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Wrongful DeathWelcome to the Rodgers Law Firm
Lives change totally when a loved one dies. No amount of money can compensate for the death of a loved one, and no words can describe the heartache.
Grieving relatives may be further burdened by intense feeling of anger and frustration when the death is not from natural causes and could have been easily avoided if the person at fault, the wrongdoer, had only been more careful.
We at the Rodgers Law Firm in Fort Worth, Texas understand the devastation and losses caused by this type of tragedy.
That's why we are here – to do everything we can to help our clients get the answers, the assistance, and the compensation that they are entitled to under the law.
We handle wrongful death cases all over Texas and the DFW Metroplex and surrounding cities, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Denton, Burleson, Cleburne, Decatur, Weatherford, Haltom City, North Richland Hills, Richland Hills, Azle, Mineral Wells, Sherman, and Denison.
We also have handled death cases in accidents occurring in other states outside the state of Texas.
If a family member has been lost in an accident – propane or natural gas explosion, fire, electrical shock, medical mistake, prescription drug mistake, car wreck, large truck collision, defective consumer product, airplane crash, defective prescription drug, or any other type of death-causing accident, contact us for a free, no obligation consultation.
We will meet with you at our office or any location convenient to you.
In a free, no obligation consultation with us you may evaluate our capabilities to help you and other family members work through the legal, economic and emotional hurdles faced when a death is wrongfully caused.
The following pages of detailed legal information will give you insights into the depth of our technical capabilities in wrongful death cases.
Examples of Wrongful Death Cases Handled By Our Law Firm
Infant Drowned In Babysitter’s Swimming Pool
Pool Owner Ignored Safety Recommendations Made By Pool Installer
Fort Worth, Texas
While the parents were on a trip, their 15-month-old infant son drowned in their baby sitter’s swimming pool. The sitter had kept the child on a regular basis before the drowning.
Documents obtained after suit was filed showed the pool owner did not follow the written safety recommendations provided by the swimming pool installer and signed for by the pool owner acknowledging the receipt of the written safety recommendations.
The pool owner did not child-proof the pool by buying relatively inexpensive safety devices such as a child-proof door lock on the kitchen door that opened into the swimming pool area or a pool alarm that would be triggered when any object weighing more than 10 pounds fell into the pool.
The case was settled prior to trial. (MNM190).
Teenage Passenger Ejected and Killed
Single Vehicle Rollover Accident
Houston, Texas
Four teenagers and young adults were joyriding and drinking beer on a weekend trip to the gulf coast. Our clients’ son, a passenger, was killed after being ejected when the car rolled due to excessive speed in a construction zone.
The driver at fault had no assets. The recovery on the case turned on a careful analysis of available auto insurance coverage under the “blood, marriage, or adoption” rule in the Texas Standard Automobile Policy.
Under this rule, if someone, person "A," does not own a policy of auto insurance but person "A" lives with someone, person "B," that does own a policy of auto insurance and person "A" is related to person "B" by blood, marriage or adoption, then person "A" is deemed under Texas law to have the same auto insurance coverage as person "B."
This means that a son or daughter living with a parent, a granddaughter or grandson living with a grandparent, a niece or nephew living with an aunt or uncle, etc. have the same auto insurance as the person they are living with.
The victim's mother and father were divorced. The son alternated living with each of his parents and did not own a car. Each parent had Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) and Underinsured Motorist Coverage (“UIM”) on their auto insurance policies. The son’s friend, "X," was driving the car and his friend, "Y," owned the car.
The gross recovery on the case included all available policy limits from:
1. car owner Y’s auto liability policy.
2. car driver X’s auto liability policy.
3. victim's mother’s UIM auto policy, because the son was a regular resident of her home and was related to her by blood.
4. victim's father’s UIM auto policy, because the son was a regular resident of his father's home and was related to him by blood.
The case settled before suit was filed. (DL85)
Infant Passenger Killed In Auto Collision
Corpus Christi, Texas
Our client’s infant daughter was killed while traveling as a passenger in a car driven by our client’s ex-husband.
The infant was riding beside her father and was not being held securely in an infant seat. The driver also died in the accident, as did 3 occupants of the other vehicle.
The case was settled before suit was filed. (MS10)
Auto Collision Causes Premature Birth
and Subsequent Death of Infant
Fort Worth, Texas
The client was 20 weeks pregnant at the time of the motor vehicle accident and the pregnancy was proceeding normally, according to her gynecologist’s records.
The collision caused immediate uterine bleeding at the scene. The client was taken to the hospital and admitted for 2 days, dismissed, then readmitted for 4 days for a recurrence of the bleeding, dismissed, then readmitted a week later with the diagnosis of “preterm labor” that required her to stay in the hospital until the child’s development was far enough along to allow delivery by c-section.
