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Lakeway Wrongful Death Lawyer
Fighting for Lakeway injury victims
Lost a loved one in Lakeway Wrongful Death?
When a crash on RR 620, Highway 71, or a Hill Country road takes a life, no claim can undo the loss, but Texas law gives your family a way to hold the responsible party accountable and recover for what was taken. A Lakeway wrongful death lawyer at Goldberg & Loren carries that case so your family can grieve. Call us at (512) 254-4424 or visit our Lakeway office for a Free consultation; there is no fee unless we win.
Our Lakeway Wrongful Death Lawyer
Legally reviewed by Matthew Kotzen
A former insurance-defense trial attorney, Matthew Kotzen spent the early part of his career representing insurance companies before switching sides to fight for injured people. He earned his J.D. from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University, is a Lifetime Member of Best Attorneys of America, and is admitted to the State Bar of Texas.
“I spent years building cases for insurance companies. Now I use that same playbook to make sure they pay what they actually owe.”
Goldberg & Loren Fights for Maximum Compensation
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Texas Injury Law at a Glance
| Deadline to file a lawsuit | Two years from the date of the injury (wrongful death: two years from the date of death). Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003 |
| Who can bring a wrongful death claim | The surviving spouse, children, or parents of the person who died. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004 |
| Survival claim | Brought by the estate for what the person suffered between injury and death. § 71.021 |
| Punitive (exemplary) damages | Available only on clear and convincing evidence of gross negligence, malice, or fraud. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.003 |
Who Can File, and When
Texas law is specific about who belongs to the circle of people it lets recover. Only the surviving spouse, children, or parents of the person who died may bring a wrongful death claim (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004).
That list is exclusive. Siblings, grandparents, cousins, and unmarried partners are not eligible beneficiaries, no matter how close the relationship was in life. Adopted children stand in the same position as biological children, and adoptive parents in the same position as biological parents, but the statute stops there.
Any one of those eligible family members may file the claim for the benefit of all of them, so a Lake Travis family does not need to agree on a single representative before the case begins.
If the eligible relatives do not file within three months of the death, the executor or administrator of the estate may bring the claim on their behalf, unless the family expressly asks the representative not to (§ 71.004(c)). That three-month provision is a practical backstop, not a second deadline. A separate survival claim, brought by the estate, recovers for what your loved one suffered between the injury and death (§ 71.021).
Both generally must be filed within two years of the death (§ 16.003(b)), measured from the date of death rather than the date of the crash, which matters when a loved one survives for a time in the hospital before passing.
What a Family Can Recover
Texas recognizes that the loss after a preventable death is both economic and human, and it allows recovery for both. On the economic side, a family can recover funeral and burial costs, the financial support the deceased reasonably would have contributed over a lifetime, the value of the household services they performed, and the loss of inheritance the family would otherwise have received.
On the human side, Texas allows recovery for the loss of love, companionship, comfort, society, and guidance, and for the family’s own mental anguish. A surviving spouse may recover for the loss of the marital relationship, children for the loss of a parent’s nurture and guidance, and parents for the loss of a child’s companionship. We build the full picture of the loss rather than accepting an insurer’s first, low number.
Where the conduct behind the death rises to gross negligence, malice, or fraud, Texas also allows exemplary (punitive) damages, but only on clear and convincing evidence, a higher standard than the ordinary preponderance used for the rest of the case (§ 41.003).
Exemplary damages are meant to punish and deter rather than to compensate, and Texas caps them at the greater of $200,000 or two times economic damages plus non-economic damages up to $750,000 (§ 41.008(b)).
That cap does not apply when the death resulted from certain felonies, including intoxication manslaughter, in which case the exemplary damages are not limited by the statutory ceiling (§ 41.008(c)).
Two Claims That Run Together
Texas splits the harm after a fatal accident into two separate claims, and a strong Lake Travis case often includes both. The wrongful death claim belongs to the surviving spouse, children, and parents and compensates them for their own loss, the financial support the deceased would have provided, the value of lost inheritance, and the love, companionship, comfort, and guidance the family will now live without (§ 71.002). The survival claim is different in character.
It is not the family’s claim at all; it is the claim the injured person could have brought had they lived, which the law allows the estate to pursue after death (§ 71.021).
