Collinsville Wrongful Death Lawyers
Burress Law has made the healing process from my auto accident seamless. They helped me connect with service providers to ensure my physical and mental well-being was taken care of. They also took time to personally get to know me and handled my case with such care. I would definitely recommend them and would use them again.
Dedicated Wrongful Death Attorneys for Clients in Collinsville, Texas
Contact Us Today
When a close relative dies in an accident that could have been prevented, Texas law allows the surviving family to file a wrongful death claim to recover compensation for various losses. These claims are subject to strict deadlines and rules, so securing legal representation before you file is crucial. For legal assistance, reach out to a Collinsville, TX wrongful death attorney today.
At Burress Injury Law, we have over 200 years of combined experience and a history of successes in our case results, including claims involving fatal accidents. With our case win rate of over 99.9 percent, we have earned a reputation for our fierce advocacy for injury victims and grieving families.
Firm History
Families come to Burress Injury Law at one of the hardest points of their lives, usually within weeks of losing someone to another person’s carelessness. Since 2008, our attorneys have represented Texas families in wrongful death claims, and our multiple locations allow us to serve people in Collinsville, Sherman, Denison, and across North Texas.
A wrongful death case asks a grieving family to deal with funeral costs, missing income, and insurance companies all at once. We take those burdens on, investigating how the death happened, identifying every party responsible, and building a claim around what the family has actually lost. When an insurer or company refuses to accept responsibility, we are prepared to file suit and present the case to a jury.
Proving Negligence in a Wrongful Death Claim
A wrongful death claim in Texas succeeds or fails on whether the family can prove negligence, which the law breaks into four parts: duty, breach, causation, and damages. Take a driver who runs a red light and kills another motorist. Every driver owes others a duty to obey traffic signals. Running the light breaches that duty. The collision causes the death. The family’s losses are the damages.
Real cases are rarely that tidy, and each part calls for its own proof. Breach is shown through the rules that applied, such as traffic laws, federal trucking regulations, or a property owner’s obligation to fix known hazards, along with photographs, records, video, and witness accounts. Causation draws on medical records, the autopsy, and expert opinions that link the negligent act to the fatal injury, since defendants often argue that something else caused the death.
Families sometimes assume a criminal charge is required, but it is not. A civil claim stands on its own, and a family can recover compensation even when a prosecutor never files charges or a driver is acquitted. The civil standard is also lower, since the family needs to show it is more likely than not that negligence caused the death.
How Much Is a Wrongful Death Claim Worth?
Fatal wrecks in and around Collinsville often happen on US 377 and the rural roads that feed into it, where speeds are higher, lighting is limited, and emergency help may take longer to arrive. Passenger vehicles, farm equipment, and commercial trucks share the same pavement, and a lapse in attention can end a life.
In a fatal car wreck, the evidence often includes the crash report, scene photographs, vehicle damage, and data stored in the cars themselves. Phone records and toxicology results may show whether a driver was distracted or impaired. Truck accidents involve federal regulations, driver logs, maintenance records, and the carrier’s own responsibility for how it hired, trained, and scheduled its drivers.
Motorcycle deaths bring a different problem, since insurers often suggest the rider shared blame. A rider has no protective frame, and insurers sometimes lean on assumptions about speed or risk-taking before the facts are known. Skid marks, witness accounts, and reconstruction analysis can show how the other driver’s actions caused the collision.
Representing Victims of Fatal Car, Truck, and Motorcycle Accidents in Collinsville, TX
Amusement park deaths and swimming pool drownings fall under premises liability law, and they frequently revolve around whether a property owner or operator kept the place reasonably safe. Texas law expects owners to inspect their property, repair hazards, and warn visitors about dangers they cannot easily see.
Ride accidents often come down to maintenance and operation. Investigators look at inspection records, repair histories, operator training, and whether safety restraints and controls worked as designed. Prior complaints or near misses can show that an operator knew about a problem before someone died.
