There is no pain quite like losing someone you love. When that loss happens because of someone else’s carelessness, negligence, or recklessness, the pain transforms into something else. Anger. Confusion. A desperate need for justice.
Your loved one should still be here. They should be at family dinners. They should be watching their children grow up. They should be celebrating birthdays and holidays with you. Instead, you are planning a funeral. You are figuring out how to pay bills without their income. You are explaining to children why their parent, sibling, or grandparent is not coming home.
This is where Orange Law comes in. We are a personal injury law firm in Texas and Arizona that specializes in wrongful death claims. We have spent years helping families get justice and compensation when someone they love dies because of someone else’s wrongdoing. We understand your pain. We know that no amount of money will bring your loved one back. But we also know that a wrongful death settlement or verdict can provide financial security for your family and hold the responsible party accountable.
If you have lost someone in a preventable accident, we want to help. Let us handle the legal fight while you focus on grieving and healing.
Attorney Karan Joshi is the founder and lead attorney at Orange Law. With over a decade of experience handling personal injury and wrongful death cases, Karan has dedicated his career to helping families navigate the legal system during the most difficult periods of their lives.
Karan grew up understanding the importance of justice and advocacy. His immigrant parents instilled in him the values of hard work, integrity, and fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves. After earning his law degree, he spent years working at larger firms before deciding to start Orange Law specifically to provide personalized, compassionate legal representation to injury victims and grieving families.
Karan has recovered millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for his clients. But beyond the numbers, he is known for treating every client like family. He returns phone calls himself. He explains complex legal concepts in simple terms. He makes sure families understand every step of their case. Karan and the team at Orange Law believe that when you lose someone you love, you deserve an attorney who cares about your family’s future as much as you do.
In his spare time, Karan volunteers with immigrant advocacy organizations and speaks at community events about personal injury rights. He is deeply connected to the communities he serves in Texas and Arizona and remains committed to being a voice for those who have been wronged.
A wrongful death claim exists when someone dies because another person, company, or organization was negligent, reckless, or intentionally harmful. It is not about natural causes or illness. It is about preventable deaths caused by someone else’s actions or failures.
In Arizona, wrongful death is defined as a death caused by a “wrongful act, neglect, or default” of another party. In Texas, similar principles apply. The key concept in both states is this: if the person who died would have had the legal right to sue for injury had they survived, then the family now has the legal right to sue for wrongful death.
Think of it this way. If someone is injured in a car accident caused by another driver, they can sue for damages. But if that same accident kills them instead of just injuring them, their family can file a wrongful death claim. The claim exists because the person was wrongfully killed.
Wrongful death claims come from many different types of accidents and incidents. Truck accidents kill thousands of people every year on highways. Pedestrian accidents happen in neighborhoods and cities when drivers are distracted or speeding. Motorcycle accidents often result in fatal injuries. Catastrophic crashes kill entire families in seconds.
But wrongful death is not limited to car accidents. People die in workplace accidents when employers fail to follow safety rules. People die in premises accidents when property owners fail to maintain safe conditions. People die from defective products. People die from medical malpractice. People die from crimes and violence.
In every case, the same question applies: did someone’s negligence cause this death? If the answer is yes, the family of the deceased person has the legal right to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
Not everyone in the family can file a wrongful death claim. The law limits who has the legal right to sue.
In most states, the right to file a wrongful death claim belongs first to the surviving spouse. If there is no surviving spouse, then the children of the deceased person can file. If there are no children, then the parents can file. Some states also allow siblings and other relatives to file claims if no spouse, children, or parents are living.
The family does not need to prove criminal guilt. This is a civil case, not a criminal case. The burden of proof is much lower. You only need to prove that the other party was more likely than not at fault for the death. That is the civil standard.
In some cases, the family appoints an executor or administrator of the deceased person’s estate. This person is responsible for filing and managing the wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the family. In other cases, family members can file directly without an estate being involved.
You do not have forever to file a wrongful death claim. Both Texas and Arizona have strict time limits.
In Arizona, you have two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. After that time passes, you lose the right to sue forever. In Texas, the statute of limitations is generally two years from the date of death as well, but this can vary depending on the circumstances.
This is why it is critical to contact an attorney immediately after a loved one’s death. Every day that passes brings you closer to the deadline. Once the deadline passes, no amount of evidence or tragedy will help you recover compensation. The case is gone forever.
Many families do not realize that there are actually two separate types of claims they might have after someone’s death.
A wrongful death claim is filed by the family for the losses they suffered because of the death. This includes the family’s loss of the deceased person’s income, loss of companionship, loss of parental care or spousal support, and pain caused by losing their loved one. The money recovered goes to the family members.
A survival action is filed for any injuries the deceased person suffered before they died. If the person was injured and suffered pain before dying, the claim for that pain and suffering belongs to the deceased person’s estate. This can include medical bills the person incurred before death, pain and suffering experienced before death, and lost wages for the time between injury and death.