Through the survival action, the estate recovers for what your loved one personally endured between the moment of injury and the moment of death, their conscious physical pain and mental anguish, the medical bills that piled up during any period of treatment at a hospital like Dell Seton, lost earnings in that window, and funeral and burial expenses.
Consider someone who survives for several days at a Level I trauma center after a Highway 71 crash before passing; the pain endured and the bills incurred during those days belong to the survival claim, while the family’s loss of support belongs to the wrongful death claim.
Filed together, the two claims capture the full scope of the harm, what the family lost going forward and what the person suffered before they were gone.
Where Lake Travis Crash Victims Get Treated
Getting examined quickly protects both your health and your claim, adrenaline hides injuries, and a gap in treatment is the first thing an adjuster uses against you. Lake Travis crash victims are usually treated at:
- Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Lakeway (100 Medical Pkwy, Lakeway), a 24/7 emergency room right in Lakeway.
- Dell Seton Medical Center at UT (1500 Red River St, Austin), the only Level I Trauma Center in Central Texas, where the most serious Lake Travis and Hill Country crashes are transported.
- Across the metro, St. David’s and Ascension Seton emergency departments also treat Austin-area injury patients.
Keep every discharge summary, imaging disc, and bill, those records are the backbone of what your claim is worth.
Wrongful Death vs. Survival Claim
| Wrongful death claim | Compensates the family, lost support, lost companionship and guidance, mental anguish, and funeral costs. Brought by the spouse, children, or parents (§ 71.004). |
| Survival claim | Compensates the estate for what the person endured before death, their conscious pain, medical bills, and lost earnings between injury and death (§ 71.021). |
In an ordinary fatal-crash case, Texas places no cap on a family’s wrongful-death damages. The widely discussed Texas damage caps apply to medical-malpractice claims under Chapter 74 and to claims against governmental entities under the Texas Tort Claims Act in Chapter 101, not to a standard car, truck, or workplace death, so there is no statutory ceiling on a Lake Travis family’s economic or non-economic loss. The two-year deadline runs from the date of death, and a Lake Travis claim is filed in the Travis County district courts at 1700 Guadalupe Street, Austin.
How a Recovery Is Divided
Because Texas treats the wrongful death claim and the survival claim as two different things, the money they produce is handled differently. Wrongful death damages belong to the surviving spouse, children, and parents, and a jury or judge apportions them among those beneficiaries in shares proportionate to the loss each person suffered, so the split is not automatically equal. Survival damages, by contrast, belong to the estate.
They pass under the deceased’s will if there is one, and under the Texas rules of intestate succession if there is not, which means creditors of the estate may reach that portion while the wrongful death shares generally go directly to the family. When a beneficiary is a minor, a Travis County court supervises how that child’s share is protected until adulthood. These distinctions rarely change whether a family recovers, but they affect who receives what, and they are worth understanding before any settlement is finalized.
What to Do After a Fatal Lake Travis Crash
In the days after a sudden loss, the last thing a Lake Travis family should have to think about is a legal claim, and they should not have to carry it alone. A few steps help preserve what the family is entitled to without adding to the burden. Keep every document that arrives, the crash report, medical records, hospital bills from Baylor Scott & White or Dell Seton, and any correspondence from an insurance company.
Avoid giving a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer or accepting a quick settlement before anyone understands the full value of the claim, because early offers are almost always low and, once signed, releases are final. Let a lawyer handle communication with the insurance company, request and preserve evidence such as vehicle data and roadway video before it is lost, and track the deadlines while the family focuses on each other.
The Lake Travis Crashes That Turn Fatal
The corridors that carry the most speed carry the most tragedy. High-speed stretches of Highway 71 out toward Spicewood, the grades and low-water crossings on Loop 360, and head-on wrecks on RR 620 produce the catastrophic crashes behind most local wrongful-death claims.
Fatal cases also grow out of commercial-truck collisions, motorcycle wrecks on the Hill Country roads, workplace and construction deaths, unsafe premises, and defective products. Each kind of case points toward a different responsible party and a different set of records, which is why identifying the cause early shapes the entire claim.
More than one party can be responsible for a single death, and Texas law lets the family pursue each of them, the driver and the trucking company behind a fatal wreck, or the owner, contractor, and equipment maker behind a workplace death.
