Houston Wrongful Death Attorney

When a family loses someone to another party's negligence, the grief is compounded by practical devastation. Lost income. Medical bills from the final days. Funeral expenses. Children who will grow up without a parent. A spouse facing decades alone. Texas wrongful death law exists to hold negligent parties accountable and provide financial recovery for families who are left to rebuild.

David Mestemaker has represented families in wrongful death cases for 37 years. He treats every case with the gravity it deserves — because these cases carry the weight of a life.

Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in Texas

Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 71.004, wrongful death claims can be brought by the surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased person. These family members can file individually or together. If no family member files within three months of the death, the executor or administrator of the estate can file on behalf of the family.

Texas also recognizes a separate "survival" claim, which allows the estate to recover damages the deceased person would have been entitled to had they survived — including pain and suffering from the time of injury until death, and any medical expenses incurred.

Damages in Texas Wrongful Death Cases

Texas law allows recovery for the full range of losses a family suffers. Economic damages include the lost earning capacity of the deceased — what they would have earned over their remaining working life. Loss of household services. Medical and funeral expenses. Non-economic damages include loss of companionship, loss of parental guidance and nurturing, and mental anguish.

Texas does not cap wrongful death damages in most cases (the medical malpractice cap is an exception). Juries in Harris County and surrounding counties have returned substantial verdicts when the evidence clearly shows that negligence caused a death.

Common Causes of Wrongful Death

David handles wrongful death cases arising from every type of negligence. Car and truck accidents are the most frequent cause, but workplace fatalities, industrial accidents, medical malpractice, defective products, and premises hazards all give rise to wrongful death claims. In mass tort cases, environmental contamination and industrial disasters can cause multiple deaths across a community.

The two-year statute of limitations in Texas means families must act within two years of the death to file a claim. Evidence degrades, witnesses forget, and corporate defendants count on families being too overwhelmed by grief to take action. Contacting an attorney early preserves your options.

Texas Wrongful Death Statute in Detail

The Texas wrongful death statute is codified in Chapter 71 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Section 71.001 defines the cause of action: when the death of a person is caused by the wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default of another, the surviving family members may bring a lawsuit for damages.

Section 71.002 establishes that the action is for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse, children, and parents. Section 71.004 identifies the specific beneficiaries who may bring the suit. The beneficiaries can act individually or together. If no beneficiary files suit within three months of the death, the estate's personal representative may file on behalf of all beneficiaries.

Section 71.009 allows recovery of exemplary damages in wrongful death cases when the defendant's conduct meets the gross negligence standard. Section 71.010 limits the defenses available — the defendant cannot argue that the deceased was contributorily negligent if the deceased would have been able to maintain a cause of action had they survived (subject to the comparative fault rules of Chapter 33).

Survival Actions Under Texas Law

A survival action under CPRC Section 71.021 is legally distinct from a wrongful death claim. The wrongful death claim belongs to the surviving family members and compensates them for their losses. The survival action belongs to the estate and recovers damages the deceased person themselves would have been entitled to had they lived.

The survival claim can include pain and suffering experienced between the time of injury and death, medical expenses incurred during that period, and the deceased's lost wages and earning capacity. If there was a period of conscious suffering — even minutes — the estate can recover for that pain.

Both claims are typically filed together and proceed in the same lawsuit. The interaction between them can be complex, particularly when the deceased survived for an extended period between injury and death, accumulating significant medical expenses and enduring prolonged suffering.

Calculating Lost Earning Capacity

Lost earning capacity is often the largest component of economic damages in a wrongful death case. It represents what the deceased would have earned over their remaining work life had they not been killed.

Forensic economists project future earnings based on the deceased's age, education, occupation, career trajectory, historical earnings growth, and published work-life expectancy tables. They reduce the projected future earnings to present value using an appropriate discount rate, accounting for inflation, wage growth, and the time value of money.

Factors that increase the lost earning capacity calculation include young age (more years of lost earnings), high-earning occupation or strong career trajectory, specialized education or skills, and dependent family members who relied on the income. David works with experienced economists who can credibly present these projections to Houston juries.

Wrongful Death from Specific Causes

Each type of wrongful death case has unique characteristics that affect legal strategy. Auto and truck accident deaths typically involve straightforward liability analysis but may require accident reconstruction. Workplace fatality cases require navigating workers' comp subrogation issues and identifying third-party defendants.

Medical malpractice wrongful death cases face the Chapter 74 damage caps on non-economic damages — $250,000 per physician, $500,000 for hospitals. This makes the economic damage model even more critical. Product liability deaths may involve strict liability theories that do not require proof of negligence.

Mass tort and environmental deaths — from chemical exposure, industrial disasters, or contaminated water — require extensive scientific causation evidence linking the exposure to the cause of death. The latency between exposure and death can span years or decades.

David tailors his approach to each type of case, assembling the specific experts and evidence required for the particular cause of death.

The Role of the Estate and Probate

In many wrongful death cases, the deceased person's estate must be opened in probate court before the survival claim can proceed. The estate's personal representative — either named in a will or appointed by the probate court — has the authority to pursue the survival action on behalf of the estate.

If no family member files a wrongful death claim within three months, the personal representative can also file the wrongful death claim on behalf of all eligible beneficiaries. This three-month window is a strategic consideration, not a hard deadline for the family members (who still have two years under the statute of limitations).

The interplay between the wrongful death claim and the estate's survival action requires coordination between the wrongful death attorney and the probate process. David works with probate attorneys when necessary to ensure the estate is properly established and the personal representative is authorized to act.

Children's Claims in Wrongful Death

Minor children who lose a parent to wrongful death have some of the most compelling claims. Loss of parental guidance, nurturing, care, and companionship are damages that juries understand viscerally. Texas courts recognize these as separate and distinct from the surviving spouse's loss of consortium claim.

When minor children are wrongful death beneficiaries, the court appoints a guardian ad litem to represent the children's interests. The guardian ad litem ensures that any settlement fairly compensates the children and that settlement funds are properly managed — typically through a structured settlement or court-supervised trust.

Children's claims also include the loss of the parent's household services, education support, and financial support through the child's minority and potentially beyond. David presents evidence of the parent's involvement in the children's lives to demonstrate the full magnitude of the loss.