Traffic Deaths on Houston-Area Roads
Traffic crashes cause many of the wrongful death claims families bring in Houston. According to Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) county crash data, 503 people died in Harris County crashes in 2025, close to 10 every week.
Behind the Statewide Numbers
Statewide, TxDOT's annual crash facts count 3,769 traffic deaths, including 695 pedestrians and 559 motorcyclists. There was not a single day in 2025 without a traffic death on Texas roads.
Each of those numbers is a household suddenly learning how a wrongful death claim works. Our job is to make that process clearer and to carry as much of it as we can.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Houston?
The surviving spouse, children, and parents of the person who died may bring a Texas wrongful death claim. An executor or administrator may also bring the action under the statutory rule described below. The Wrongful Death Act creates the action for the exclusive benefit of the spouse, children, and parents. Eligible family members include:
- A surviving spouse
- Children of the person who died, whether minors or adults
- Parents of the person who died, including parents of an adult child
Any one of these family members may file for the benefit of all of them, or several may file together. Brothers, sisters, and grandparents cannot bring a wrongful death claim of their own.
Texas law also provides a filing rule for the estate's executor or administrator. If no eligible family member files within three calendar months of the death, the executor or administrator of the estate must bring the action unless every eligible family member asks them not to. This three-calendar-month rule does not take away eligible family members' right to file and is not their statute-of-limitations deadline. Families should speak with a lawyer promptly about who will bring the action and which deadlines apply.
What Counts as Wrongful Death Under Texas Law?
A death is wrongful under Texas law when it results from another person's or company's wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default. The statute's definition also covers the conduct of a company's employees and agents. Common examples include crashes caused by distracted or impaired drivers, unsafe trucking practices, dangerous property conditions, and defective products.
What Your Family Has to Prove
Your family's claim rests on the claim your loved one would have had. Under the Act, that claim exists only if the injured person could have sued had they lived.
In a negligence-based case, the family proves what your loved one would have proved: a duty of care, a breach, and a fatal injury caused by that breach. Defendants may also raise the same defenses they could have used against the person who died.
Evidence such as crash reconstruction, vehicle data, and witness accounts usually carries that burden, which is why we move to preserve it early.
Wrongful Death and Survival Claims Are Two Different Claims
A single death often creates two claims, one for the family's losses and one for the losses of the person who died. Under the survival statute, a personal injury claim passes to the person's heirs, legal representatives, and estate. The two claims differ in important ways:
| Question | Wrongful death claim | Survival claim |
|---|
| Whose losses? | The surviving spouse, children, and parents | The person who died |
| Who brings it? | The surviving spouse, children, or parents, for the benefit of all. If none files within three calendar months after death, the executor or administrator must bring the action unless all beneficiaries request otherwise. This rule does not end beneficiaries' right to file or set their limitations deadline. | The estate's legal representative or, in some cases, the heirs |
| Examples of losses | Lost support, lost companionship, mental anguish | Pain before death, medical bills from the final injury, funeral costs |
Courts usually handle both claims in one lawsuit, but the money recovered from each goes to different people. Damages recovered in the wrongful death claim are not subject to the deceased person's debts.
What Damages Can Families Recover in a Texas Wrongful Death Case?
Compensation cannot replace a person, but it can hold the responsible party accountable and give a family the stability it needs. Texas courts recognize several categories of wrongful death damages, and every case turns on its own facts:
- Pecuniary loss, meaning the care, support, services, and financial contributions the family would have received
- Loss of companionship and society, the love, comfort, and presence the family has lost
- Mental anguish caused by the death
- Loss of inheritance, or what your loved one would likely have saved and left to the family
The jury sets the amount and divides the damages among the eligible family members, so a young child and an adult child may receive different shares. Our role is to show the jury, or the insurer, what your loved one meant to the family in concrete terms.
Exemplary Damages
Exemplary damages are narrower, because they punish conduct rather than compensate the family. Texas permits them when a death is caused by a willful act or gross negligence, proven by clear and convincing evidence.