Expert medical opinions were that the collision caused the premature birth of the infant 28 days after the accident, that the infant’s development was premature by 14 weeks, and that there was visible bruising on the infant’s back, hands, and feet consistent with bruising caused by a seat-belt restraint system in the accident and not consistent with c-section forceps-delivery forces. The baby died 12 weeks later without ever leaving the hospital.
The official cause of death was determined to be chronic pulmonary insufficiency arising from long-term artificial pulmonary ventilation due to premature birth.
The Standard Texas Automobile Policy in effect at the time of the accident provided that a person was a “covered person” at the time of the motor vehicle accident if the person was a “family member (injured) … while occupying … a motor vehicle.”
On these facts the insurance company for the driver at fault was persuaded to pay policy limits even though the child was not born at the time of the accident and even though, under Texas law at the time, the unborn child would not have been a covered person had the child been killed in the accident while still in his mother’s womb.
The case was settled prior to suit being filed. (GH40)
Bus Passenger Killed In Commercial Bus Accident
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Our client’s mother was traveling from Texas to Missouri via Arkansas on a nationally-known passenger bus after a two week visit with her daughter in Alvarado, Texas.
At one point in the pre-dawn portion of the trip near Jonesboro, Arkansas, the bus driver was approaching a T-intersection controlled by a stop sign. The road layout required that, after stopping, he turn the bus right or left. If he continued forward past the stop sign, he would leave the roadway, hit a bar ditch, and come to rest in a corn field.
Apparently under the influence of “road hypnosis,” the bus driver did not respond to the stop sign and drove into the field, wrecking the bus. The client’s mother was ejected from the bus and killed. Road hypnosis occurs when someone who is driving slips into a kind of trance state because of the constant movement of the car and the monotony of the road going by.
You may have noticed that sometimes you may become drowsy while driving or you may not remember driving the most recent mile or so on your trip, or you may even miss your regular exit on the freeway while commuting to or from work.
Suit was filed in Dallas County, the headquarters of the defendant bus owner.
The case was settled prior to trial. (EAC150)
Mother of Two Young Sons Killed
Collision with 18-Wheeler Truck
Blytheville, Arkansas
The mother of two young sons was killed in a collision with a tractor-trailer truck in Blytheville, Arkansas.
We were hired by the boys’ father, a resident of Hurst, Texas, to represent him and his two sons.
Because the lawsuit had to be filed in Arkansas, the state where the accident happened and the defendants resided, with the prior approval of the father we selected a very competent attorney in Arkansas to handle the case in that jurisdiction.
The case was settled prior to trial. (HGM)
Overview of Wrongful Death Cases in Texas
The Texas Wrongful Death Act allows only certain relatives (“beneficiaries”) to be compensated for the losses caused by the wrongful death of a relative (the "victim”). These beneficiaries are limited to the victim’s spouse, parents, and children. No other relatives may make a claim for wrongful death under Texas law.
The fact that a victim's close relative is not the victim's spouse, parent, or child does not automatically prevent that relative from bringing a wrongful death claim under certain circumstances.
A relative that is not the victim's spouse, parent, or child may be able to make a claim for wrongful death if the relative lives in a state that does allow that relative to bring a wrongful death claim for the victim's death under the wrongful death statute of that state.
Other Relatives Can Be Beneficiaries Under the Wrongful Death Laws of Other States
Unlike Texas, in addition to the spouse, children, and parents, some other states allow other relatives to make a claim for wrongful death.
When evaluating a wrongful death case, we identify each state in which a close relative of the victim lives to identify all potential claimants, not only for Texas residents but for relatives living in other states.
Should you ask us to, we may consult with an attorney in another state to determine that state’s requirements for bringing a wrongful death claim for a relative living in that state that is not allowed to be a claimant under Texas law.
The states listed below, and certain other states not listed, allow more types of relatives to have valid claims for wrongful death than does Texas law. The information below is presented as general background information. We do not claim to be, and are not capable of being, an expert in the law of any other state or of practicing law in any other state.
We do have the ability to contact skilled lawyers in other states that are experts in the laws of their respective states that can give us accurate legal information on which we may base our advice to you about your options under the laws of other states.
The distribution schemes listed below are for the economic loss portion of the wrongful death compensation.
The monetary recovery by the estate of the victim will usually be distributed either according to the victim's will or, if the victim left no will, according to the law of intestate succession in that state.
