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Farrah Martinez
Farrah Martinez is a distinguished Houston personal injury attorney dedicated to fighting for individuals who deserve a powerful advocate in their corner. With a reputation built on relentless preparation, compassionate client service, and aggressive courtroom strategy, Farrah approaches every case with the dignity and respect her clients deserve, because she understands that choosing the right legal representation is one of the most important decisions you will ever make.
Houston Wrongful Death Attorney — When Someone You Love Didn't Have to Die
Losing someone is devastating. When that loss was caused by another person's negligence, recklessness, or wrongful act, the grief is compounded by something that is deeply unfair — and legally actionable.
At Her Injury Lawyer, Farrah Martinez represents families across Houston and Texas who have lost a loved one to preventable harm. We handle both traditional wrongful death claims and cases that arise from circumstances that are rarely talked about — the deaths that follow sexual assault, STD transmission, and the devastating psychological harm caused by image-based abuse.
Every family deserves answers. Every wrongful death deserves accountability.
Call 713-853-9296 for a free, confidential consultation. We handle wrongful death cases on a contingency fee basis — no fee unless we recover for your family.
What This Page Covers
What Is a Wrongful Death Claim in Texas?
Under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code Chapter 71, a wrongful death claim allows surviving family members to seek compensation when a person dies as a result of another party’s wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default.
In Texas, the following family members may bring a wrongful death claim:
- Surviving spouse
- Children (biological and adopted)
- Parents
If none of these family members file within three months of the death, the personal representative of the estate may file on behalf of the estate.
The statute of limitations for wrongful death claims in Texas is two years from the date of death. Acting promptly is critical — evidence fades, witnesses become harder to locate, and delays can jeopardize your family’s ability to recover.
Wrongful Death From Traditional Personal Injury — Truck Accidents & Serious Crashes
Some of the most common wrongful death claims in Texas arise from serious vehicle accidents — particularly crashes involving 18-wheelers and commercial trucks. When a loved one is killed in a truck accident, the liable parties can include:
- The truck driver — through distracted driving, fatigue, impairment, or speeding
- The trucking company — through negligent hiring, inadequate training, or pressure to violate hours-of-service regulations
- A freight broker or cargo loader — through improperly secured or overloaded cargo
- A vehicle manufacturer — through defective parts or equipment failures
Trucking companies and their insurers respond to fatal crashes immediately — deploying investigators and legal teams before families have had time to process what happened. Her Injury Lawyer moves just as fast to preserve black box data, driver logs, maintenance records, and all other critical evidence before it can be lost or destroyed.
Compensation Available in Truck Accident Wrongful Death Cases
A successful wrongful death claim in Texas can recover compensation for:
- Loss of the financial support your loved one provided
- Loss of companionship, love, and the comfort of their presence
- Mental anguish suffered by surviving family members
- Medical expenses incurred before death
- Funeral and burial expenses
- Loss of inheritance — the estate your loved one would have built
- Punitive damages, where the at-fault party’s conduct was especially reckless or egregious
When a Death Follows Sexual Assault — Wrongful Death and Survival Claims
This is one of the most painful and least-discussed areas of civil law — and one that Her Injury Lawyer is uniquely equipped to handle.
Not all deaths that result from sexual assault happen at the moment of the attack. Some survivors lose their lives in the days, months, or years that follow — and the connection to the original assault is direct, documented, and legally actionable.
Suicide Following Sexual Assault
Sexual assault causes profound psychological trauma. For some survivors, that trauma becomes unbearable. When a loved one takes their own life following a sexual assault — particularly when the assault was reported, documented, or disclosed — families may have legal recourse against:
- The individual perpetrator, for the wrongful act that set the harm in motion
- A property owner, if the assault occurred due to negligent security on their premises
- An institution — a school, employer, church, or facility — that knew or should have known about the danger and failed to act
- A third party whose negligence enabled the assault to occur
Texas law recognizes that the chain of causation does not break simply because time passed between the assault and the death. We work with medical experts, mental health professionals, and forensic specialists to document that connection and build the strongest possible case for your family.
Physical Injuries That Became Fatal
In some cases, injuries sustained during a sexual assault — internal injuries, head trauma, complications from physical violence — result in death that occurs days or weeks after the attack. These cases are treated as wrongful death claims, with full damages available to surviving family members.
What Families Can Recover
When a death follows sexual assault, surviving family members may be entitled to recover for:
- The physical and psychological suffering your loved one endured before their death (survival claim)
- Your own mental anguish as a surviving family member
- Loss of the relationship, companionship, and support your loved one provided
- Funeral and end-of-life expenses
- Punitive damages against perpetrators and institutions whose conduct was especially egregious
We handle these cases with the sensitivity they deserve — and with the legal aggression they require.
When a Death Follows STD Transmission — Wrongful Death From Infectious Disease
Texas law allows civil claims when one person knowingly or recklessly transmits a sexually transmitted disease to another. In the most devastating cases, that transmission proves fatal.
