Dallas Wrongful Death Attorney

Have You Lost a Loved One Due in a Wrongful Death? Dallas Wrongful Death Attorney Michael Grossman Can Help

If you’ve landed on this page, you’ve likely experienced a sudden and devastating loss of a loved one. No one should have to endure such an event, yet, sadly, wrongful deaths occur every day in Texas.

In the aftermath of losing a loved one due to a wrongful death, a bereaved family often experiences a wide variety of emotions, from anger and rage at the liable party to sorrow and sadness over the loss of their family member. Such a family may also experience frustration in regards to the justice of the accident, since wrongful deaths occur due to the negligence of another party. In such instances, seeking legal action may be one of the last issues that a bereaved family may think about in light of their loved one’s loss. However, pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit can bring answers to a number of questions that are often swirling in the minds of the family members that have lost a loved one, questions like:

• How did the accident happen?
• Who’s responsible for the wrongful death?
• How can I hold the liable party accountable for their actions?
• Should I seek a wrongful death lawsuit?
• Is the legal process difficult?
• How can I make sure this doesn’t happen to someone else?
• Do I need to hire an attorney?

Dallas wrongful death attorney Michael Grossman, with 20 years of practice in helping bereaved family members seek justice for their loss through wrongful death lawsuits, offers the following informative article to help answer these pressing questions.

Why Should I Pursue a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

In many instances where a wrongful death has occurred, a bereaved family often has little notion of why a wrongful death claim should be pursued since they have likely never been in such a situation before. Consequently, they may choose to forgo seeking legal action against the negligent parties, either through naivete, or through a belief that the liable party may have already suffered enough. However, there are at least three important reasons why a bereaved family member should seek to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against a liable party or parties:

1. The wrongful death lawsuit works to hold the liable parties accountable for their actions, or inaction, that resulted in a person’s death.
2. The wrongful death lawsuit financially punishes a negligent entity so that they will be more compelled to change or alter their behavior so that similar, fatal accidents do not occur in the future.
3. The wrongful death lawsuit allows a bereaved family to seek compensation for their loss so that the financial stress that often occurs after the loss of a loved one does not have to cause further pain to an already grieving family. Such compensation is especially important when a wrongful death may have claimed the life of a primary wage-earner for a household.

When Dallas wrongful death attorney Michael Grossman takes on a wrongful death case in Texas, he and his team at Grossman Law Offices will work to ensure that your family receive fair compensation for your loss while simultaneously working to ensure that the liable parties are well aware of their negligent behavior so that future accidents do not have to result in the death of another person, causing more grief to another family. With hundreds of clients helped over the last two decades, we fully understand that no amount of money can restore your lost loved one to you. However, we hope that our work can help you recover from any financial setbacks that may have occurred due to your sudden and unexpected loss.

Compensation Received Through a Dallas Wrongful Death Lawsuit

The technical goal of a wrongful death claim in Texas is for a bereaved family member to be compensated for the damages they’ve incurred as a result of losing their loved one. Damages refers to the financial losses that such a family may have experienced. Wrongful death cases allow for two types of damages to be sought from a defendant, known as wrongful death damages and survival damages. Properly accounting for both types of damages and including the sum total in a wrongful death lawsuit is an imperative part of seeking full and fair compensation from a liable party.

Wrongful death damages can be sought for items associated with the grieving family members’ loss of their loved one. A decedent’s spouse, children, parents, or other dependents can pursue wrongful death damages. Furthermore, it should also be noted that one wrongful death lawsuit can contain multiple parties seeking wrongful death damages. These types of damages can include any or all of the following:

• Funeral costs
• Medical bills incurred prior to the decedent’s death
• Loss of monetary support previously supplied by the decedent
• Mental and emotional duress caused by the loss of a loved one
• Loss of consortium, i.e. loss of the unique love provided only by the decedent

In contrast, survival damages can only be sought by the decedent’s closest living relative. Survival damages are awarded in regards to the decedent’s incurred damages, before and after death. In other words, survival damages can include damages the decedent would have incurred had they been able to survive the accident that claimed their life. It should be noted that the same person can seek both survival damages and wrongful death damages, as long as that person is the closest surviving relative. Only one relative can seek survival damages, as such a relative effectively takes the place of their lost loved one in seeking such damages. The right to pursue survival damages in Texas starts with a spouse, then goes to children, parents, and lastly to siblings. Survival damages can include any or all of the following:

• Medical costs incurred before the decedent’s death.
• Property damage costs incurred.
• Lost wages.
• Loss of future earning capacity had the decedent possibly suffered a long-term disability.
• The decedent’s pain and suffering.
• The decedent’s mental and emotional stress.
• Disfigurement.

