Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in Texas After a Truck Accident?

A fatal 18-wheeler crash is commercial litigation from day one, not a bigger fender-bender. Hank Stout, Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and co-founder of Sutliff & Stout, sits down with Abby Arnold to walk a Houston family through who can file, what a Texas wrongful death claim actually recovers, how the company's fault gets proven, and the insurance and deadlines that decide what is collectible. Questions answered in this episode: Who has standing to file a wrongful death claim in Texas? Who can be held responsible after a fatal Houston truck crash? What is gross negligence and why does it matter in a fatal truck case? How does Texas comparative fault affect a wrongful death recovery? What is the deadline to file a wrongful death claim in Texas? Topics covered: standing under the Texas wrongful death statute, survival claims, economic and non-economic damages, loss of consortium, family apportionment agreements, respondeat superior, the federal motor carrier regulations, negligent hiring and negligent entrustment, gross negligence and exemplary damages, oil and gas hauler exemptions, the tower of insurance, derivative claims and comparative fault, and Texas's two-year statute of limitations, across Houston and West Texas. Hank Stout on respondeat superior: "In Texas, the doctrine of respondeat superior means that if you put someone on the roadway, you're responsible for their actions because they're your agent, whether they're your employee or, in the context of a truck driver, the federal motor carrier regulations say that if someone is driving under your DOT number, you are financially responsible for that driver." Sutliff & Stout co-founders Hank Stout and Graham Sutliff are both Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. The firm works on contingency: no fee unless we win.