Can You File a Wrongful Death Claim for a Workplace Death in Texas?

This article was brought to you by Carabin Shaw Personal Injury Attorneys – San Antonio

When a worker dies on the job in San Antonio, the family’s legal options depend on details most people never think about until tragedy strikes, such as whether the employer carried workers’ compensation and who actually caused the death. The answer is often that a wrongful death claim is available, sometimes against the employer and sometimes against another party entirely. Our San Antonio wrongful death lawyers sort through those options so a grieving family does not settle for less than the law allows.

Texas Workers’ Compensation Is Different

Texas is the only state that does not require private employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance. This single fact changes everything about a workplace death claim. Employers that carry comp are called subscribers, and those that opt out are non-subscribers, and the family’s path to recovery looks very different depending on which one the employer is.

Finding out an employer’s status is the first step, and it is not always obvious from the outside. We confirm it early, because the entire strategy of the case flows from that answer.

When the Employer Carries Workers’ Compensation

If the employer is a subscriber, workers’ compensation generally provides death benefits to the surviving spouse, children, and sometimes dependent parents. These benefits usually cover a portion of the worker’s wages and a set amount toward burial costs. In exchange, comp is normally the exclusive remedy, meaning the family usually cannot sue the subscribing employer for ordinary negligence.

There is an important exception. Texas law allows the surviving spouse and heirs to bring a claim for exemplary damages against a subscribing employer when the death was caused by the employer’s gross negligence. So even when comp applies, a death that resulted from a reckless disregard for worker safety can still open the door to a wrongful death claim against the employer.

When the Employer Is a Non-Subscriber

If the employer opted out of workers’ compensation, the family’s options expand significantly. A non-subscriber can be sued directly for a wrongful death caused by its negligence, and the law strips that employer of the common-law defenses it would otherwise use. The employer cannot argue the worker was partly at fault, cannot blame a co-worker, and cannot claim the worker accepted the risk.

This puts real pressure on non-subscribing employers, because a wrongful death verdict against them can far exceed the limited benefits comp would have paid. Many families are told they have no case because “it happened at work,” when in fact a non-subscriber claim is exactly the opposite.

Third-Party Claims Change the Picture

Regardless of the employer’s comp status, a family can often pursue a wrongful death claim against someone other than the employer who caused the death. On a construction site, that might be a subcontractor, a general contractor, or a property owner. In an incident involving machinery, it could be the equipment manufacturer. If a worker was killed in a vehicle, the at-fault driver and that driver’s employer may be responsible.

These third-party claims matter because they are not limited the way comp benefits are. They can recover the full range of wrongful death damages, and they often reach far more insurance coverage than a single employer’s policy. Identifying every party whose negligence contributed to the death is where much of the real value in a workplace case is found. A family can even pursue a third-party claim at the same time its comp benefits are being paid, so accepting comp does not mean giving up the larger recovery.

The Job-Site Deaths We See in San Antonio

Fatal workplace accidents in the San Antonio area follow familiar patterns. Construction deaths are often caused by falls from scaffolding or roofs, by workers struck by falling materials or equipment, by trench and excavation collapses, and by electrocution. In warehouses and plants, caught-in and crushing incidents with machinery take lives. Transportation and delivery workers die in crashes on the job. In the Texas heat, workers also die from heat stroke when employers skip required rest and water breaks.

Each of these points toward a specific failure, and often more than one responsible party. A collapsed trench may trace to a contractor that ignored shoring rules; a machine death may trace to a missing safety guard the manufacturer should have built in. Pinning down that failure is the heart of the case.

What the Family Can Recover

Through a wrongful death claim, a non-subscriber or third-party case can recover the lost income and support the worker would have provided, the loss of companionship and guidance, and the family’s mental anguish. A survival claim adds the medical costs and conscious pain the worker suffered before death, along with funeral expenses. These amounts typically dwarf the capped benefits a workers’ compensation death claim provides.

The gap between comp benefits and a full wrongful death recovery can be enormous. Comp death benefits replace only a fraction of lost wages and cap the burial allowance, while a wrongful death verdict against a non-subscriber or a negligent third party carries no such ceiling on what a jury can award for the family’s loss. That difference is exactly why it is worth looking past the comp claim to every other avenue of recovery.

Hurt by a Workplace Death in San Antonio? Let Us Explain Your Options.

If you lost a family member in a job-site death, do not assume workers’ compensation is the end of the story. We will determine the employer’s status, identify every responsible party, and pursue the full recovery your family deserves. Call Carabin Shaw at (210) 222-2288 for a free, confidential review. You owe us nothing unless we win compensation for you.