Proving up damages is an integral part to any wrongful death lawsuit in order to ensure that all possible plaintiffs can stand to be fully and fairly compensated for their loss. Often, different legal strategies are required to effectively calculate damages, especially when each plaintiff may be owed varying amounts of compensation. As such, having the legal help of an experienced Dallas wrongful death attorney like Michael Grossman can prove beneficial toward ensuring that all wrongful death damages and survival damages are properly calculated and proven so that the parties involved in the Dallas wrongful death lawsuit are fairly compensated. With two decades of experience in proving up damages in wrongful death cases in Texas, Michael Grossman has both the knowledge and experience to help your family recover fair compensation.

How Do I Know When To Pursue a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Texas?

As previously stated, family members that have lost a loved one may not know whether or not they have merit in pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit. For a wrongful death lawsuit to be considered legitimate, the four following aspects must have existed in regards to the fatal accident:

• The decedent was killed by the action or inaction of a liable party or parties.
• The liable parties acted negligently in some fashion, which caused the fatal accident.
• The decedent has surviving family members or beneficiaries that can seek survival damages or wrongful death damages.
• The decedent or their surviving family members have incurred some type of financial loss as a result of the fatal accident.

If any of the above-mentioned characteristics did not exist, then a wrongful death lawsuit cannot be pursued. However, if you’re unsure whether or not your situation may qualify in regards to these issues, consider contacting the Dallas wrongful death attorneys of Grossman Law Offices at our toll-free number, 1-855-326-0000, for a free consultation.

It should also be noted that a plaintiff can pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against a liable party, regardless of if that party may also be facing criminal charges for the same fatal accident. For example, a distracted driver may run into a pedestrian, causing that pedestrian to die. In such an example, the driver would likely not face criminal charges, but the family of the pedestrian could bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the negligent driver for their loss. If that driver had been drunk at the time of the fatal accident, the drunk driver would likely face criminal charges.

In such an instance, the pedestrian’s family could still seek compensation for their loss through a wrongful death lawsuit. When criminal charges are not pressed, a wrongful death civil suit is the only way to seek justice and hold the liable parties accountable for their negligent behavior.

Challenges to Pursuing Dallas Wrongful Death Lawsuits

Certain challenges arise in every type of wrongful death lawsuit. However, there’s a difference between being surprised by these challenges and being ready to tackle these challenges. With two decades of experience in wrongful death law, we’re well-aware of the common issues that often arise in wrongful death lawsuits in Texas. Consequently, we can help you through these issues so that they don’t have the opportunity to result in a denied claim or a dismissed case. For example, wrongful death claims are often worth a sizable sum of money. As a result, the insurance adjusters and defense attorneys on the opposition’s side will attempt every method they know in order to exonerate themselves or their client. They simply do not want to award such sizable compensation that could make a very large dent in their bottom-line. Such adjusters and defense attorneys often have their eyes on the financial impact to their own interests instead of attempting to help a bereaved family through a difficult time. This is one of the main reasons why having the help of an experienced Dallas wrongful death attorney like Michael Grossman can be vitally important in a wrongful death lawsuit. You will need someone who is familiar with the opposition’s tactics, and someone that can be aggressive when necessary in order to defend your rights. These types of insurance adjusters and defense attorneys will be well-experienced and highly-prepared to tackle your case. Ensure that you have likewise experienced and knowledgeable legal help on your side before attempting to take on these high-powered professionals.