HIV/AIDS and Other Life-Threatening Infections
When a sexual partner knowingly concealed an HIV-positive status — or recklessly disregarded a known infection — and that concealment resulted in transmission that ultimately caused death, surviving family members may bring a wrongful death claim. The same legal theories that support an STD transmission lawsuit during the victim’s lifetime — civil assault, negligence, and fraud — extend to wrongful death claims brought by the family after death.
What Must Be Established
To bring a wrongful death claim following fatal STD transmission, families generally need to establish:
- The deceased’s partner knew or should have known of their infection
- They failed to disclose that status before sexual contact
- The transmission was the direct cause of the illness that resulted in death
- Surviving family members suffered damages as a result
These cases require medical expertise, careful documentation, and legal skill. Her Injury Lawyer works with infectious disease specialists and forensic experts to build the evidentiary foundation your family’s case requires.
Privacy in Wrongful Death STD Cases
We understand that these matters are deeply private. In certain circumstances, Texas courts permit wrongful death cases involving STD transmission to be filed with privacy protections in place. We evaluate this option in every case.
When a Death Follows Image-Based Abuse — Wrongful Death After Revenge Porn
The non-consensual sharing of intimate images — commonly called revenge porn — is not just a violation of privacy. For some victims, the public humiliation, professional destruction, and relentless harassment that follows is psychologically unsurvivable.
When a loved one takes their own life following the non-consensual disclosure of intimate images, families may have a wrongful death claim against:
- The individual who shared the images
- Online platforms that failed to act on removal requests
- Third parties who redistributed the content after being made aware of its non-consensual nature
- An employer or institution that facilitated harassment following the disclosure
The Legal Connection Between Image Abuse and Wrongful Death
Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code Section 98B gives victims of non-consensual image sharing an explicit civil cause of action. When a victim dies as a result of the harm caused by that violation, the right to pursue civil accountability does not die with them — it passes to their surviving family through the wrongful death and survival statutes.
Her Injury Lawyer handles these cases with complete confidentiality. We understand the sensitivity of the circumstances, and we approach every family conversation with the care and respect it deserves.
Survival Claims — What Your Loved One Was Owed Before They Died
A wrongful death claim compensates the family for their losses. A survival claim is different — it compensates the estate for the harm the deceased person suffered before they died.
In Texas, survival claims can recover:
- Physical pain and suffering experienced before death
- Mental anguish endured in the period between the wrongful act and death
- Medical expenses incurred between injury and death
- Lost wages and earning capacity from the time of injury to the time of death
Where both a wrongful death claim and a survival claim are available, Her Injury Lawyer pursues both — because your family deserves full accountability for every dimension of what was lost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can file a wrongful death lawsuit in Texas?
In Texas, a wrongful death lawsuit may be filed by the surviving spouse, children, or parents of the deceased. If none of these family members file within three months of the death, the personal representative of the estate may file on the estate's behalf.
How long do we have to file a wrongful death claim in Texas?
Texas law gives families two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. This deadline is strictly enforced. If you are uncertain whether your family has a claim, contact us now — waiting can permanently extinguish your right to pursue justice.
Can we file a wrongful death claim if there was no criminal conviction?
Yes. A civil wrongful death claim is entirely independent of any criminal case. The burden of proof in civil court is lower than in criminal court — families do not need a criminal conviction, or even a criminal investigation, to pursue a wrongful death claim. Many of our cases involve circumstances where criminal prosecution was never pursued or was unsuccessful.
What if my loved one's death followed a sexual assault, STD transmission, or image abuse — can we still pursue a wrongful death claim?
Yes. These are among the most important wrongful death cases we handle. Texas law does not limit wrongful death claims to traditional accident scenarios. If the wrongful act of another person — whether physical assault, intentional disease transmission, or image-based abuse — was a direct cause of your loved one's death, your family may have a claim. We will evaluate the specific facts of your situation and give you an honest assessment of your options.
How much does it cost to hire Her Injury Lawyer for a wrongful death case?
Nothing upfront. Her Injury Lawyer handles wrongful death cases on a contingency fee basis — we only get paid if we recover compensation for your family. Your first consultation is always free and completely confidential.
Your Family Deserves Justice. We Are Here to Help You Fight for It.
No amount of money brings someone back. But accountability matters — for your family’s healing, for the truth to be acknowledged, and to prevent the same harm from happening to someone else.
Farrah Martinez and the Her Injury Lawyer team handle wrongful death cases across Houston and Texas with the legal skill, medical knowledge, and personal compassion these cases demand. Whether your loved one was killed in a truck accident, died following sexual assault, lost their life after a preventable disease transmission, or could not survive the aftermath of image-based abuse — we are here, we understand, and we will fight for your family.
Call 713-853-9296 for a free, completely confidential consultation.
No fee unless we win.