Pool deaths raise their own questions. Missing or broken fencing, unlocked gates, drain covers that do not meet safety standards, and a lack of trained lifeguards can all contribute to a drowning, and children may be drawn to a pool even when they are not meant to be there. Inspection logs, incident reports, and surveillance video are often key. Those records may be kept for only a short time, so a prompt request to preserve them can protect the claim.
Top-Rated and Award-Winning Law Firm with Over $400 Million Recovered for Injured Texans
Attorney Spotlight
Jason K. Burress
Honors & Awards
- Texas Super Lawyer, Personal Injury Law - 2017-Present
- Best Personal Injury Lawyer - D Magazine
- Perfect 10.0 Avvo Rating
- Best Law Firm - McKinney Magazine
- Best Attorney - McKinney/Allen Living Magazine
- Perfect A+ Better Business Bureau Rating
- Elite Lawyer-2019-Present
- AV Rated (highest rating under Martindale-Hubbell)
- Texas Lawyer - 7th Largest Motor Vehicle Verdict in Texas
- Frisco Style - Top Lawyers
Investigating Amusement Park Deaths and Swimming Pool Drownings
When a defective product causes a death, the first step is to keep the product exactly as it was found. A heater, tool, vehicle part, or appliance should not be repaired, thrown away, or cleaned up, since an engineer may need to examine it to explain how it failed.
Photographs of the product and the scene help, and so do packaging, manuals, receipts, and any warnings that came with it. Medical examiner or fire department reports should be kept as well, and so should records of where and when the product was bought. A check for recalls or safety notices can show whether the danger was already known.
Claims against manufacturers, distributors, and sellers can proceed under strict liability, which looks at the condition of the product rather than whether the company acted carelessly. The defect may be in the design, the manufacturing process, or the warnings. Speaking with an attorney before the product leaves the family’s hands keeps important evidence from being lost.
What to Do When a Defective Product Causes a Death
When a defective product causes a death, the first step is to keep the product exactly as it was found. A heater, tool, auto part, or appliance should not be repaired, thrown away, or cleaned up, since an engineer may need to examine it to explain how it failed.
Photographs of the product and the scene can serve as valuable proof, along with packaging, manuals, receipts, and any warnings that came with it. Medical examiner or fire department reports should be kept as well, and so should records of where and when the product was bought. A check for recalls or safety notices can show whether the danger was already known.
Claims against manufacturers, distributors, and sellers can proceed under strict liability, which looks at the condition of the product rather than whether the company acted carelessly. The defect may be in the design, the manufacturing process, or the warnings. Speaking with an attorney before the product leaves the family’s hands keeps important evidence from being lost.
Time Limits to File a Wrongful Death Claim
The time limit to file a wrongful death claim in Texas is generally two years from the date of the death. A lawsuit filed after that deadline is usually dismissed, no matter how strong the evidence is. A survival action on behalf of the estate has its own timeline that must also be watched.
Some situations change the calculation. A claim against a city, county, or other government body may require written notice within a much shorter period, sometimes only a matter of months. Cases involving a minor beneficiary or a defendant who left the state can raise additional questions.
Insurance negotiations do not pause the deadline, and an adjuster who says a decision is coming soon is not extending the time to file. Families have enough to manage in the first months after a loss, so understanding the deadline early gives them room to decide what to do before the window closes.
Frequently Asked Questions About Wrongful Death Cases in Collinsville, Texas
A survival action is a claim brought by a deceased person’s estate to recover for losses the person suffered between the injury and death, such as medical bills, lost income, and physical pain and mental anguish. It is separate from a wrongful death claim, which belongs to the surviving family members. The estate’s representative usually brings the survival action, and it is often filed together with the wrongful death claim.
Texas does not use a strict contributory negligence rule, so a person’s own fault does not automatically bar a wrongful death claim in Collinsville. Texas follows modified comparative fault, which allows the family to recover if the person who died was 50 percent or less at fault. The award is reduced by that percentage, and a person found more than 50 percent responsible recovers nothing, so insurers often try to shift blame to the person who died.
