Charles J. Argento has represented families affected by fatal injuries in Houston since 1988. He knows that when someone loses their life because of another person’s negligence, the legal questions arrive at a time when a family is already dealing with grief, practical responsibilities, and an unexpected future without someone important to them.
Texas law provides a way for certain surviving family members to hold a negligent person or company financially responsible. Depending on the circumstances, the family may have a wrongful death claim, the deceased person’s estate may have a separate survival action, or both claims may arise from the same fatal incident.
Understanding that distinction matters. The two claims compensate different losses and can involve different parties, even when they are pursued together.
Charles spent the early years of his legal career defending insurance companies before dedicating his practice to representing injured people and grieving families. That background helps him anticipate how insurers investigate fatal claims, dispute responsibility, evaluate damages, and attempt to limit liability.
If your spouse, parent, or child died because of someone else’s negligence in Houston or elsewhere in Texas, call Charles J. Argento & Associates at (713) 225-5050 or contact us online for a free consultation.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in Texas?
After more than 37 years of practicing law, Charles understands that one of the first questions grieving relatives often have is whether Texas law allows them to bring a claim.
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 71 establishes the state’s wrongful death cause of action. Under the statute, the surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased person may bring a wrongful death claim.
These family members may bring the action individually or together for the benefit of all eligible beneficiaries.
If none of the eligible beneficiaries files the claim within three calendar months after the death, the executor or administrator of the deceased person’s estate generally must bring the action unless all surviving beneficiaries request that it not be filed.
Other relatives do not automatically qualify simply because they were close to the person who died. For example, siblings are not included among the statutory wrongful death beneficiaries under Texas law.
Determining who can participate in the claim is an important early step, particularly when a family includes multiple children, divorced parents, adopted family members, or other circumstances that may raise questions about legal relationships.
What Is the Difference Between Wrongful Death and a Survival Action in Texas?
Charles knows that families often hear these terms used together and understandably assume they describe the same lawsuit. Texas law actually recognizes two distinct claims.
A wrongful death claim compensates eligible surviving family members for losses they personally suffer because their loved one died.
A survival action preserves a personal injury claim that the deceased person could have pursued had they survived. Instead of disappearing at death, that claim “survives” for the benefit of the estate.
The difference can be understood by asking whose losses the claim addresses.
A Wrongful Death Claim Belongs to the Surviving Family
The surviving spouse, children, and parents may pursue compensation for losses resulting from the death itself.
Depending on the evidence, those losses can include:
Lost earning capacity.
Loss of care, maintenance, support, services, advice, and counsel.
Loss of companionship and society.
Mental pain and anguish.
Loss of inheritance.
The damages are based on each beneficiary’s individual relationship with the person who died and the losses that beneficiary has experienced.
A Survival Action Belongs to the Estate
A survival action addresses losses the deceased person experienced from the time of the injury until death.
Potential damages can include:
Medical expenses incurred before death.
Lost income before death.
Conscious physical pain and suffering before death.
Mental anguish experienced before death.
Funeral expenses when legally recoverable by the estate.
Any recovery through the survival action belongs to the estate rather than being awarded directly to wrongful death beneficiaries as compensation for their personal losses.
This distinction can become particularly important when someone survives a catastrophic injury for hours, days, weeks, or longer before dying. Medical records, witness accounts, and other evidence may help establish what that person experienced between the initial injury and death.
A family may have both a wrongful death claim and a survival action arising from the same event.
Lost a Loved One in a Wrongful Death?
Our wrongful death lawyer represents clients in Houston, throughout Texas, and across the country. Call 713-225-5050 for a free confidential consultation today.
What Types of Incidents Can Lead to a Houston Wrongful Death Claim?
Charles has handled serious personal injury and wrongful death cases throughout his career, and fatal negligence can take many forms. What connects these cases is not the type of incident but evidence that another person or company failed to exercise the required level of care and caused a preventable death.
Houston’s geography and economy create some risks that are particularly relevant locally. Fatal crashes occur on heavily traveled roads such as Interstate 45 (I-45), the Katy Freeway (Interstate 10), Interstate 69 (I-69), Loop 610, Beltway 8, and other major Harris County routes.
The Houston Ship Channel and surrounding industrial corridor also contain refineries, chemical facilities, terminals, warehouses, transportation operations, and other workplaces where fires, explosions, toxic exposures, heavy equipment incidents, and other catastrophic events can occur.
Regardless of where a death occurs, Charles begins by determining what occurred, who was responsible for preventing it, and what evidence can establish the connection between the negligent conduct and the death.
