West Texas Wrongful Death Claims
Our Attorneys Will Help To File A Wrongful Death Claim
Death is certainly a part of life, but what if a sudden or unexpected death could have been prevented altogether?
What if a loved one’s death was caused by the carelessness of an individual, the neglect of a corporation, or the malfunction of a product?
An unexpected fatality can become an immense burden on the decedent’s surviving loved ones. It can create financial complications at a time that is also challenging emotionally.
If you have lost a loved one in Odessa and suspect wrongdoing, Carabin Shaw’s compassionate wrongful death attorney will help ensure that your family gets the wrongful death damages and closure you deserve.
Causes Of Wrongful Death Accidents :
The cause of wrongful death accidents can be traced to various sources, and the outcome may vary depending on their particular circumstances. For example, in Texas, personal injury is one possible source for such an accident – this can include car accidents or workplace injuries which are both common caused as a result of negligence. Medical malpractice is another potential reason for these types of deaths as it often occurs due to emergency room mistakes or delayed diagnosis due to negligent doctors who have not been following new guidelines properly. Defective products might also lead someone into a situation where they lose life due to no fault of theirs but because something was designed incorrectly by the manufacturer and caused danger instead of offering protection!
What is a Wrongful Death Case?
To put it simply, a case of wrongful death involves a fatality that occurred due to another person or party’s negligence and/or intention to endanger. A few of the most frequently occurring forms of West Texas wrongful death claims include:
Auto Accidents
This is perhaps the most common type of West Texas wrongful death claim. Commuters, those transporting goods, and everyone sharing the road are endangered when over-scheduling, fatigue or improper training techniques cause accidents. In 2018, pedestrian traffic deaths reached a record high in Odessa, the most ever recorded in a single year in the city’s history.
Medical Malpractice
For a wrongful death claim to be considered wrongful death medical malpractice, there must be the presence of some type of negligence, carelessness, or other failures by a doctor, nurse, or other medical professionals at the expense of a patient’s safety and well-being.
Nursing Home Negligence
According to the Odessa Times, new health studies indicate that while residents may be living longer, the city’s treatment of the elderly lands them in the bottom percentile of Texas counties in terms of health and safety. As residents age and become frailer and susceptible to illness, they should be receiving better care and less negligence, but unfortunately, this is not always the case.
Workplace Accidents
Inhabitants of Odessa work in a variety of different industries, all with their own set of risks and dangers. In order to have a West Texas wrongful death claim related to a workplace accident, you must be able to prove that the hazards which contributed to fatality were somehow caused by negligence or failure to provide a safe work environment.
Types Of Wrongful Death Damages
The surviving family members of an individual killed by the negligence, recklessness, or unlawful actions of another individual may file a wrongful death lawsuit seeking financial compensations from the responsible party. The offending party will have to compensate the deceased’s family for their medical bills, lost wages, and loss of companionship (compensatory damages) . They may also seek to punish the offending party for their recklessness or intentional action (punitive damages).
Compensatory Damages
An award of compensatory damages is intended to compensate a victim’s family for expenses they incurred for medical care, funeral and burial, and other expenses incurred due to the wrongful death. Most often, families of deceased parties prove their compensatory damages in court by submitting receipts for the services and products they paid for. The court may also award exemplary damages to compensate the deceased’s family for the lost benefits that the deceased would have received if they were still alive. According to the victim’s age at the time of death, income losses can extend for decades. Compensation for a person’s housekeeping and childcare will also be included in the compensatory damages. Additionally, damages may be awarded for grief and loss of companionship.
Punitive Damages
The awarded amounts are supposed to punish the defendant since they are more than economic losses suffered by the other party.
Limits on Damages
In wrongful death cases, some states limit the amount of money awarded by a jury in compensatory or punitive damages. A relative of a person killed in an international flight may not recover damages from the airline, Also, workers’ compensation insurance may limit the amount that the employee can recover from a workplace injury.
Wrongful Death Damages Claimable From Insurance Company
While compensation for work-related injuries may be limited, it is almost guaranteed that the survivors will receive some compensation. The following damages are eligible for claim from the party at fault’s insurance company
- Compensation for your pain and suffering.
- Recovering the decedent’s lost earnings.
- Compensation for loss of companionship
- Funeral and burial expenses refund
- Recovering current and future financial losses.
- Reimbursement for the out-of-pocket expenses that you incur
- Indemnification or reimbursement of medical expenses.
Law of Limitations for Wrongful Death Suits
The deceased family has just two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit after their loved one dies in Texas. So, what should they do? It’s best to get that process started as soon as possible. This will give enough time for your West Texas wrongful death lawyer to research and build a strong case against any defendants you might sue because of someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing.