Witness testimony can support a wrongful death claim in Texas by describing what happened before and during the incident. People who saw a wreck, a fall, or a drowning can explain details that photographs and reports do not capture. Co-workers, relatives, and friends can also describe the person’s health, work, and role in the family, which helps show what was lost.
Our History of Successful Case Results
Proving fault in a fatal wreck takes time and evidence, and some of our results show where that work can lead. One stand-out result involved a $4,792,500 recovery for the family of a person killed in an 18-wheeler accident. Fatal truck cases are among the most demanding claims in personal injury law, since carriers and their insurers have significant resources and often contest fault from the first day.
That result is part of our larger track record. Burress Injury Law has recovered more than $500 million for injured clients and families across Texas. While we cannot guarantee any outcome, you can rest assured that we handle all claims with the same careful preparation and diligence.
Burress Injury Law and Community Involvement
Education is one of the causes closest to us at Burress Injury Law. The Underdog Scholarship provides funding several times a year to students who are working toward a degree while dealing with tight finances, jobs, or responsibilities at home.
We also hold an annual charity picnic that brings together neighbors, small businesses, and local non-profit organizations for an afternoon of food and conversation. Our attorneys and staff are there year after year, and it is one of the events we look forward to most.
Our Fee Structure for Wrongful Death Claims in Collinsville, TX
Our fee structure for wrongful death claims is built so that a family never has to find money for a lawyer while grieving. Burress Injury Law works on a contingency fee basis, meaning our fee is a percentage of the compensation we recover and is paid from a settlement or verdict. If there is no recovery, there is no attorney fee, and families pay nothing up front.
Fatal accident cases can be expensive to build, with costs for investigators, medical experts, economists, and court filings. Our firm advances those costs and repays itself from the recovery. Families are welcome to ask questions about fees and expenses before deciding whether to hire us.
Local Court Information for Collinsville Wrongful Death Lawsuits
Collinsville is located in Grayson County, so a wrongful death lawsuit over an incident there is generally handled by the courts in Sherman, the county seat. Many claims settle before trial, but filing suit may be necessary when an insurer or company denies responsibility or offers far less than the loss is worth. The Grayson County Courthouse is located at:
Grayson County Courthouse
100 W Houston St Sherman, TX 75090
Once the lawsuit is filed, the case may continue to develop through investigation, written discovery, depositions, motion practice, negotiation, and possibly trial. The fact that a suit is filed does not mean the case will definitely be decided by a jury, but it does show the defense that the claim will not disappear simply because it was denied the first time.
Contact Our Collinsville, TX Wrongful Death Attorneys Today
Grief and paperwork tend to arrive together after a fatal accident, and few families are ready for both. At Burress Injury Law, we take on the investigation and the legal process to give you the space you need. Call 214-726-0016 or contact our Collinsville, Texas wrongful death lawyers to set up a free consultation.
ON
|
Offices |
From our offices in McKinney, Frisco, Paris, Sherman, Denison, and Celina, we serve clients throughout Collin County, Lamar County, Grayson County and all of Texas, including Allen, Anna, Bonham, Carrollton, Celina, Commerce, Coppell, Dallas, Denison, Denton, Flower Mound, Frisco, Gainesville, Garland, Grapevine, Greenville, Gunter, Heath, Howe, Leonard, Lewisville, Little Elm, McKinney, Melissa, Murphy, Paris, Pilot Point, Plano, Pottsboro, Princeton, Prosper, Providence Village, Richardson, Rockwall, Rowlett, Sachse, Sherman, The Colony, Van Alstyne, and Whitesboro.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
© 2026 Burress Law PLLC. All Rights Reserved.
Apply Now!
Please submit your resume in PDF format via e-mail: admin@mytexasfirm.com. Do not call our office.
Your application should include your resume and a cover letter. Our team reviews all submissions from potential candidates, and we will respond to your email as quickly as possible. If you have any questions about the position or the submission of your resume, please send us an email using the link above.