One of the additional challenges to building a successful wrongful death case is time itself. Relevant evidence can go quickly missing as time passes. Evidence can even be removed, deleted, erased, or otherwise altered by those that simply do not want to be caught. Key witnesses can become more difficult to track down as time goes by. As such, one of the most beneficial actions that an aggrieved party can take in the aftermath of losing a loved one is to contact a Dallas wrongful death attorney that can quickly begin an exhaustive investigation into the fatal accident that claimed the life of their loved one. When the Dallas wrongful death attorneys at Grossman Law Offices are hired to investigate a wrongful death, we will procure as much evidence as possible in order to build a substantial case on your loved one’s behalf. Since they’re no longer able to speak for themselves, the evidence obtained through a thorough investigation must be able to speak for them. By contacting us quickly after a fatal accident, we can begin working to build such a strong case.

Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Lawsuits

Additional challenges can arise in specific types of wrongful death lawsuits, such as those involving medical malpractice. For example, recent medical malpractice tort reform in Texas placed a cap on the amount of damages that a plaintiff can receive for their loss of a loved one due to medical malpractice. In such instances, our firm will work to hold the medical professional liable for their actions while also looking to see if other liable parties may have been involved, since caps may not exist in regards to the damages that can be sought from other liable parties. Many attorneys in Texas refuse to work medical malpractice claims because of the tort reform, or due to the amount of work often required of these types of wrongful death case. However, the medical malpractice lawyers at Grossman Law Offices are ready to work hard so that you can stand to receive full and fair compensation for the loss of your loved one, and so that similar medical malpractice does not have to result in the death of another person caused by the same negligent medical professional.

Workers’ Comp Wrongful Death Lawsuits

Specific challenges also arise when a worker is killed while on-the-job. If the worker’s employer was liable for the fatal accident, and the employer was subscribed to workers’ comp, then the bereaved family can receive compensation for their loss through the workers’ comp process. However, such compensation is often less than adequate to cover a family’s financial losses. As such, our firm can investigate a fatal workplace accident in order to ascertain whether or not other liable parties, who likely aren’t protected by worker’s comp, may have been involved in the fatal accident. If the workers’ comp employer was grossly negligent in causing or contributing to a fatal on-the-job accident, then the workers’ comp policy no longer applies, and an aggrieved family can sue the employer. However, proving gross negligence requires quite a high standard of proof in that it must be shown that an employer was well-aware that an accident could happen, and yet did little to nothing to rectify the situation. Lastly, if the employer is not covered by worker’s compensation, the bereaved family can sue the employer through a wrongful death lawsuit. In each instance, specific legal knowledge regarding the rather complex work injury laws in Texas must be utilized if the plaintiff hopes for a successful outcome to their Dallas workplace wrongful death case. With 20 years of experience in both wrongful death and workers’ comp cases, Dallas wrongful death attorney Michael Grossman can help the family of a killed employee seek justice against the employer and seek compensation from the liable parties.

Dallas Wrongful Death Attorney Michael Grossman Can Help

Suffering the unexpected loss of a loved one can turn your world upside down. We understand that you’re likely going through an emotionally difficult time in which you likely have many more questions than easy answers. We can help you found out those answers. We can also help you seek justice against the liable parties so that future fatal accidents do not have to occur, causing more grief to be suffered by another family. We will also work to ensure that your family can stand to receive full and fair compensation for your loss so that financial stress does not have to compound the pain and suffering you’re likely already experiencing. We have two decades of experience in going against veteran insurance adjusters. As such, they will often work with our demands in seeking a fair out-of-court settlement for your wrongful death case. When such a settlement is offered, it means that you don’t have to step foot into a courtroom, resulting in a savings of both time and money. If a trial case is necessary, we will be well-prepared to defend your loved one’s rights, and your rights, in such a setting. We can be aggressive when necessary in going against defense attorneys that will likely attempt to pin blame for the accident on the decedent. Through our thorough investigations that can procure relevant evidence, we will work to defend your loved one from their arguments.

Should you have more questions in regards to possibly pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit against the liable party or parties responsible for your loved one’s death, consider contacting Dallas wrongful death attorney Michael Grossman and his team at Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-326-0000, toll-free, for a free and confidential legal consultation. We have the experience, knowledge, and reputation that can help you seek justice against the negligent parties that caused your loved one’s passing.