California
According to California attorneys, under California law economic compensation is distributed to the class of people described below, in proportion to their pecuniary (money) loss:
(1) the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and surviving issue (descendants) of deceased children of the victim;
(2) if there are no surviving issue of the victim, persons who would be entitled to recover by intestate succession, including the surviving spouse.
(3) whether or not qualified above, the "putative" spouse, children of the putative spouse, stepchildren or parents, as long as they were dependent on the victim for necessities - such as shelter, clothing, food and medical care.
The "putative" spouse is the surviving spouse of a void marriage or voidable marriage who is found by the court to have believed in good faith that the marriage to the victim was valid.
(4) a minor, whether or not qualified above, if at the time of the victim's death, the minor lived in the victim's household for at least 180 days before the victim's death and the minor received at least 50% of the minor's support from the victim at the time of death.
(5) If there is no surviving spouse, children, and surviving issue of deceased children of the victim in class (1) above, then next in line are the victim's parents; then brothers and sisters; then the children of deceased brothers and sisters; then grandparents; and then their lineal decendants. As soon as someone has a place in line under this scheme, that person cuts off all those people whose claim is in a class below theirs.
Florida
According to Florida attorneys, under Florida law the beneficiaries include the victim's spouse, children, parents, and, when partly or wholly dependent on the victim for support or services, any blood relatives and adoptive brothers and sisters.
Also included is a child born out of wedlock of a mother, but not the child born out of wedlock of the father unless the father has recognized a responsibility for the child's support.
Louisiana
According to Louisiana lawyers, under Louisiana law the beneficiaries include the following persons:
(1) the surviving spouse and children of the victim;
(2) the surviving parents of the victim if there is no spouse or child surviving;
(3) the surviving brothers and sisters (siblings) of the victim if no spouse, child, or parent is left surviving; and then
(4) the surviving grandfathers and grandmothers of the victim if no spouse, child, parent, or sibling is left surviving.
Massachusetts
According to Massachusetts lawyers, under Massachusetts law economic compensation is distributed to the class of people described below, in proportion to their pecuniary (money) loss:
1. If there were no surviving children of the victim, the spouse takes all.
2. if the victim has surviving descendants, then the spouse, surviving children, and, if no surviving child, the living issue (children) of deceased children share the economic compensation in ratios set by law.
3. if there is no surviving spouse, then the "next of kin" as defined by the laws of intestate succession share the economic compensation in ratios set by law:
a. to the parents.
b. if no parents, then to the brothers and sisters or descendants of deceased siblings.
c. if there is no one listed above surviving the victim, whoever is the next closest in kinship takes all of the economic portion.
Virginia
According to Virginia lawyers, under Virginia law economic compensation is distributed to the class of people described below, in proportion to their pecuniary (money) loss:
1) spouse and children or descendants of children who died before the victim.
2) if there is no spouse or children, the next class of beneficiaries are the parents, brothers, and sisters of the victim.
3) if the victim left behind a spouse and parents, but no children or grandchildren, compensation is to the parents and spouse.
4) any other relative who was primarily dependent on the victim for support and was a member of the same household may recover.
Other States Allowing Such Claims
Depending on the facts of the case, certain other states, including New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, may allow relatives other than the spouse, children, and parents to bring a claim for wrongful death.
Money Damages Allowed to Texas Beneficiaries
Under Texas law, the spouse, children and parents of the victim can recover compensation for:
1. Loss of the companionship, affection, love and moral support the victim would have provided.
2. Lost wages for the length of the victim’s remaining work life (calculated for the period from the date of death to the normal age for full Social Security retirement benefits, age 66 or 67, depending on the victim’s year of birth).
3. Loss of retirement benefits - what the victim could have received in pension/retirement benefits had the death not occurred.
4. Mental anguish suffered by the beneficiaries as the result of the death.
Texas Survival Statute
The Texas Survival Statute allows recovery by the victim's estate for:
1. Conscious pain and suffering and mental anguish of the victim prior to death.
2. Expenses for medical care prior to death.
3. Funeral and burial expenses.
4. Any property damage sustained in the accident.
Bystander Emotional Trauma by Close Relative Not a Beneficiary
Texas law also allows compensation for the emotional trauma experienced by a bystander who witnesses the death of a close relative but does not qualify as a claimant under the Texas Wrongful Death Act for that victim.
Persons in this class could include a brother, sister, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandparent, or other close relative of the victim. The relative must have been at the fatal accident scene when the death occurred, was aware that the death was occurring, and experienced the traumatic emotional impact of the death.
Bystander claims are not allowed in medical malpractice cases.
Punitive Damages in Texas
The surviving spouse, children, or the estate of the victim may be awarded additional money damages, called punitive damages, when the wrongdoer has exhibited gross negligence, or a blatant disregard for human life.