Reasons To Choose Our Law Firm In West Texas
Due to the high stakes involved in wrongful deaths, insurance companies dispatch adjusters, investigators, and attorneys to begin work on the case as soon as possible after the victim’s death. An insurance company’s sole objective is to gather evidence that they can use against survivors and the estate to ensure the payment of compensation. Therefore, you must contact Carabin Shaw as soon as possible after a wrongful death occurs in Odessa.
As part of our expert wrongful death and survival case preparation, our Odessa wrongful death attorneys will:
- Take immediate action to secure the evidence.
- Collect Affidavits of witnesses.
- Download data from the black box.
- Ensure that the vehicles and evidence are not destroyed or modified by sending letters.
- Hire an economist after gathering the initial evidence to estimate the financial loss a family will suffer when the death occurs.
- Establish an estate so that the estate can bring claims for the benefit of the estate’s heirs.
In Carabin Shaw’s law office., we specialize in handling wrongful death and survival matters. Our lawyers have a thorough knowledge of the technical, medical, and legal aspects of such cases. Our goal is to help you begin recovering from your devastating loss by pursuing legal action. We understand the emotional burden of losing a loved one, and we want to help you recover.
Our Odessa wrongful death attorneys will assess your case at no charge. Unless we successfully recover damages from your wrongful death case, we will not be charging you any legal fees. You can schedule a consultation with one of our caring and experienced attorneys by contacting us.
How to Prove a Wrongful Death Case
When navigating West Texas wrongful death claims, there are a few things you and your lawyer must be able to prove to a judge in order to recover full reparations:
As the plaintiff, you must be able to prove negligence or the presence of harm on behalf of the defendant. If it can be determined that you are more than 50% responsible for what transpired, claiming wrongful death can be difficult.
Statute of limitations: Wrongful death cases in Texas have a statute limitations of two years. This means that within two years of the death, you must file your case. There are a few rare exceptions to this rule, but generally, this is the window of time you have to take legal action. The sooner you discuss your case with an attorney, the sooner you will be able to hold these parties accountable in the form of a West Texas wrongful death claim within a reasonable time frame.
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Call: +800-862-1260
Our Odessa Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help: Free Initial Consultation
If you live in Odessa or elsewhere in West Texas and you have been involved in a case of wrongful death, our attorneys at Carabin Shaw can help you prove that yours was indeed a case of wrongful death, and help you secure compensation for your damages.
At Carabin Shaw, our lawyers have more than 20 years of experience handling all types of wrongful death claims.
Contact one of the Odessa wrongful death attorney from our firm today, at our Odessa offices at 800-862-1260, or anytime, toll free, at 800-862-1260.
Frequently Asked Questions
The term wrongful death refers to any death that can be attributed to someone else’s negligence. In a wrongful death case, the party responsible for the death may be held liable for compensation, regardless of whether it was caused by negligence, recklessness, or willful action. In Texas, wrongful death suits can be filed up to two years after the date of the death. Nevertheless, only specified family members are eligible to file a claim.
An individual seeking a wrongful death claim must be a related party to a deceased victim:
- Spouse
- Child
- Parent
- Sibling
- Grandparent
A wrongful death case gives priority to the spouse and children. Parents, siblings, or grandparents have the right to claim in the absence of children or a spouse. An individual’s executor may seek economic damages if he or she has no family members. Texas does not allow siblings to sue for wrongful death. All eligible family members may join a single claim or may file separately if desired.
Generally speaking, an insurance company will be your opponent in an accident injury / wrongful death case. It is the goal of insurance company to deny or minimize injury claims to maximize their profits. The adjusters at insurance companies regularly reject legitimate claims or offer a very small percentage of a claim’s fair value. Our goal is the opposite. When we present our client’s case, we develop a settlement package that permits our client’s case to be valued 10 to 20 times higher than what the insurance companies may offer for the injury claim. If this is the case, our clients can still take home more money even after paying the legal fees. We are 100% contingency-based, meaning we only charge attorneys fees if we collect compensation on behalf of our clients.
The circumstances of a case will determine this. Defendants can include negligent employers, drunk drivers, or healthcare providers. Manufacturers of defective products or car parts may be responsible. In Texas, an experienced injury lawyer knows which parties or parties must be held responsible for causing the death of your loved one.
The majority of my clients who have lost a loved one – a spouse, a child, or a parent – because of wrongful death ask about the length of the legal process. A wrongful death case’s key factor is whether or not the insurance company for the defendant who caused the death is negotiating on behalf of the surviving family members in good faith. It must be made clear that only cases that go to trial are those where the insurance provider is unwilling to reimburse its clients fully and fairly for the horrible and tragic losses they have faced. This is the biggest impediment to a speedy resolution.
