Personal Injury Settlements and Cases Won.
Losing someone you love because of another person’s negligence can leave your family facing profound grief, uncertainty, and financial hardship. While no legal action can bring your loved one back, a wrongful death claim may help your family recover compensation for the losses you have suffered and hold the responsible party accountable.
During such a difficult time, you should not have to navigate insurance companies, legal deadlines, and complicated claims on your own. An experienced Austin wrongful death attorney can handle the legal process, investigate what happened, and fight for the compensation your family deserves while you focus on healing and supporting one another.
Wrongful death claims involve more than proving that someone else caused a fatal injury. Families may need to investigate what happened, preserve critical evidence, deal with insurance companies, and pursue compensation while coping with an unimaginable loss. Our wrongful death attorneys provide compassionate legal guidance and experienced representation throughout the process, handling the legal details so you can focus on your family.
From the initial investigation through settlement negotiations or trial, our legal team handles the details of your wrongful death claim. We gather accident reports, medical records, witness statements, and other evidence; identify the parties responsible; communicate with insurers; and build a case designed to establish liability and the full extent of your family’s losses. You can focus on healing while we manage the legal work.
A wrongful death can affect your family financially and emotionally for years to come. Compensation may extend beyond funeral and burial expenses to account for lost financial support, benefits, household services, and the deceased’s contributions to the family. Depending on the circumstances, damages may also address the emotional losses that come with losing a loved one, including mental anguish and loss of companionship. We work to understand how your loved one’s death has affected your family and pursue the compensation available under Texas law.
A strong wrongful death claim requires preparation from the beginning. We approach each case with the expectation that it may need to go to trial, thoroughly investigating the facts, preserving evidence, consulting appropriate experts, and developing a compelling case for liability and damages. This preparation can also strengthen your position during settlement negotiations and help ensure that the responsible party and its insurers take your claim seriously.
The financial strain that follows a wrongful death should not prevent your family from seeking legal representation. RMD Law handles wrongful death cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you do not pay attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you. We also offer free consultations, giving you an opportunity to discuss your situation with our legal team and understand your options without adding to your family’s financial burden.
Wrongful deaths can happen in many ways. When a person’s negligence, recklessness, or wrongful act causes a fatal injury, surviving family members may have grounds to pursue a wrongful death claim. In Austin, these cases can arise from traffic collisions, workplace incidents, defective products, medical negligence, unsafe properties, and even criminal acts.
Fatal motor vehicle accidents can involve passenger cars, commercial trucks, motorcycles, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Austin’s busy roadways, including I-35, MoPac Expressway (Loop 1), SH 130, US 183, and Ben White Boulevard, see substantial traffic and can be the site of serious and fatal collisions.
A wrongful death claim may be possible when a fatal crash results from another driver’s distracted or impaired driving, speeding, reckless behavior, or other negligence. Commercial trucking companies and other parties may also be liable when negligent hiring, inadequate training, poor vehicle maintenance, or other failures contribute to a fatal crash.
Workplaces and construction sites can expose employees and others to serious hazards. Fatal incidents may result from falls, equipment failures, electrocutions, trench collapses, struck-by accidents, exposure to dangerous substances, or unsafe working conditions.
When a death occurs because an employer, contractor, property owner, equipment manufacturer, or another party failed to provide a reasonably safe environment, surviving family members may have legal options for seeking compensation.
Dangerous or defective products can cause fatal injuries even when consumers use them as intended. Defective vehicles, unsafe machinery, faulty equipment, and hazardous consumer products may cause deadly fires, crashes, explosions, or other incidents.
Depending on the circumstances, a wrongful death claim may involve a manufacturer, distributor, retailer, or another party in the product’s supply chain. Establishing liability may require examining the product’s design, manufacturing process, warnings, instructions, and history of reported problems.
Patients and their families trust medical professionals to provide appropriate care. When negligent medical treatment causes a fatal injury, the resulting loss can be especially devastating. Examples of medical malpractice that may contribute to wrongful death include surgical errors, delayed or incorrect diagnoses, medication mistakes, anesthesia errors, and other failures to meet the applicable standard of care.
These cases can be complex and often require medical records and qualified experts to determine whether negligent care contributed to the patient’s death.
