They've helped me do what I feel was justifiable for me and my family to get closure... And I thank them. 
-
V. Jordan
Mother of a Wrongful Death Victim
Intentions of a Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Dallas 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 an Austin wrongful death attorney. The attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have been successfully litigating wrongful deaths claims in Austin and 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.
If you have lost a loved one due to any type of wrongful death, then call us today for a free consultation at 1-855-326-0000 (toll free) and find out how we can help. We will answer any questions you may have about the specific details of your case and help you start down the road to recovery.
Our attorneys were hired to represent the family of a middle aged woman who was killed in a car accident. The incident occurred as another vehicle struck the car that the decedent was a passenger in, head-on on the passenger side. The impact resulted in catastrophic injuries which claimed the life of the decedent.
Our attorneys were hired soon after the accident and we launched a full investigation. Through the course of our investigation, it was soon determined that the head-on collision was caused a failed component in the defendant's vehicle (the particulars of which cannot be elaborated upon per the resolution agreement). Suit was filed against the manufacturer of said component and litigation commenced. The case was successfully resolved through litigation.
$3,200,000.00
$1,280,000.00
$50,000.00
A young woman lost her life after a bar over served her to more than three times the legal limit resulting in her burning to death in a single-vehicle accident. Witnesses stated that she was so intoxicated that she could barely make it to her vehicle without assistance. Through litigation, our attorneys ascertained the necessary evidence to prove that the establishment provided alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person, thus resulting in her ultimate demise.
$550,000.00
$220,000.00
$25,000.00
(policy limits) An incredibly intoxicated driver drove head-on into a vehicle, killing several of the vehicle's occupants. The defendants had limited assets, yet an alternative policy was uncovered, which the defendants argued was non applicable. Under threat of litigation, our attorneys negotiated a settlement for the policy limits.
$300,000.00
$132,000.00
$0.00
(policy limits) Our firm was hired to pursue an intoxicated driver who killed an elderly school crossing guard. The fatal accident occurred as the decedent was escorting a woman and her child across the roadway through a crosswalk. The defendant then sped through the school zone, in an intoxicated a state, and struck the decedent who died on the scene.
The family hired our firm to investigate and pursue the defendant under a wrongful death cause of action. Following our investigation and preliminary vehicle inspection, our attorneys issued a Stowers' demand to the defendants. A significant factor in resolving this claim is that merely days before we submitted our demand to the defendant' insurance carrier, we won a large case against the very same insurance carrier, which was one of several such victories secured against the carrier in our firm's history. Our threats of litigation were therefore heeded and the defendants offered policy limits to settle the claim without the need to file suit.
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A young handicapped woman lost her life when a long-term care facility failed to provide her with treatment for obvious symptoms of severe illness. The defendants maintained that there were no outwardly visible signs of illness. The medical evidence showed otherwise. The case was successfully resolved through litigation, though damages caps imposed by tort reform were a factor.
$400,000.00
$132,000.00
$25,000.00
(policy limits) A husband and father of three was killed when the driver of an 18-wheeler veered into oncoming traffic, striking the young man's vehicle and several others. The defendant was employed by a small construction company that operated only a single 18-wheeler. As such, the defendants were largely underinsured and were not financially solvent.
Furthermore, the defendants had an eroding insurance policy and numerous other parties were intent upon filing claims of their own since the 18-wheeler struck multiple other vehicles. This created the need for an aggressive and rapid response before the other claimants could erode the policy.
Defense counsel made it clear that they wished to litigate the case despite the insurmountable liability arguments that our attorneys presented. They intended to designate a third party as a responsible defendant since the accident happened in a construction zone, even though it was abundantly clear that the construction zone played no role in the crash.
Additonally, the defendants made it clear that they wished to downplay the extent of the damages by virtue of a character assasination on the decedent. Fortunately for our clients, our firm has successfully litigated against the defendant's insurer in nearly a dozen cases, so the carrier was quite aware of our courtroom capabilities. We presented a sample lawsuit to the defendant's insurance carrier and informed them that the lawsuit was to be filed the moment that they refused to settle.
Additionally, our attorneys submitted a Stowers' Demand with a brief window of time for the defendants to respond. We made it abundantly clear that we intended to seek punitive damages and that we would assert the full limits of the carrier's exposure under the Stowers' Demand should the carrier not offer policy limits.
