What areas in North Texas do Dallas wrongful death lawyers serve?
If your family lost a loved one anywhere in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, GoSuits is ready to help. While we’re based in Dallas, our legal team represents families throughout the region, from the urban core of Downtown and Deep Ellum out to suburban neighborhoods in Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Carrollton, and Irving.
Fatal accidents happen everywhere in this metro: on I-35E heading toward the Stemmons Corridor, on US-75 (Central Expressway) through Park Cities, on the LBJ Freeway loop, along the Dallas North Tollway, and on neighborhood streets in Oak Cliff, Bishop Arts, and Lake Highlands. Wherever the incident occurred, we bring local knowledge of Dallas County’s courts, area hospitals, and the Dallas Police Department’s investigative procedures to protect your family’s rights.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation’s annual crash report, 3,769 people were killed in Texas traffic crashes in 2025. That same year, Dallas County had the second-highest number of fatal crashes of Texas’s 254 counties (258 fatal crashes and 274 deaths), according to TxDOT crash report data as of April 7, 2026. Behind every one of those numbers is a family forced to make decisions no one is ever prepared to make.
Areas we commonly serve:
- Central Dallas: Downtown, Uptown, Deep Ellum, Oak Lawn, Bishop Arts District
- North Dallas: Lake Highlands, Preston Hollow, Park Cities, North Dallas, Addison
- South Dallas: Oak Cliff, Pleasant Grove, South Dallas, Cedar Hill, DeSoto, Duncanville
- Northern Suburbs: Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Carrollton, Allen, Richardson
- Mid-Cities and Western DFW: Irving, Grand Prairie, Mesquite, Garland, Greenville
Wherever your family is in North Texas, we’re a phone call away and ready to step in when you need legal guidance after a fatal incident.
What is a wrongful death claim under Texas law?
In Texas, a wrongful death claim is governed primarily by Chapter 71 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, often called the Texas Wrongful Death Act. It allows the surviving spouse, children (including adult children), and parents of a deceased person to recover damages when the death was caused by another party’s wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default.
The claim is separate from a survival action, which is also recognized under Chapter 71 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. A survival action belongs to the estate of the deceased and seeks damages the decedent could have recovered if they had lived, such as conscious pain and suffering before death and medical bills from the final injury. In many fatal cases, families pursue both a wrongful death claim and a survival action in the same lawsuit, because each compensates a different category of loss.
One important detail Texas families often miss: siblings cannot bring a wrongful death claim under Chapter 71. Only spouses, children, and parents have statutory standing. If none of them files within three months of the death, the estate’s executor or administrator may bring the claim, unless all of the surviving statutory beneficiaries ask that it not be brought (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §71.004).
What is the deadline to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Dallas?
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003(b) sets a two-year statute of limitations for wrongful death actions, generally running from the date of death. Miss that deadline and the claim is almost always barred, no matter how strong the underlying facts are.
Two years sounds like plenty of time, but in practice it goes quickly. Evidence has to be preserved before scenes are cleaned, vehicles are scrapped, or surveillance footage is overwritten on a 30-day loop. Witnesses have to be located while their memories are fresh. If a government vehicle, public agency, or municipal entity is involved (for example, a DART bus or a city-owned truck), additional notice requirements may apply within months of the incident, not years. The earlier your family talks to counsel, the more options you keep open.
There are narrow exceptions that may extend the deadline, including cases involving minor beneficiaries or fraudulent concealment, but waiting on an exception is rarely the right strategy. Treat the two-year clock as firm and move quickly to preserve evidence.
What damages can a Dallas family recover in a wrongful death case?
Texas law recognizes three broad categories of damages in wrongful death and survival cases: economic, noneconomic, and (in qualifying cases) exemplary damages.
Economic damages
These are the measurable financial losses caused by your loved one’s death. They commonly include lost earnings the decedent would have provided to the family, loss of inheritance, loss of household services (cooking, childcare, home maintenance, yard work, transportation), funeral and burial expenses, and medical bills incurred between the injury and the death. Our team works with forensic economists and life-care planners to project these numbers over the decedent’s expected work-life, factoring in raises, benefits, and the realistic value of services they would have provided to a spouse, children, and parents.
Noneconomic damages
These compensate the human losses, the ones that cannot be reduced to a receipt. They include loss of companionship and society, loss of consortium, mental anguish, and loss of advice, counsel, and care. For surviving children, this also includes the loss of parental guidance during developmental years. Texas juries in Dallas County have shown willingness to award meaningful noneconomic damages when the evidence and presentation give them a complete picture of who the person was and what the family has lost.
Exemplary (punitive) damages
Under Chapter 41 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, exemplary damages may be available when the death was caused by gross negligence, fraud, or malice. Chapter 41 also imposes caps: exemplary damages are generally capped at the greater of (a) two times economic damages plus an amount equal to noneconomic damages up to $750,000, or (b) $200,000. Important exception: those caps do NOT apply to certain felonious conduct listed in §41.008(c), such as intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter. Drunk-driving fatalities are one of the most common contexts where uncapped exemplary damages come into play.
Survival action damages
If the decedent survived for a period of time after the injury (minutes, hours, or longer), the survival action can recover for the conscious pain and suffering they endured, plus medical expenses and lost wages between injury and death. Bringing the survival action alongside the wrongful death claim often increases the total recovery significantly.
Common causes of wrongful death in the Dallas metro
Fatal traffic crashes
Dallas’s freeway grid (I-35E, US-75, I-635, I-30, I-45, and the Dallas North Tollway) sees some of the highest crash volumes in Texas. Fatal crashes involve speeding, distracted driving, impaired driving, wrong-way collisions on access roads, and high-speed rear-end crashes during rush hour. Our team works with accident reconstruction professionals and pulls 911 transcripts, dashcam footage, and Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report (CR-3) data to establish liability quickly.