Property owners and other responsible parties may have a duty to maintain reasonably safe premises and address known hazards. Fatal premises liability incidents can involve dangerous property conditions, inadequate security, swimming pool accidents, fires, structural failures, and other preventable hazards.
If a property owner’s negligence or failure to address a dangerous condition contributes to a person’s death, the surviving family may have grounds to seek compensation under Texas law.
A criminal prosecution does not necessarily prevent a family from pursuing a separate civil wrongful death claim. A fatal assault, drunk driving crash, or other criminal act may also give rise to civil liability when the circumstances satisfy the requirements for a wrongful death action.
Civil and criminal cases serve different purposes. While a criminal case can seek punishment for unlawful conduct, a wrongful death lawsuit can allow eligible family members to pursue compensation for the losses they experienced because of their loved one’s death.
Texas law limits who can bring a wrongful death lawsuit after a loved one’s death. Under the Texas Wrongful Death Act, the surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased are generally the people entitled to bring a wrongful death claim. These eligible family members may file together, or one or more of them may file on behalf of all eligible beneficiaries.
The surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased may bring a wrongful death lawsuit. This includes legally adopted children. The law gives these family members the right to seek compensation for the losses they personally experienced because of their loved one’s death.
Other relatives, such as siblings, grandparents, or extended family members, generally do not have an independent right to bring a wrongful death claim under the Texas Wrongful Death Act. Because eligibility can depend on the family’s specific circumstances, speaking with an Austin wrongful death attorney can help determine who may have the right to pursue a claim.
Texas law allows one or more eligible family members to bring a wrongful death lawsuit for the benefit of all eligible beneficiaries. A surviving spouse, child, or parent does not necessarily have to file a separate lawsuit if other eligible family members are also pursuing the claim.
When multiple beneficiaries are involved, the court may determine how any damages awarded should be divided among those entitled to recover.
Texas law generally gives eligible family members three calendar months after the death to begin a wrongful death action. If none of the surviving spouse, children, or parents has filed within that period, the deceased person’s executor or administrator generally must bring and prosecute the action unless all eligible family members request that the estate representative not do so.
The rules governing wrongful death claims can become complicated when multiple family members are eligible, the deceased left no surviving spouse or immediate family, or the estate is involved. An attorney can review the circumstances of your loved one’s death and explain who may be able to pursue compensation under Texas law.
A wrongful death can affect a family in ways that extend far beyond the immediate costs of a funeral. Under Texas law, eligible family members may seek damages for the financial and emotional losses they experience because of their loved one’s death. The amount and types of compensation available depend on the circumstances of the case, the losses suffered, and the evidence supporting the claim.
Economic damages compensate families for measurable financial losses resulting from their loved one’s death. These damages may include funeral and burial expenses, lost financial support the deceased would have provided, lost benefits, and the reasonable value of household services the deceased would have performed.
Calculating these losses may require looking beyond the family’s current financial situation. An attorney may consider the deceased person’s income, earning capacity, benefits, expected working years, and contributions to the household to determine the financial impact of the loss over time.
The loss of a loved one can also cause profound emotional harm that cannot be measured through bills or paychecks. Texas wrongful death claims may allow eligible family members to seek compensation for losses such as mental anguish, loss of companionship and society, and loss of care, guidance, and counsel.
These damages recognize the personal impact of losing a spouse, parent, or child. The value of these losses can vary substantially based on the family’s relationship with the deceased and the circumstances surrounding the death.
In certain cases, families may also be able to pursue exemplary damages. Unlike compensatory damages, which are intended to compensate for losses, exemplary damages are intended to punish particularly wrongful conduct and deter similar behavior.
Texas law permits exemplary damages in a wrongful death action when the death resulted from a defendant’s willful act or omission or gross negligence. The legal requirements for recovering these damages are specific, and the evidence must meet the applicable standard under Texas law.
Determining the full value of a wrongful death claim requires looking at the family’s financial and personal losses as a whole. An Austin wrongful death attorney can review the circumstances of your loved one’s death, identify the damages that may apply, and pursue the compensation available under Texas law.