What Do Texas Fatality Statistics Show?
Charles has represented families after fatal incidents for decades, and statewide data illustrates how many Texas households confront preventable losses each year.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), 4,150 people were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes in Texas during 2024. There were no deathless days on Texas roadways that year.
Fatal crashes involving vulnerable road users also remained a serious problem. TxDOT reported 772 pedestrian fatalities and 585 motorcyclist fatalities during 2024.
Workplace deaths create another significant source of loss. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 557 fatal occupational injuries in Texas in 2024. Transportation incidents accounted for 242 of those deaths, while other fatalities resulted from contact incidents, falls, harmful exposures, fires, explosions, and violence.
Statistics cannot describe what any particular death means to a family. They do, however, show that fatal transportation and workplace incidents remain a significant problem throughout Texas.
What Must Be Proven in a Texas Wrongful Death Case?
Charles’s experience defending insurance companies before representing families taught him that a tragic outcome does not, by itself, establish legal liability. Evidence must connect the defendant’s conduct to the death.
Although the exact legal requirements depend on the circumstances, negligence cases generally require proof of duty, breach, and causation.
The Defendant Owed a Duty of Care
The applicable duty depends on the relationship between the parties and how the fatal incident occurred.
Drivers, for example, have legal duties to operate their vehicles with reasonable care. Property owners can have duties to people lawfully on their premises. Employers and other companies may have obligations involving workplace conditions, while manufacturers may be responsible for dangerously defective products.
Determining the applicable duty is the starting point for evaluating whether someone acted negligently.
The Defendant Breached That Duty
The next question is whether the responsible person or company failed to act as required under the circumstances.
A breach might involve a driver who was speeding, a trucking company that failed to address an unsafe vehicle, a property owner that ignored a dangerous condition, or a company that allowed unsafe practices to continue at an industrial worksite.
Evidence of a rule or safety violation may be important, but the specific legal standard depends on the type of claim.
The Breach Caused the Death
Charles knows causation can become one of the most heavily disputed issues in a fatal injury case.
It is not enough to establish that someone acted carelessly. The evidence must also connect that conduct to the injury and resulting death.
Medical records, autopsy findings, expert testimony, crash reconstruction, physical evidence, and other information may become important when causation is disputed.
What Evidence Can Be Important After a Fatal Incident?
Charles knows that families understandably are not thinking like investigators immediately after losing someone. Unfortunately, evidence can begin disappearing almost immediately.
Vehicles can be repaired or destroyed. Surveillance video may be overwritten. Industrial equipment can be moved. Roadway evidence can disappear, and witnesses’ memories can become less precise.
Depending on how the death occurred, Charles may seek evidence including:
Police crash reports.
Photographs and video.
Traffic or surveillance camera footage.
Witness statements.
Vehicle electronic data.
Cellphone records.
Driver qualification records.
Maintenance records.
Workplace incident reports.
Safety and training records.
Medical records.
Autopsy findings.
Medical examiner records.
Product design or manufacturing records.
Complex cases may also require accident reconstruction professionals, engineers, medical experts, economists, vocational experts, or other specialists.
The investigation should fit the case. Evidence needed after a fatal commercial truck crash on I-10 will differ from evidence needed after an industrial explosion near the Houston Ship Channel or a fatal fall at a commercial property.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for a Wrongful Death?
Charles’s experience with complex injury cases has taught him not to assume that the person most visibly connected to a fatal incident is necessarily the only party legally responsible.
A commercial truck crash, for example, may require investigation of the driver, motor carrier, maintenance company, cargo-loading company, or another business. An industrial death may involve an employer, a contractor, an equipment manufacturer, a property owner, or several companies working at the same location.
Potential defendants can include:
Negligent drivers.
Commercial trucking companies.
Employers in circumstances permitting a lawsuit.
Contractors and subcontractors.
Property owners.
Product manufacturers.
Equipment manufacturers.
Businesses.
Other individuals or entities whose conduct contributed to the death.
Identifying every responsible party also matters when considering insurance coverage and the financial resources available to compensate the family.
Charles investigates those relationships rather than assuming a single insurance policy represents the full scope of the case.
What Compensation Can Be Recovered in a Texas Wrongful Death Claim?
Charles knows there is no financial calculation that can replace a spouse, parent, or child. The purpose of wrongful death damages is not to put a price on a person’s life. Texas law instead allows eligible family members to seek compensation for legally recognized losses caused by the death.
Depending on the relationship and evidence, damages may include:
Lost earning capacity.