The defendant's attorney adamantly persuaded the carrier to litigate, however, our attorney's threats of litigation, past track record, and incredibly aggressive pre-litigation actions convinced the insurance carrier to disregard their own attorney's advice and to settle the case, lest they face our attorneys in court.
Had our clients been represented by virtually any other firm who did not have our specific track record or who would have not recognized that this case required special and immediate attention coupled with an abnormally aggressive stance, the client's would have certainly been tied up in litigation for years, with the limited supply of funds rapidly depleting since the other claimants who did not need to litigate would have essentially had right of first refusal.
$1,000,000.00
$333,333.00
$0
(policy limits) Recovery of a disputed life insurance policy for the family of a contractor who died on the job.
$150,000.00
$50,000.00
$341.00
(policy limits) A young mother was killed in an accident involving two commercial vehicles, one an 18-wheeler. The accident occurred as the young woman was a passenger in a vehicle that was traveling down a highway in the early morning hours. Without warning, the vehicle in which she was a passenger collided with a stalled 18-wheeler that parked in the right of way, resulting in catastrophic injuries that claimed the young woman's life soon thereafter.
The authorities initially faulted the driver of the vehicle in which the victim was a passenger, stating that he was using an electronic device rather than paying full attention to the roadway. However, the 18-wheeler was indeed blocking the roadway and plaintiff alleged that the vehicle did not follow the requirements of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act in regard to providing adequate reflective or laminated warning at specific intervals. Further, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendant failed to remove his vehicle from the roadway when he first noticed signs of mechanical failure.
Had he simply moved to the shoulder of the road, plaintiffs argued, his lack of adequate warning signs would have been inconsequential. An initial settlement has been obtained in this case, yet litigation has commenced in full against the remaining defendant, and is currently ongoing.
$250,000.00
$78,000.00
$370.00
The family of a deceased woman hired our firm following a fatal 18-wheeler accident. The fatal accident occurred as the driver of an 18-wheeler lost control of his vehicle and veered out of his lane, resulting in a massive collision. The decedent, a passenger in a vehicle, died on the scene.
Her adult children consulted our firm to initially investigate the accident and make sense of the facts and circumstances since the family felt that the police report did not make it clear enough precisely what occurred. We launched a full investigation an immediately deposed the investigating officers.
Upon the completion of our investigation, it was apparent that the trucking company was indeed negligent and a lawsuit was soon filed. The defendant's launched an aggressive defense whereby they initially claimed that the truck driver was overcome by his passenger who allegedly grabbed the steering wheel and deliberately drove the truck off the road, despite the truck driver's best efforts.
We refuted this claim by illustrating that the tire marks that were present clearly show the truck gradually moving across the road and eventually onto the grass, which is entirely inconsistent with an abrupt lane change caused by someone taking control of the wheel. It was quite an unusual defense strategy that we were frankly surprised to even find ourselves having to refute.
The defendants then argued that a tire blowout may have contributed to the accident, which is significant because it would enable the defendant to offset some portion of their liability to a tire manufacturer or installer. Through deposition testimony of the investigating officer we established that there was absolutely no indication at the scene of the accident that a tire had blown out.
Finally, the defendants argued that the company which loaded the trailer may have improperly loaded the cargo. This argument was most plausible considering that the precise cause of the decedent's death was that she was essentially pummeled by cargo that broke through trailer and struck her person.
Our firm consulted several experts in the fields of heavy cargo transportation and physics. Our experts felt that the cargo was secured in a manner that is perfectly consistent with industry standards and that due to the forces involved, the cargo would not have behaved any differently irrespective of how it was secured. In short, the collision caused the cargo to break free and the negligence lay squarely on the trucking company and not any other entity. The case was successfully resolved through litigation.
$2,000,000.00
$775,000.00
$25,000.00
(policy limits) A father of two was killed on the job when he fell from a personnel platform atop an elevated piece of machinery. The defendant was initially afforded protection from a liability suit by virtue of their workers' comp policy. Upon thorough investigation, it became evident that gross negligence was at the root of the accident, and suit was filed accordingly. A successful outcome was obtained through litigation.
$550,000.00
$220,000.00
$40,000.00