Texas law provides two separate types of claims that may arise after someone dies because of another person’s wrongful act: a wrongful death claim and a survival action. Although they can stem from the same incident, they serve different purposes and seek compensation for different losses.
Understanding the distinction can help families determine which legal claims may apply after a fatal accident or other wrongful death.
A wrongful death claim allows certain surviving family members to seek compensation for the losses they personally suffered because of their loved one’s death. In Texas, eligible beneficiaries generally include the surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased.
Damages may address losses such as lost financial support, lost services, mental anguish, and loss of companionship and society. The claim focuses on how the death affected the surviving family members rather than on the injuries the deceased experienced before death.
A survival action is different because it preserves certain legal claims the deceased person could have pursued had they survived. The claim belongs to the deceased person’s estate rather than directly to the surviving family members.
Depending on the circumstances, a survival action may seek damages for the deceased person’s medical expenses, lost wages or earning capacity before death, and pain and suffering experienced between the injury and death. Any recovery generally becomes part of the estate and is distributed according to applicable Texas law.
Yes. A fatal accident may give rise to both a wrongful death claim and a survival action. The two claims can address different categories of losses arising from the same incident.
For example, if a person survives for a period after suffering a catastrophic injury, a survival action may address the medical expenses and pain and suffering they experienced before death. At the same time, eligible family members may pursue a wrongful death claim for the financial and emotional losses they suffered because of the death.
Determining which claims apply—and who has the legal right to pursue them—can depend on the circumstances surrounding the death. An Austin wrongful death attorney can evaluate the available claims and help your family understand its legal options.
A strong wrongful death claim requires more than showing that someone else was responsible for your loved one’s death. Evidence can disappear, witnesses’ memories can fade, and insurance companies may look for ways to minimize their financial responsibility. Our Austin wrongful death lawyers move quickly to investigate the circumstances, preserve critical evidence, identify all potentially responsible parties, and build a case that accounts for your family’s losses.
We conduct an independent investigation into what caused your loved one’s death and who may be legally responsible. Depending on the circumstances, this may involve obtaining accident and police reports, medical records, surveillance footage, photographs, witness statements, electronic data, employment records, and other evidence.
We also look beyond the immediate cause of death to identify contributing factors and potential sources of liability. A thorough investigation can help establish what happened, why it happened, and how the responsible party’s conduct caused your family’s loss.
Some wrongful death cases require specialized knowledge to establish liability and determine the full value of a family’s losses. We may work with accident reconstruction specialists, medical experts, economists, vocational experts, and other professionals whose analysis can strengthen the case.
For example, an accident reconstruction expert may help establish how a fatal crash occurred, while an economist may help calculate the financial support and benefits the deceased would likely have provided over the course of their lifetime.
The financial impact of a wrongful death can extend far into the future. We evaluate both the losses your family has already experienced and those you may face in the years ahead.
This can include lost income and benefits, household services, funeral and burial expenses, and the value of the care, guidance, and support your loved one would have provided. We also account for the emotional losses that may form part of a wrongful death claim under Texas law. By evaluating the full impact of the death, we can pursue compensation that reflects your family’s actual losses rather than focusing only on immediate expenses.
We pursue favorable settlements when doing so serves your family’s interests, but we do not treat settlement as the only option. Our team prepares every case with litigation in mind, building the evidence and legal arguments necessary to present your claim in court if a fair resolution cannot be reached.
This approach can also strengthen negotiations with insurance companies and other parties responsible for the death. If you are looking for a wrongful death lawyer Austin families can turn to after losing someone they love, our legal team is prepared to investigate your case and pursue the compensation available under Texas law.
Losing a loved one can make it difficult to think about legal deadlines, but Texas law places strict time limits on wrongful death lawsuits. Waiting too long can jeopardize your ability to seek compensation, even when you have a valid claim. Taking legal action early gives your attorney more time to investigate the death, preserve evidence, and determine which claims and parties may be involved.
In general, a wrongful death lawsuit in Texas must be filed within two years after the date of the person’s death. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003(b) specifically establishes a two-year limitations period for wrongful death claims.
This deadline applies to the filing of a lawsuit, not simply to beginning discussions with an insurance company. If your family misses the applicable statute of limitations, you may lose the right to pursue the claim in court.