Lost care, maintenance, services, support, advice, and counsel.
Loss of companionship and society.
Mental pain and anguish.
Loss of inheritance.
The amount depends on the evidence and the losses suffered by each beneficiary.
Economic evidence may examine the deceased person’s age, health, employment, income, career trajectory, benefits, and expected contributions to the family. An economist or other expert may be appropriate when calculating significant future financial losses.
Non-economic damages require a different type of proof. The relationship between the deceased person and each beneficiary can become central when evaluating loss of companionship and mental anguish.
Are Wrongful Death Damages Divided Equally Among Family Members?
Charles knows families may assume that any recovery is divided equally among the surviving spouse, children, and parents. Texas law does not require an automatic equal division.
When a wrongful death case is tried, the jury determines the damages sustained by the beneficiaries and divides the award among them in proportion to the injury each suffered.
That makes each beneficiary’s relationship and losses relevant.
A surviving spouse who shared a household and finances with the deceased person may have different losses from an adult child living independently. Two children may also have different relationships with a parent.
Settlement allocations can likewise require careful consideration when multiple beneficiaries are involved.
Can Exemplary Damages Be Recovered After a Wrongful Death?
Charles has handled cases involving conduct that goes beyond ordinary carelessness. Texas law permits exemplary damages in certain wrongful death cases when the required legal standard is satisfied.
Gross negligence requires substantially more than proving an ordinary mistake.
Whether exemplary damages are available therefore depends on the evidence. Serious misconduct, repeated disregard of known dangers, or other particularly egregious circumstances may warrant investigation, but the facts must support the heightened legal standard.
How Do Insurance Policy Limits Affect a Wrongful Death Case?
Charles’s years working for insurance companies before representing injured people give him insight into another practical issue families may encounter: identifying how much insurance coverage actually applies.
A liability insurance policy generally has limits establishing the maximum amount the insurer will pay under the applicable coverage. In a catastrophic or fatal case, the family’s losses can exceed the limits of a single policy.
That is another reason Charles investigates all potentially responsible parties and applicable insurance coverage.
A commercial vehicle crash might involve coverage that differs from that of an ordinary passenger vehicle collision. A business or property owner may have commercial liability insurance. Multiple defendants may mean multiple policies, depending on the facts and the policy language.
Understanding the available coverage is part of evaluating the case, but policy limits do not determine the family’s actual damages.
How Long Do Families Have to File a Texas Wrongful Death Lawsuit?
Charles has seen how quickly months can pass while a family is grieving and dealing with everything that follows a death. Texas law nevertheless imposes deadlines on wrongful death and survival claims.
Texas generally provides a two-year statute of limitations for wrongful death actions. The applicable deadline usually runs from the date of death, although particular circumstances can affect how limitations are calculated.
Survival actions can raise additional timing considerations because they preserve the deceased’s cause of action.
Claims involving governmental entities may also require special notices substantially earlier than the ordinary statute of limitations.
Families should not assume that having two years means there is no reason to act sooner. Evidence preservation often creates a much more immediate concern.
Filing a Wrongful Death or Survival Case in Harris County
Charles has spent his legal career practicing in Houston, so he understands that families may have questions not only about Texas law but also about where a case actually proceeds.
A Houston wrongful death lawsuit may be filed in a Harris County district court when Harris County is a proper venue under Texas law. The appropriate court and venue depend on the defendants and circumstances of the case, so not every Houston-area wrongful death action will necessarily proceed in the same courthouse.
A survival action creates an additional estate issue.
Because the survival claim belongs to the deceased person’s estate, an executor, administrator, or other person with appropriate legal authority generally acts on behalf of the estate. If no estate has been opened, probate proceedings may be necessary before the survival claim can proceed in the appropriate capacity.
Harris County has dedicated probate courts that handle estate administration and related matters.
Families should not assume they must resolve every probate question before speaking with a wrongful death attorney. Charles can identify whether an estate representative will be needed and coordinate the injury litigation with the probate issues involved in pursuing a survival action.
What Role Does the Medical Examiner Play in a Houston Wrongful Death Case?
Charles knows that determining precisely how and why someone died can become important when causation is disputed.
In Harris County, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences performs medical examiner functions, including death investigations and forensic examinations in qualifying cases. Records from that investigation may become relevant to a wrongful death or survival action.
Depending on the circumstances, evidence can include:
The autopsy report.
Cause and manner of death findings.
Toxicology results.
Medical records.
Photographs.
Other forensic findings.
Those records do not replace the broader liability investigation, but they can help medical experts and attorneys understand the relationship between the incident, injuries, treatment, and death.
