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Available Damages

The compensation associated with wrongful death damages include:

Medical and funeral expenses as a result of the construction fatality.
Financial support provided by the victim lost as a result of his or her death.
The mental and emotional trauma as a result of the family member’s death.
The consortium and love provided by the deceased that cannot be replaced.

Survival Damages

Restitution for survival damages include:

Medical expenses arising as a result of the construction site accident.
Salary lost while the victim would have been hospitalized, or salary that would have been lost by the victim because of long-term disabling injuries caused by the accident.
The mental and emotional turmoil that the deceased would have experienced had he or she survived.
The physical pain and suffering experienced by the deceased.

Hurdles in Obtaining Wrongful Death Case Compensation

Non-subscribing companies have very few options in trying to avoid paying a construction wrongful death claim, because, as stated above, the State of Texas designed workers’ compensation laws to try and reduce the number of lawsuits, and thus strongly encourage companies to subscribe. But even a non-subscriber has a couple of tools it can try to utilize to defeat a wrongful death claim. These are described in detail below.

Sole Proximate Cause

The only true defense a non-subscriber can use to avoid paying a claim is the Sole Proximate Cause defense – that the deceased employee was 100 percent responsible for his or her own death. The only way an employer can successfully prove this defense is by making your family out to be a habitually incompetent employee who was negligent on a regular basis. If successful in proving Sole Proximate Cause, the employer will be able to keep from paying your family the compensation that you deserve. More on this webpage

While it’s true the company did not see fit to pay for workers’ comp insurance, you can guarantee that company will open its checkbook and pay big money to a defense lawyer who is adept at dragging deceased construction workers through the mud. It is imperative you have an experienced and effective attorney by your side to defeat those lowdown tactics and protect your loved one’s reputation.

The Employer/Employee Relationship

A few employers will try and skate the rules by claiming the deceased worker was never really a “true employee,” but a contractor. And in Texas, contractors are solely responsible for their own safety in the workplace. But merely making that claim does not mean that Texas law will view that worker as a contractor. Attorneys with our Law Office\s are very adept at proving that an employer/employee relationship existed by examining pay stubs and contracts and interviewing fellow workers in order to satisfy one of the several standards that prove an employer/employee relationship. These include:

The employer held back Social Security or taxes from the worker’s paycheck.
The employer was responsible for providing the equipment necessary for the worker to perform his or her job.
The worker was expected to follow a set schedule established by the employer.
Your family member either signed a document or performed a task, that limited his or her rights while working for that company. For example, he or she signed a document that stated he or she agreed to comply with an employee handbook or took a drug test.
The worker was not hired for an isolated, single job, but rather for an extended, undetermined amount of time.
Your loved one was paid via salary or hourly wage instead of job-by-job.

What Can You Do?

The first thing NOT to do is to ever, ever give up your right to sue by signing any sort of admission of your family member’s liability for the accident in exchange for a woefully inadequate settlement.

Next, you must act immediately to find a lawyer, or at least as soon as you can. It can be very difficult, and require a lot of proof, to protect the reputation of your deceased loved one.

Every minute you wait to hire an attorney is every minute that evidence disappears – witnesses’ memories become cloudy, and the physical characteristics of the accident scene itself begin to alter. The longer you wait to seek legal help, the more difficult time you’ll have unearthing the evidence that is crucial to prevailing in your case. A detailed investigation needs to immediately be launched; after all, the construction company, insurance provider, and defense lawyers will already be working for the other side. You need a tenacious and passionate attorney working on your side to match them stride for stride.

The wrongful death attorneys at our Law Office have helped the devastated families of construction fatality victims for two decades. We’ve won hundreds of wrongful death cases that resulted in millions of dollars in judgments for our clients. When hired, we will launch an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding your family member’s death and gather the evidence you will need to prove your case. And we will not hesitate to pursue legal action against any liable third parties if necessary in order to ensure all of those responsible for the death of your loved one are held accountable. Our attorneys have either negotiated settlements with, or won lawsuits against, every major insurance company in the United States, so their high-powered operatives are well aware of our courtroom acumen. As a result, there are many times and insurers will choose to make our clients a reasonable settlement offer rather than risk losing a much larger amount of money in a lawsuit. And if they choose not to engage in negotiations, we’ll be well prepared to face them in court and make them regret that decision. If you have lost a family member due to a fatal construction accident, call our Law Office as soon as you can (toll-free) for a free and confidential consultation with an experienced wrongful death attorney and find out how we can help you get the justice and fair restitution your family deserves.