Any time an accident caused by negligence results in a fatality, any civil and criminal procedures that follow are inevitably going to be more complicated than they would be for a typical personal injury claim. If you try to pursue a wrongful death claim without familiarizing yourself with these differences, you could have a very difficult time getting the outcome you and your family deserve.
How Are Civil Cases Involving Fatalities Similar to Other Personal Injury Cases?
As well as how they are different, it is important to understand how wrongful passing claims and other personal injury cases are alike as well. To begin, a untimely death lawsuit is a type of personal injury claim, so many of the same legal rules and regulations apply to both types of cases. For example, the statute of limitations codified in Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003 sets a filing deadline of two years regardless of whether the accident in question results in minor injuries or fatal ones. However, while a typical statutory filing period could possibly be tolled until a prospective plaintiff actually discovers their injury, the filing period for a wrongful death claim begins on the date the incident occurred that caused the fatality. This could result in a statute of limitation less than two years from the date of death, if the descendant survived the injury for a period before passing away.