The two-year deadline is the general rule, but certain circumstances can affect how a limitations period applies. Texas law recognizes specific provisions concerning legal disabilities, including situations involving minors or people of unsound mind. Other legal doctrines, such as fraudulent concealment, may also affect when a claim can be pursued.
Claims involving governmental entities can involve additional requirements and shorter notice periods. Because the applicable deadline can depend on the facts and the identity of the responsible party, your family should not assume that you have the full two years to take every necessary legal step.
Starting the legal process sooner can make it easier to preserve evidence and investigate what happened. Accident scenes may change, surveillance footage may be overwritten, electronic records may become harder to obtain, and witnesses may forget important details over time.
Early investigation can also help identify all potentially responsible parties, evaluate the family’s losses, and determine which legal claims may apply. If you have lost a loved one because of another person’s negligence or wrongful act, speaking with an Austin wrongful death attorney as soon as possible can help protect your family’s legal rights.
Losing a loved one because of someone else’s negligence can leave your family facing grief, uncertainty, and financial pressure all at once. You do not have to navigate the legal process alone. An experienced wrongful death attorney can investigate what happened, explain your rights under Texas law, and pursue compensation for the losses your family has suffered.
At RMD Law, we understand that no amount of compensation can undo the loss of someone you love. Our team provides compassionate legal representation while aggressively pursuing accountability from the parties responsible for your loved one’s death.
We offer free consultations and handle wrongful death cases on a contingency fee basis, so you do not pay attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you. While you focus on your family and healing, we can handle the investigation, insurance negotiations, and litigation involved in your claim.
If you are dealing with a wrongful death in Austin, our Austin wrongful death attorney is ready to discuss your case and explain your options.
Contact RMD Law today to schedule a free consultation and take the first step toward protecting your family’s rights.
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To prove wrongful death, you must show that another party owed your loved one a duty of care, breached that duty through negligence or wrongful conduct, directly caused the death, and caused damages to the surviving family members.
Texas follows modified comparative negligence rules. If your loved one was 50% or less at fault, your family may still recover compensation, but the award will be reduced by their percentage of fault. If they were more than 50% responsible, recovery is generally barred.
In most cases, you have two years from the date of your loved one’s death to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Texas. Certain exceptions may apply, so it’s important to consult an attorney as soon as possible.
Not necessarily. A wrongful death claim is a separate civil lawsuit and can proceed whether or not criminal charges are filed or result in a conviction. The burden of proof is also lower in civil court than in criminal court.
Eligible family members, such as the surviving spouse, children, and parents, may file a joint wrongful death lawsuit. If there are disagreements about the claim or settlement, the court can help determine how any recovery is distributed.
Explore our related resources for helpful information about wrongful death claims, legal rights, and the steps families can take after losing a loved one.
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Over $250,000,000 total recent personal injury wins for our clients. Our dedicated personal injury lawyers are eager to fight for you.
RMD Law found an insurance code violation by the defense insurance company in a dog bite injury case. With smart lawyering, we used the violation to argue that the $100,000 policy limits no longer applied.
The insurance company wrongfully refused to pay our client the $100k policy limit in a rollover auto accident. RMD Law refused to take no for an answer, and filed a lawsuit alleging bad faith, ultimately winning millions for our deserving client.
Confidential bad faith settlement – a negligent driver t-boned our client at a red light resulting in severe spinal injuries. The defendant’s insurance company unreasonably refused to pay the $100K policy limit. RMD Law filed a lawsuit seeking the true value of the case. Policy was opened, and the client settled for an amount vastly higher than the original limits.
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Aria is a member of the prestigious Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum®. He speaks English, Farsi, and Spanish.
Nicole has settled hundreds of personal injuries claims, known for her professional, honest, and caring approach.
John is a former defense lawyer turned award-winning personal injury lawyer. He speaks English and Farsi.
Associate Attorney Yen Quach started work at RMD Law in 2017 as a paralegal. Injured clients seeking justice from insurance companies can do no better than Yen.
Shabnam’s passion for the law began with a simple goal: to help people who may not know their rights and stand up for those who need a strong advocate on their side.