What If My Loved One Died Some Time After the Initial Injury?
Charles understands that not every wrongful death case involves someone who dies at the scene. A person may survive a collision, workplace incident, fall, or other catastrophic injury for days, weeks, or months before dying.
That time between injury and death can make the distinction between wrongful death and survival damages particularly important.
The family may pursue a wrongful death claim for its own losses resulting from the death. The estate may also have a survival claim for losses the deceased person experienced before death.
Medical evidence becomes especially important when establishing whether the original injury caused or contributed to the later death.
Hospital records, physician testimony, autopsy findings, and expert medical opinions may all be relevant when an insurer argues that an intervening medical condition rather than the defendant’s conduct caused the death.
Why Choose Charles J. Argento & Associates for a Houston Wrongful Death Case?
Charles J. Argento & Associates has represented injured people and grieving families since 1988. Before doing so, he defended insurance companies and learned how they investigate serious claims, evaluate evidence, calculate exposure, and develop defenses.
He now uses that knowledge on behalf of families seeking accountability after preventable deaths.
Charles personally reviews cases, develops legal strategy, negotiates with insurers, and litigates when necessary. Families dealing with a significant wrongful death case work directly with the attorney responsible for making those decisions.
His professional recognition includes Texas Super Lawyers, an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell maintained for 22 consecutive years, and a 10/10 Avvo rating.
But wrongful death representation requires more than credentials.
It requires understanding the circumstances that caused the death, preserving evidence, identifying every potentially responsible party, documenting each beneficiary’s losses, determining whether a survival action also exists, and guiding a family through a legal process occurring during one of the most difficult periods of their lives.
Charles has spent more than three decades doing that work.
Talk With Charles J. Argento & Associates About the Loss of Your Loved One
After an unexpected death, you may not know whether you have a wrongful death claim, whether an estate needs to be opened, what insurance coverage applies, or how you are supposed to investigate what happened while your family is grieving.
You do not have to answer those questions alone.
Charles J. Argento & Associates can investigate the circumstances surrounding the death, determine who may be legally responsible, identify the eligible wrongful death beneficiaries, evaluate whether a survival action also exists, and explain what comes next.
If you lost a spouse, parent, or child because of negligence in Houston or elsewhere in Texas, call (713) 225-5050 or contact us online for a free consultation.
Charles J. Argento focuses his practice on serious personal injury, auto accidents, wrongful death, and product liability. With over 37 years of experience, he is known for aggressive representation and securing high-value results for injured clients across Texas. He has earned numerous prestigious awards, including Super Lawyer, AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell for 22 consecutive years, and a 10/10 rating by Avvo.
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Charles Argento Wrongful Death FAQs
The Texas Wrongful Death Statute states that claims can be filed by certain parties if the death is caused by the negligence, carelessness, wrongful act, unskillfulness, or default of another person or corporation. Discussing the loss of your loved one with a Houston wrongful death lawyer will provide the details you need to make an informed decision regarding your eligibility to pursue a case.
Under Texas law, the surviving siblings of a decedent, whether biological or adopted siblings, cannot file a wrongful death claim. Our Houston wrongful death attorney designs strategic claims on behalf of the parents, children, or surviving spouse of the decedent; all of whom are eligible to pursue a wrongful death claim.
Murder charges are designed to criminally punish another person who killed a decedent. These cases take place in criminal courts and are prosecuted and defended by the State and criminal attorneys, respectively. Wrongful death claims are civil cases, represented by a Houston wrongful death lawyer, to pursue compensation to the grieving family for their economic and non-economic losses.
If your loved one has been killed by a negligent drunk driver, their legal troubles may unfold in both criminal and civil courts. Our Houston wrongful death attorney will review the evidence in your case and provide the solutions that are available to you under our wrongful death statutes. The criminal and civil cases will be tried separately, focusing on very different outcomes.
Two years. The clock starts ticking from the date of your loved one’s death. While our Houston wrongful death lawyer understands how important it is to grieve fully after a traumatic loss, we also know that time is of the essence when filing a claim. Civil courts rarely, and only under extenuating circumstances, will allow an extension when filing a wrongful death claim.
At Charles J. Argento, our Houston wrongful death attorney must prove the negligent party was liable for the loss of our client’s loved one, showing that if it were not for their behavior, their spouse, child, or parent would have survived the wrongful act. For example, if the deceased was killed in a car accident, we would have to prove the collision was the result of someone else’s negligence, which could include a drunk driver or a manufacturing defect on the vehicle.
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