity due to possible long-term severe injuries.
- The victim’s physical pain and suffering.
- The victim’s emotional or mental distress he or she would have endured during the rehabilitation process if he or she had only been injured.
Varieties of Wrongful Death Lawsuits
Someone can die due to someone else’s negligence in a variety of ways — due to an accident involving a wide variety of vehicles: cars, trucks, buses, planes, trains and motorcycles; then can be wrongfully killed at work in dangerous jobs like construction or relatively safe jobs like clerking in a bank, and they die while visiting a property whose owner negligently ignored a responsibility to provide for the safety of his or her patrons.
No matter how the wrongful death occurred, resolving a wrongful death lawsuit is seldom easy and usually requires the expert touch of an experienced attorney.
Automobile Accident Obstacles
For instance, in car and truck accident wrongful death cases, people often lie about their degree of liability in order to avoid fiscal responsibility and possible criminal charges for their negligence. You need the help of an attorney skilled in investigating the scene of like accidents to determine the negligence of all responsible parties and be able to prove it in the court of law. In all forms of wrongful death lawsuits, the burden of proof falls on the plaintiff to establish the negligence of the liable parties. Our attorneys have mastered the art of investigation in the 20 years we’ve been handling cases, and we leave no stone unturned: sequestering and examining all vehicles involved, gathering forensic evidence, locating and questioning witnesses and searching for video or photographic proof.
On-the-Job Wrongful Death Cases
When it comes to wrongful deaths in the workplace, you are even more in need of representation. Just knowing how to proceed with such a case can be complex since how a case is handled depends heavily on whether or not the employer purchased workers’ compensation insurance. The handling of an on-the-job wrongful death claim differs entirely whether the employer was a subscriber, who bought workers’ comp insurance or a non-subscriber, who didn’t. Just like with vehicular wrongful deaths, on-the-job wrongful death cases often involve trickery and deception in which some employers feign having workers’ compensation insurance when they don’t, and other employers deny that their employees are actually employees, calling them contractors to avoid liability. Only an experienced lawyer can see through all of the lies and protect your family’s right to compensation and ability to seek justice against those responsible for your loved one’s death.
Premises Liability Wrongful Death Cases
If your loved one was killed while visiting a property owned by somebody else, then you may have a wrongful death lawsuit under premises liability. The owners of properties have the duty to provide for the safety of visitors to their property. However, different duties or owed to different types of visitor, so you need the guidance of a skilled wrongful death attorney to determine whether your loved one had a duty of safety denied to him or her by the owner of property on which he or she was killed. You will need an attorney who can hold that liable party responsible for his or her negligence.
An Experienced Civil Lawyer Can Help Bring You Justice
During the course of the investigation to establish grounds for a civil lawsuit to resolve a wrongful death, our lawyers occasionally find evidence to suggest the death was due to an intentional act, and we are able to pursue criminal justice against the perpetrators. In most cases, however, the monetary damages we are able to secure go toward ensuring that the responsible parties will not commit their negligent acts again. In the end, the result of more wrongful death litigation is less wrongful deaths.