Both types of claims can often be filed in the same lawsuit, and Orange Law handles both.
When someone dies because of negligence, the law recognizes that the family has suffered real, quantifiable losses. These losses are called damages, and they can be recovered in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Loss of Income: If the deceased person was working, your family lost their income. If the deceased was young and had many working years ahead, this loss can be substantial. We calculate the person’s expected lifetime earnings and reduce it to present value. A 35-year-old who was earning $50,000 per year and would have worked until age 67 lost approximately $1.6 million in income.
Loss of Benefits:Beyond salary, people receive benefits. Health insurance, retirement contributions, life insurance proceeds. Your family lost access to these benefits because of the death.
Medical and Funeral Expenses: The person who died likely had medical bills before they died. There are funeral expenses, burial costs, and memorial service expenses. All of these are recoverable.
Loss of Parental Care and Guidance: If the deceased was a parent, the children lost a parent. This is one of the most painful losses imaginable. The law recognizes this by allowing recovery for loss of parental guidance, care, supervision, and emotional support that the children will never receive. This compensation acknowledges that children have lost not just financial support but a crucial relationship.
Loss of Spousal Companionship: If the deceased was married, the surviving spouse lost a life partner. This includes loss of companionship, emotional support, intimacy, and the shared life you planned together. It is impossible to put a dollar value on marriage, but the law allows compensation for this loss.
Loss of Consortium: This is a legal term for the relationship between family members. When someone dies, other family members lose the benefit of that relationship. Brothers lose sisters. Parents lose children. Grandchildren lose grandparents.
Pain and Suffering of Surviving Family Members: Your family’s pain, grief, sorrow, and emotional suffering are all compensable. The law recognizes that losing a loved one causes real emotional damage.
Punitive Damages: In cases where the negligent party’s behavior was particularly reckless or intentional, the law allows punitive damages. These are damages meant to punish the wrongdoer and deter similar behavior in the future. If a company knew their product was dangerous and did nothing, punitive damages might apply.
Our team handles wrongful death claims across many different accident types.
Motor Vehicle Accidents: Truck accidents, car crashes, and motorcycle collisions kill people every day. Drunk driving, distracted driving, speeding, and reckless behavior on the road cause fatal accidents that leave families devastated. We investigate these accidents thoroughly to prove the other driver was at fault.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Accidents: When a vehicle hits a pedestrian or cyclist, the driver is almost always at fault. Families of pedestrians killed by drivers deserve justice. We fight for compensation in these cases.
Workplace Accidents: When someone dies at work because the employer failed to provide safe working conditions or follow safety rules, the family can sue the employer. Construction accidents, machinery accidents, falls from heights, and electrocutions kill workers who were just doing their jobs.
Medical Malpractice: When a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other healthcare provider makes a mistake that results in death, the family can sue for wrongful death. Misdiagnosis, surgical errors, medication mistakes, and failure to diagnose serious conditions have killed patients who trusted healthcare providers.
Defective Products: When a product with a design or manufacturing defect causes someone’s death, the manufacturer and seller can be held liable. Defective vehicles, dangerous medications, faulty equipment, and unsafe products have caused deaths that could have been prevented.
Premises Liability: When someone dies on someone else’s property because the property owner failed to maintain safe conditions, a wrongful death claim is possible. Slip and fall accidents, swimming pool drownings, fires, and other accidents on dangerous property.
Criminal Acts: If someone is killed during a crime, the family might be able to sue the criminal directly or anyone who failed to prevent the crime. In some cases, security companies, property owners, or employers can be held liable for murders and assaults that they failed to prevent.
Commercial Wrongful Death: Wrongful deaths caused by businesses, corporations, or commercial entities. These cases are often more complex because they involve larger organizations, multiple parties, and sometimes regulatory bodies. A company’s negligence in maintaining equipment, training employees, or following safety regulations can cause deaths that are preventable.
Step 1: Investigation. We immediately begin investigating the death. We obtain the police report, medical examiner’s report, and any other official documentation. We visit the scene of the accident if applicable. We interview witnesses. We gather photographs and evidence. We obtain the medical records that show what happened to your loved one. We talk to employers, safety inspectors, and anyone else who might have information about how the death occurred.
Step 2: Determining Liability. Based on our investigation, we determine whether someone was at fault for the death. This requires proving that the other party owed a duty to your loved one, breached that duty, and the breach caused the death. We build this case using evidence, expert testimony, and legal arguments. We may hire accident reconstructionists, medical experts, or other specialists to prove liability.
Step 3: Calculating Damages. We work with financial experts and actuaries to calculate exactly how much your family has lost. We determine the deceased person’s earning potential, calculate the present value of lost lifetime income, add medical and funeral expenses, and assign values to pain and suffering and loss of companionship. This calculation is based on real numbers and comparable cases, not guesses.