Commercial truck and 18-wheeler crashes
The DFW region is a national logistics hub. Fatal 18-wheeler crashes on I-20, I-45, and the connector loops are tragically common. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules under 49 CFR Part 395 limit driver hours-of-service, and violations of those rules (along with maintenance failures and improper loading) are often what turn an ordinary crash into a fatal one. Our Dallas truck accident lawyers move within days to send spoliation letters protecting electronic control module data, driver logs, and dispatch records before they’re overwritten or “lost.”
Fatal motorcycle collisions
Motorcyclists on the LBJ loop, Central Expressway, and rural FM roads outside the metro face disproportionate fatality risk. Texas does not require helmets for riders 21 and older who have completed a motorcycle safety course or are covered by qualifying health insurance (Texas Transportation Code §661.003), which complicates the medical picture but does not bar recovery. Our Dallas motorcycle accident attorneys regularly handle fatal cases involving left-turning drivers, lane-change collisions, and rear-end strikes at traffic signals.
Construction site fatalities
OSHA trains construction workers on four core hazards, its “Focus Four”: falls, caught-in or -between, struck-by, and electrocution. With downtown Dallas, Deep Ellum, and the Stemmons corridor in constant build-out, fatal worksite incidents involving scaffolding collapses, crane accidents, trench cave-ins, and electrocutions are an ongoing problem. Our Dallas construction accident team handles third-party negligence claims against general contractors, equipment manufacturers, and subcontractors that move alongside any available workers’ compensation death benefits.
Defective product deaths
Fatalities caused by defective vehicles, defective machinery, defective consumer products, or unsafe pharmaceuticals fall under Texas products liability law. These cases require preserving the product itself, identifying every entity in the chain of distribution, and often working with engineering professionals to demonstrate the defect.
Premises-related deaths
Inadequate-security cases, drownings in apartment pools without proper fencing, fatal falls from unsafe balconies, and fatal assaults in poorly lit parking structures all fall under Texas premises liability. Property owners owe duties that vary by the visitor’s classification (invitee, licensee, trespasser), and the analysis affects every aspect of the claim.
Choosing the right wrongful death legal representation in Dallas
Finding a wrongful death attorney in Dallas while grieving is one of the hardest decisions a family will face. You’re not in a position to interview five firms over coffee. You need a clear, honest answer about what your case looks like and what comes next.
Look for a firm that focuses on injury and wrongful death law (not estate planning, not criminal defense, not divorce) and that has a record of taking serious cases to verdict when needed. Ask how often they actually try cases in Dallas County District Court, how they coordinate with forensic economists and life-care planners, and how they will keep your family informed week to week. A firm that can explain Chapter 71, §16.003, and the Chapter 41 exemplary-damages framework in plain English is a firm that has actually handled these claims.
Local presence matters. A Dallas wrongful death attorney who knows the local civil courts, the judges’ preferences, and area hospitals (Parkland, Baylor University Medical Center, Methodist Dallas, Medical City) can move faster on records requests and anticipate procedural friction. Most reputable firms, including GoSuits, work on a contingency fee basis. Your family pays nothing unless we recover.
Understanding Texas’s comparative fault rule in wrongful death cases
Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule, also called the “51% bar rule,” codified in Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §33.001. If the decedent is found to be 50% or less at fault for the incident, recoverable damages are reduced by their percentage of fault. If the decedent is found to be 51% or more at fault, recovery is barred entirely. This framework differs from California’s pure comparative negligence rule, where recovery is reduced but never eliminated regardless of fault percentage.
That 51% threshold is why insurance defense lawyers work so hard to push fault onto the decedent (claiming they were speeding, distracted, not wearing a seatbelt, or had been drinking). Your family’s case depends on aggressive evidence preservation and a clear factual record. We handle that fight so your family doesn’t have to.
Texas also follows joint and several liability rules under Chapter 33. If a defendant is found more than 50% responsible, they can be held liable for the full judgment, even if other defendants are also at fault. This rule shapes settlement leverage in multi-defendant cases like fatal trucking crashes where the driver, the carrier, and possibly a shipper or maintenance contractor are all in the case.
How GoSuits Dallas wrongful death lawyers can help you
From the moment you call us through the day your family’s settlement clears, we manage the legal side so you can focus on your family. In the first 48 hours, we send preservation-of-evidence letters to potentially responsible parties (commercial carriers, property owners, manufacturers), coordinate with the Dallas Police Department or relevant agency on the investigative file, and start identifying witnesses before their memories fade.
We work with forensic economists, life-care planners, qualified medical witnesses, and accident reconstruction professionals to build a damages model that captures the full picture: lost future earnings, lost household services, mental anguish, loss of companionship, and where appropriate, exemplary damages under Chapter 41. Where the surviving family or other injured parties need medical care, we connect them with local providers who can treat on a lien, with no upfront cost. After settlement or verdict, we negotiate any outstanding hospital and medical liens down so the dollars actually reaching your family are maximized. We also coordinate funeral cost documentation, rental car arrangements where a vehicle was lost in the crash, and probate coordination where needed.
What sets our Dallas personal injury firm apart is our combination of seasoned trial capability and modern case technology. Our trial team has tried cases to verdict in Dallas County District Court, and our attorneys have been recognized by groups including TopVerdict, National Trial Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and Best Lawyers. You’ll receive regular case updates, secure portal access to your file, and prompt responses when you reach out. We also work on a contingency fee basis: nothing up front, and we only recover a fee if we recover money for your family.
When you’re ready, you can schedule a free consultation and we’ll begin protecting your family’s case immediately.
