How Wrongful Death Damages Are Calculated in Texas

When you lose the support of a loved one due to an untimely death that could have been prevented, Texas wrongful death statutes allow you to recover compensation for multiple losses you experience as a result. But how can you put a value on the life you’ve lost? How do you calculate damages in a wrongful death case? To understand the process, you need to consider the different types of damages that can be awarded, because the methods for calculating these damages will vary. The circumstances that led to the death will also play a critical role in determining the amount of damages awarded.

To ensure that your family receives full and fair damages for a wrongful death, it is important to work with an experienced attorney who understands how to take every factor into account and how to persuasively present your claim backed by solid legal arguments and evidence.

Types of Damages Potentially Available in a Wrongful Death Case

In every personal injury case in Texas, including those where the injuries resulted in  death so that the injured person is unable to file a suit on their own behalf, the court can award three types of damages:

• Economic damages
• Non-economic damages
• Exemplary damages

Not all types are available in every situation, and the methods for calculating the value of each type are different.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are amounts to compensate someone for a loss with a direct economic value. In a wrongful death case, economic damages would include amounts to make up for the loss of wages and benefits the deceased person would have earned, including family medical insurance and pension benefits. The cost of the deceased person’s medical care and funeral expenses would be other examples of economic losses that would be compensated with economic damages. It is a fairly straightforward task to calculate the value of these losses.

Family members can also be compensated for other economic losses that are not as easy to calculate. A skilled attorney will document the cost of services, goods, maintenance, and other factors that would have been provided by the deceased person were it not for the untimely death. These amounts can be added to the award of economic damages.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages provide amounts to compensate the family for the intangible losses they have suffered as a result of the loss of their loved one. This includes factors such as loss of the guidance, care, training, and advice that the deceased person is no longer able to provide. It also includes mental anguish and the loss of love and companionship.

Exemplary Damages

What the Texas wrongful death statute refers to as exemplary damages are known as punitive damages in many other places. Where the purpose of economic and non-economic damages is to compensate family members for their losses, the purpose of exemplary damages is to punish the person responsible. Amounts provided as exemplary damages go above and beyond what you receive for compensatory damages. They are intended to serve as a warning to others that this type of conduct will not be tolerated.

Exemplary damages are available when the death is caused by something that was done (or left undone) intentionally or when the death was due to “gross negligence.” Some examples of situations where your attorney can ask the court to award exemplary damages would be when a death was caused by a deliberate attack like a sexual assault (a willful act) or occurred as the result of a car accident when the driver had excessive amounts of alcohol in their system (gross negligence).

Calculating Damages

To calculate the different types of damages, you need to consider a number of factors. One issue is the age of the deceased person and their life expectancy. That can provide a rough idea of how many more years they would have been earning wages and providing other benefits and services to the family.

It is also necessary to consider the deceased person’s education and abilities. If they had skills to complete maintenance and repairs around the home, for instance, those services have value that should be factored in. Or if the deceased person did the cooking and shopping for the home, or provided child care, the value of those services should be calculated. With regard to children, it is necessary to consider not only the cost of providing a replacement child care provider, but also the value of the years of guidance, love, support, training, and companionship that the children have lost.

Another set of factors to consider is the circumstances involved with the death. Was it a slip-and-fall situation where the deceased person might have been partially at fault for not paying enough attention to their surroundings? Or was it a truck accident where a driver was taking unnecessary risks to meet an impossible time schedule set by the trucking company? In the first example, the amount of compensation might be reduced to account for the deceased person’s actions that contributed to their injuries. In the second example, the court might award punitive damages to send a message to the trucking company that it must set reasonable expectations for drivers.

When determining a monetary amount to make up for intangible factors such as loss of love and support, attorneys will often rely on legal precedent from other cases to establish a baseline amount and make adjustments accordingly. Damages may be limited in some situations. For instance, if a wrongful death is due to medical malpractice, the amounts awarded for intangible losses are generally limited. Exemplary damage amounts are also often subject to limitations.

Get a Free Case Evaluation to Learn More About the Damages Potentially Available in Your Case

With so many factors to consider, the process of calculating the value of a wrongful death claim in Texas can be very complicated. To ensure that your family gets the full value for a wrongful death claim, it is a good idea to work with an attorney with the experience to understand all the issues that apply, the dedication to take the time to fight for each factor applicable to your case, and the tenacity to stand up for full value in negotiations or in court.

At DeKeyzer Law, we work effectively to ensure that our clients receive maximum compensation available to account for each and every loss in their situation. If your spouse, child, or parent died due to someone’s negligence or wrongful behavior, we invite you to contact us for a free case evaluation and consultation to learn more about the value of your wrongful death claim.