Step 4: Demand Letter. We send a detailed demand to the responsible party’s insurance company. This demand explains the accident, proves negligence, documents all damages with supporting evidence and calculations, and requests specific compensation. This document tells the story of your loved one and explains why the family deserves full compensation.
Step 5: Negotiation. Insurance companies rarely offer fair money immediately. We negotiate back and forth, using our evidence and legal arguments to push them toward fair settlement value. We are prepared to argue about liability, damages, and the value of your family’s loss. Many wrongful death cases settle during this phase when insurance companies realize we will not accept inadequate offers.
Step 6: Trial. If the insurance company refuses to offer fair compensation, we file a lawsuit and prepare for trial. We present evidence to a jury, call expert witnesses, and tell your loved one’s story in a way that helps jurors understand the true impact of the death. Juries often are moved by wrongful death cases and award substantial compensation when they understand the facts and the family’s loss.
Step 7: Recovery. Once we settle or win your case, you receive compensation. We deduct our attorney fee (typically one-third of your recovery), court costs, and expert fees. The rest goes to the family to help secure your financial future.
Insurance companies make money by paying out as little as possible. Wrongful death claims represent large payouts, so insurance companies fight them aggressively. They hire their own investigators to look for reasons why the death was not really the other party’s fault. They argue that the family cannot prove negligence. They claim the damages are exaggerated. They try to blame the deceased person for contributing to their own death.
Insurance companies also know that wrongful death cases are emotional. They may try to use this against you, hoping that a grieving family will accept a low settlement just to end the process and stop the pain. They may pressure you to settle quickly before you have time to understand your full losses.
This is why you need an attorney who will not back down. We understand insurance company tactics. We have seen them try to minimize liability in hundreds of cases. We know how to counter their arguments with evidence and legal expertise. We will not accept unfair settlements, and we are prepared to go to trial if necessary.
When the person who earned income for the family dies, the financial impact is devastating. Bills still need to be paid. Children still need to eat. The house still needs a mortgage payment. But the family income just disappeared.
Many families are forced to sell their home, pull children out of school, or move in with relatives. Parents become unable to afford their children’s education. Retirement savings are depleted. The family’s entire financial future changes overnight. Some families struggle financially for the rest of their lives after losing the person who earned income.
A wrongful death settlement can restore financial stability. It cannot bring your loved one back. But it can ensure that your children can stay in their home, attend college, and have financial security. It can ensure that a surviving spouse does not have to work three jobs just to survive. It can ensure that grandchildren are not raised in poverty because their parent died.
Every wrongful death case has strict time limits. In both Arizona and Texas, you have generally two years from the date of death to file a lawsuit. After that time passes, you lose the right to sue forever.
But beyond the time limits, the sooner you hire an attorney, the better. Evidence is fresher. Witnesses’ memories are sharper. The scene has not changed. We can begin our investigation immediately while everything is still clear. Evidence can disappear. Witnesses can move away. Their memories fade. Physical evidence at accident scenes is removed or altered. The longer you wait, the weaker your case becomes.
Additionally, the early days and weeks after a death are overwhelming. You are grieving. You are making funeral arrangements. You are trying to tell your children that their parent is gone. You should not be handling insurance companies or trying to figure out how to prove negligence. Let us handle this while you focus on your family.
First: if the death occurred in a traffic accident or suspicious circumstances, make sure the police are involved and an official report is filed. This report will be crucial evidence in your case. Get the police report number.
Second: do not talk to insurance companies without an attorney. Insurance adjusters will call and try to get you to make statements that hurt your case. Tell them you have hired an attorney and they should direct all communications to your lawyer.
Third: gather whatever documentation you can. The person’s birth certificate, marriage certificate, financial records, employment records, medical records, and funeral bills will all be helpful. You do not need to organize them perfectly. Just keep them safe. We will organize everything.
Fourth: call Orange Law for a free consultation. We will listen to your story, answer your questions about wrongful death law, and explain how we can help your family. There is no cost and no obligation. You are not hiring us in that conversation. You are just getting information about your rights.
You do not have to figure this out alone. You do not have to fight insurance companies by yourself. You do not have to navigate the legal system while grieving. Let Orange Law help carry this burden for you.
If your loved one’s death occurred in a specific type of accident, you can learn more about our specialized handling. We handle all wrongful death cases with the same compassion and commitment to justice, but we have particular expertise in Accident involving:
– trucks and commercial vehicles
– Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
– Motorcycle fatalities
– Catastrophic crashes and multi-vehicle accidents
– Workplace accidents and fatalities
– Cases where insurance claims have been denied
For more information and answers to common questions, visit our FAQ section. You can also contact us directly for a free consultation.
If you have lost a loved one due to someone else’s negligence, contact Orange Law now. We offer free consultations with no obligation. We handle cases on contingency, which means you pay nothing unless we win. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Your family deserves justice. Your family deserves financial security. Your family deserves an attorney who cares.
Call us today. We are here to help.