In most cases, the statutory cap limits the award to the greater of $200,000 or twice the economic damages plus up to $750,000 of non-economic damages. The cap does not apply when the claim rests on certain felony conduct, such as intoxication manslaughter.
How Shared Fault Changes the Numbers
Insurers often argue that the person who died was partly to blame. Texas fault rules apply to the claimant and anyone suing on that person's behalf.
If the jury finds your loved one more than 50% responsible, the family cannot recover. At 50% or less, damages are reduced by that percentage.
For example, if a jury values a family's losses at $1,000,000 and finds a pedestrian 20% at fault for stepping outside a crosswalk, the recovery falls to $800,000. At 51%, it falls to nothing.
Insurance and Policy Limits
Insurance coverage is an important factor in collecting a recovery, but it is not the only potential source of payment or necessarily the limit of a defendant's liability. Texas drivers need only $30,000 per injured person in liability coverage, which rarely matches the loss of a life.
Other potential sources may include the deceased person's uninsured and underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, depending on the policy and circumstances, and commercial coverage where an employer is responsible for its driver's conduct. When a covered employee dies from a work-related injury, workers' compensation benefits are generally the exclusive remedy against the employer. The surviving spouse or heirs of the body may still seek exemplary damages if the employer's intentional act or omission or gross negligence caused the death. Claims against other companies, such as a contractor or equipment maker, may also exist, and deaths on vessels can fall under federal maritime law.
What Is the Texas Wrongful Death Statute of Limitations?
Most Texas wrongful death lawsuits must be filed within two years of the day of death. The clock starts at death, even if the injury happened earlier. Several rules can change that deadline:
- Minor children. Texas generally pauses limitations for a person under 18, which can extend a child's time.
- Survival claims. The survival claim runs from the injury, though the death suspends the clock for up to 12 months or until an executor or administrator qualifies.
- Medical care. A death tied to medical treatment is a health care liability claim, and its two years run from the date of treatment, not the death.
Claims against a government entity move faster. Governmental units must receive written notice within six months, and the City of Houston requires notarized notice within 90 days. Because more than one deadline can apply, we identify every clock that is running during the first conversation.
How a Wrongful Death Case Moves Forward
Most Texas wrongful death cases follow a predictable path, though timing depends on the evidence and the insurers involved. Evidence in a death case can disappear quickly, so the early weeks matter most. Here is what families can expect:
- A first conversation about what happened and which deadlines apply, with no documents needed to start
- Preservation letters for vehicle data, video, phone records, and employer files
- An investigation using the crash report, the medical examiner's findings, and witness statements
- Documentation of each family member's loss through records and testimony
- Negotiation or a lawsuit, often in Harris or Fort Bend County, when an insurer will not make a fair offer
We explain each offer before you decide anything. Clients or authorized representatives make settlement decisions, subject to applicable court approval, including for a minor child's claim.
The GoRo Standard for Wrongful Death Cases
Families need a steady, prepared team when the other side is a commercial insurer. GoRo Law is a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) founded by two military veterans who went on to senior in-house legal roles, and our work follows The GoRo Standard of Integrity, Preparation, and Results.
- Edgar Gonzalez, Partner, grew up in Alief. He is a veteran U.S. Coast Guard Judge Advocate, a trial attorney who led trial teams in complex litigation, and currently serves as General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer.
- Ben Rothchild, Partner, grew up in Katy. He is a veteran U.S. Marine Corps Judge Advocate and trial attorney who served 8 years on active duty, attained the rank of Major, and served as a prosecutor and U.S. Naval Academy professor.
- Nadia Sadeghian Gonzalez, Of Counsel, is licensed in Texas and the District of Columbia and works on injury and accident cases, as well as wills, trusts, and estates. She previously served as director of operations for an international non-profit organization.
Having held senior in-house roles, both partners understand how corporate defendants evaluate a claim from the inside. We take the insurer's calls so you do not have to, and we prepare each case as if it may be tried, because that preparation shapes how an insurer values a claim.
Call (346) 483-2688 or start online intake, day or night, to book a free consultation about your family's options.