Because each usually carries separate insurance, naming all of them can be the difference between a recovery that reflects the loss and one capped at a single policy. No case undoes that loss, but the right one can hold the responsible party accountable and steady a family’s future.
How Fault Is Shared in Texas
Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule, and it matters even in a fatal case. A family can still recover as long as the person who died is found 50% or less at fault; any percentage of responsibility assigned to them simply reduces the award by that share (§ 33.001, § 33.012).
If the deceased is found 51% or more responsible, recovery is barred. Insurers know this rule well and often try to shift blame onto the person who died to cut or defeat the claim, which is one reason preserving evidence early and telling the family’s side of the story fully both matter so much on a Lake Travis case.
Proving a Lake Travis Wrongful Death Case
To recover, the claim has to establish the same core elements as any negligence case. The family must show that the responsible party owed the deceased a duty of reasonable care, that they breached that duty through a wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, or default, that the breach caused the death, and that the family suffered compensable losses as a result.
In a fatal crash on Highway 71 or RR 620, that can mean proving a driver ran a red light, drove while impaired, or was fatigued and inattentive; in a commercial-truck case it can extend to the trucking company through its hiring, training, and maintenance decisions.
Building that proof depends on evidence that is easiest to secure early, the crash report, vehicle black-box data, maintenance and inspection records, surveillance footage, and the accounts of witnesses while memories are fresh.
On a Hill Country road, skid marks wash away, vehicles are repaired or scrapped, and footage is overwritten, so acting quickly protects the case regardless of how much time the two-year statute technically allows.
The Civil Case Is Separate From Any Criminal Case
Families are often unsure how a criminal case and a civil case fit together. A criminal prosecution belongs to the State, and its purpose is to punish the wrongdoer through fines or imprisonment, with any penalty paid to the State, not to your family.
The civil wrongful death case is the separate proceeding where the family’s own losses are actually recovered. Because the two use different standards of proof, the civil claim can succeed even if the driver is acquitted, the charges are dropped, or no one is ever charged at all.
Criminal cases require proof beyond a reasonable doubt, while a wrongful death claim requires only a preponderance of the evidence, a lower bar a family can often meet even when a prosecutor does not pursue, or cannot win, a conviction.
How Insurance Companies Approach the Claim
Behind almost every wrongful death claim is an insurance company whose financial interest runs directly against the family’s. Adjusters are trained to limit what the insurer pays, which in a fatal case often means contacting the family quickly, expressing sympathy, and asking for a recorded statement or a signed authorization before anyone understands the claim.
Early offers tend to arrive before the full scope of the loss is known, and a release, once signed, is final, so a family that accepts a fast payment can give up far more than it receives.
A Lakeway wrongful death lawyer at Goldberg & Loren handles all communication with the insurer, preserves the vehicle data, records, and witness accounts that establish fault, tracks the two-year deadline, and builds the claim to its true value rather than the number an adjuster hopes the family will accept. The consultation is free, and because the firm works on a contingency fee, a family pays nothing unless there is a recovery.
Lake Travis Injury Questions People Ask
Areas We Also Serve
Our Lakeway office anchors a Texas-wide personal injury practice. If your crash happened outside the Lake Travis area, our team also helps injured people in:
Legal Sources & References
Texas law on this page is cited to the official statutes published by the Texas Legislature and was last reviewed on August 5, 2026.
- Statute of limitations, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003
- Wrongful death, § 71.004
- Survival action, § 71.021
- Exemplary damages & caps, §§ 41.003, 41.008
- Proportionate responsibility, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 33.001, 33.012
- Texas crash data, TxDOT
- Lake Travis emergency care, Baylor Scott & White – Lakeway, Dell Seton (Level I Trauma)
- Wrongful death & survival actions, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 71.004, 71.021
Goldberg & Loren
211 Ranch Rd 620 S, Suite #230
Lakeway, TX 78734
(512) 254-4424
Serving Lakeway, Bee Cave & the Lake Travis area
When a family in Lakeway loses someone to another's negligence, they shouldn't have to fight an insurance company on top of their grief. I've spent my career making sure grieving families are treated with dignity — and recover the full measure of what their loss is worth.