Punitive damages are meant to punish the wrongdoer and serve as an example to others to deter wrongful conduct in the future.
Autopsy Needed to Determine Cause of Death?
The victim's cause of death is usually clearly apparent when it occurs in violent, unnatural events such as fires, explosions, collisions, drowning, and electric shock.
However, there are instances in which the cause of death is not so clear. For example, assume someone is in poor health and seeks medical care for heart disease, and the death is caused a few days later by a medical mistake made by a doctor or nurse or pharmacist by prescribing or administering the wrong medicine dose or even the wrong drug.
The doctor, nurse, or pharmacist making the mistake could, and most likely would, later take the position that the cause of death was obviously the victim’s underlying ill health –because we all know that seriously ill patients sometimes die unexpectedly of natural causes while in hospitals or nursing homes.
To negate this defense, in cases involving medical mistakes or other negligent health care, the exact cause of death must be made a matter of official record.
Under Texas law, the county medical examiner is required to determine the cause of death in all traumatic deaths and in certain cases where the cause of death is unclear.
In cases (1) of non-traumatic death when the decedent is not under a doctor’s care, or (2) when the decedent passes away in less than 24 hours after admission to a hospital, the medical examiner must be notified, as an autopsy may be required.
When the decedent was actively under a doctor’s care or passed away more than 24 hours after admission to the hospital or nursing home, the law does not require an autopsy. This means that if a patient dies more than 24 hours after admission, no autopsy will be performed unless a family member requests it. Without an autopsy, the death will most likely be deemed to be a natural death.
If a relative has died in a setting such as a hospital or nursing home and the circumstances surrounding the death are suspicious and no autopsy is scheduled, contact us as soon as possible and before the funeral. We will explain what should be done to arrange a private autopsy.
Without an autopsy vital medical evidence can be lost or not properly developed, making legal recovery for the death very difficult if not impossible.
Losing the Right to Make the Claim
You must file your Texas wrongful death suit within a certain time period or else you will lose your right to pursue your claim. In many wrongful death suits, the suit must be filed within two years from the date of your loved one’s death.
Simply contacting the business whose employee caused the death or contacting the businesses’ insurance company about the accident is not enough to stop the running of the two year period.
Medical and other healthcare malpractice cases are governed by a different limitations procedure that may be shorter than two years from the date the injury is discovered. Certain exceptions do exist in unique circumstances, but they require the analysis of a qualified attorney to determine if they are applicable.
Cases involving federal and state governmental entities as defendants are governed by a different limitations procedures and periods. Claims against federal government entities are controlled by the Federal Tort Claims Act. The Federal Tort Claims Act provides:
“A tort claim against the United States shall be forever barred unless it is presented in writing to the appropriate Federal agency within two years after such claim accrues or unless action is begun six months after the date of mailing, by certified or registered mail, of notice of final denial of the claim by the agency to which it was presented.”
Texas governmental entities are controlled by the Texas Tort Claims Act. The claim procedures in this Act must be followed. It requires that written notice, often using mandatory forms supplied by the agency involved, be given to the agency against whom the claim is being made within time periods shorter than a year after the accident, often as short as six months. Certain exceptions do exist in unique circumstances, but they require the analysis of a qualified attorney to determine if they are applicable.
There are other reasons to act quickly. Key witnesses may disappear, witnesses’ memories may fade, and vital documents may be lost. Sometimes it takes months of investigation to determine who the true defendants are that are legally responsible for the accident. It is crucially important that you do not delay in consulting with an attorney.
Contact us for a free no-obligation consultation as soon as possible to ensure that you retain your right to pursue your claim.
Contact Us for a Second Opinion If Another Attorney Has Declined To Represent You in a Wrongful Death Case
Attorneys regularly decide whether the case that they are reviewing does or does not meet all the requirements to be a viable, sound wrongful death case. Making this determination is not an exact science. Based on different experiences and analytic abilities, one attorney may turn down the opportunity to represent a client and another attorney may shortly thereafter decide to take the case.
The second reviewing attorney saw something the first reviewing attorney may have overlooked. The first attorney may have decided that liability was not clear, that you were not the type of relative that would be entitled to make a wrongful death claim, that there was not available insurance coverage or other sources to pay the money damages, or that there were other problems in seeking a recovery.
We would welcome the opportunity to review your family’s wrongful death claim even if another attorney has turned the case down. There is no charge or obligation for our review.
You may contact us at the following phone numbers at any time:
Office: toll free: 1-866-560-1075
local: 817-717-4080
Copyright 1994 - 2007 Clifford B. Rodgers.
Last Modified July 6, 2007.
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