Know the details of filing a wrongful death claim
September 2nd, 2010The original Wrongful Death Statute was enacted in Texas as early as 1860. Since then it has witnessed numerous amendments. Chapter 71 Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code is the present law that outlines the basic dictates regarding wrongful death cases. Here is a brief overview of the directives.
According to the code, filing a wrongful death claim in Houston is possible only if the victim, if alive, had the legal right to file a personal injury case. The requirement is to prove that another’s negligence, carelessness, wrongdoing, default or professional inability was the reason for the death.
The basic idea of a wrongful death case is to prove these points:
- Occurrence of death because of another
- There was a duty to care/strict liability
- There was a breach of this duty/liability
- There are survivors of the deceased
- There were adverse effects on the survivors’ financial position
You need to talk to a Houston wrongful death lawyer if someone in your family died because of another’s fault. The spouse and children have the priority in this regard. If, however, they fail to initiate legal action within 3 months from the death of the individual, the administrator or executor of the deceased estate may also take up this task.
The Texas statute of limitations pertaining to wrongful death gives you two years limit to file a claim. This is an absolute and failing to do so means the survivors miss the compensation they rightfully deserve. While the ‘discovery rule’ applies to personal injury cases, it is not so in this kind of cases involving wrongful death.