When Someone Is Arrested After a Fatal Crash in Ector County — Your Family Has Two Separate Cases to Understand
If you are reading this because someone you love was killed in a crash in Ector County on September 8, 2023, and an Odessa man was arrested in connection with that collision, you are standing in a moment no one prepared you for. The phone calls have started. The funeral arrangements are pressing. The news is cycling through the story. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, an insurance adjuster may have already reached out — sounding sympathetic, sounding helpful, sounding like they are on your side. They are not. We need you to understand what is happening, what is about to happen, and what you still have the power to protect.
The arrest changes things. It means law enforcement — the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Ector County Sheriff’s Office, or the Odessa Police Department — concluded that the at-fault driver’s conduct rose to the level of criminal responsibility. That arrest is not your case. Your case is separate. The criminal system will decide whether the driver goes to prison. The civil system — the one your family controls — decides whether the people who caused this death are made to answer for it in dollars, in accountability, and in a public record that cannot be erased by a plea deal.
We are Attorney911 — The Manginello Law Firm. We handle wrongful death cases across Texas, including the Permian Basin. What follows is everything we want you to know before you talk to the other side’s insurance company, before you sign anything, and before another week passes and evidence that would prove your case is legally destroyed.
What an Arrest After a Fatal Crash Means for Your Civil Wrongful Death Case
The arrest of the at-fault driver is the single strongest piece of evidence your family will ever have — and most families do not realize it until the window to use it has narrowed. When DPS or the sheriff’s office determines that a driver’s conduct was not just negligent but criminal, they have already done a significant portion of the investigation your civil case needs. The crash report, the toxicology results, the witness statements, the reconstruction data, the cell phone records — all of it is being collected by the state right now, and all of it is discoverable in your civil case.
But here is what the arrest does not do: it does not compensate your family. A criminal conviction — whether for intoxication manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, or another charge — does not pay for the income your loved one will never earn again. It does not pay for the funeral. It does not pay for the mental anguish of a spouse who wakes up alone, or a child who grows up without a parent, or a parent who buries their own child. The criminal system punishes. The civil system compensates. You need both, and they run on separate tracks with separate deadlines.
The arrest also creates what we call a liability anchor. In an ordinary crash case, the at-fault driver’s insurance company will contest every fact — speed, distraction, intoxication, who ran the light, who failed to yield. When their insured has been arrested, that contest becomes much harder for the insurer to win. The defense cannot easily argue “our driver did nothing wrong” when the state of Texas has already determined the conduct was criminal. This shifts the leverage in your favor, but only if the civil case is built properly and the evidence is preserved before it disappears.
Texas Wrongful Death Law: Who Can File, What You Can Recover, and the Two-Year Clock
Texas wrongful death actions are governed by Chapter 71 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. The law is specific about who may bring a claim and what the claim includes — and getting either of these wrong at the start can cost your family the entire case.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in Texas
Only three categories of people may bring a wrongful death claim in Texas: the surviving spouse, the surviving children, and the surviving parents of the person who died. If none of these beneficiaries exist or none file a claim within three months of the death, the executor or administrator of the deceased’s estate may file the claim — unless the beneficiaries specifically direct the executor not to. Unmarried partners, stepchildren, siblings, and grandparents are generally outside the statutory beneficiary class, no matter how close their relationship was to the person who died. This is a hard line drawn by the statute, and it is one of the first questions we answer when a family calls.
“A person is liable for damages arising from an injury that causes an individual’s death if the person is liable for the injury irrespective of whether the individual is killed by the injury.”
That is the core of Texas wrongful death law — Chapter 71 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. It means if the at-fault driver would have been liable for the injuries they caused had your loved one survived, they are liable for the death those injuries caused. The arrest strengthens that liability, but the legal foundation is the same: negligence that causes death creates liability for that death.
The Two-Year Statute of Limitations
Texas gives you two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. That sounds like plenty of time when you are standing in the first week of grief. It is not. Here is why: by the time the DPS investigation file is complete, the toxicology results are back, the crash report is finalized, and the full picture of the at-fault driver’s insurance coverage and employment situation is known, three to six months can easily pass. By the time experts are retained — a reconstructionist, a forensic toxicologist if intoxication is involved, a forensic economist and life-care planner for damages — more months have burned. The two-year clock is real, and it is unforgiving. Miss it, and the case is over. No exceptions for grief, no exceptions for waiting to see how the criminal case turns out.
Modified Comparative Negligence: The 51% Bar
Texas follows a modified comparative negligence rule with a 51% bar. This means your family can recover damages as long as your loved one was not more than 50% at fault for the crash. If a jury finds the deceased was 51% or more responsible, the family recovers nothing. If the deceased was, say, 20% at fault, the family’s recovery is reduced by 20% but is not eliminated. This is exactly why the at-fault driver’s insurance company will work to pin percentage points of fault on the deceased — every point they can shift is money they keep. The criminal arrest of the at-fault driver makes this defense much harder to run, but it does not make it impossible. We prepare for it from day one.
Survival Damages: What the Estate Can Recover
Separate from the wrongful death claim — which belongs to the surviving family members — Texas also recognizes a survival action. This claim belongs to the estate of the deceased person and covers the damages the deceased could have pursued had they survived: pain and mental anguish experienced between the injury and death, medical expenses incurred before death, and funeral and burial expenses. If your loved one survived for any period after the crash — minutes, hours, days — the survival claim captures what they endured. If death was instantaneous, the survival claim may be limited to medical and funeral expenses, but it still exists as a separate cause of action with its own damages.
Exemplary Damages: When Negligence Becomes Something Worse
Texas allows exemplary damages — what most people call punitive damages — when a defendant’s conduct rises to the level of fraud, malice, or gross negligence. The standard is clear and convincing evidence, which is higher than the ordinary preponderance standard but lower than the criminal beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard. If the at-fault driver was arrested for intoxication manslaughter, the gross negligence predicate is strong: driving while intoxicated to the point of causing a death is conduct that demonstrates a conscious disregard for the safety of others. Exemplary damages are subject to statutory caps in some contexts, but the availability of the claim itself is leverage — it changes the math of settlement because the insurer knows a jury could add punishment dollars on top of compensation dollars.
The Defendant Map: Who Is Actually Responsible and Who Has the Money
This is where many families lose value they never knew existed. The arrested driver is the obvious defendant. But the arrested driver may be the person with the least ability to pay — and the people who actually have the money may be hiding behind corporate structures, employment relationships, or insurance policies the family never knew about.
The At-Fault Driver
The arrested driver is directly liable for the negligence that caused the fatal crash. The criminal arrest anchors this liability. But the driver’s personal assets may be limited, and their auto insurance may be no more than the Texas minimum — $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. One night in a trauma center can exceed that. One death exceeds it many times over. The driver’s policy is the first layer, but it is rarely the last word.
The Vehicle Owner (If Different From the Driver)
If the at-fault driver was operating a vehicle owned by someone else, Texas negligent entrustment doctrine may apply. The owner can be held separately liable if they knew or should have known the driver was unfit — unlicensed, intoxicated, or with a history of dangerous driving. A parent who lets a known reckless driver use their car, a friend who hands keys to someone who has been drinking, or a company that puts an unqualified driver behind the wheel of a company vehicle — each is a negligent entrustment theory that opens a separate insurance policy and a separate source of recovery.
The Driver’s Employer — The Permian Basin Factor
This is the defendant many families miss, and in the Permian Basin, it is the one that can transform a case from a $30,000 recovery into a seven-figure resolution. If the at-fault driver was acting within the course and scope of employment at the time of the crash — driving a company vehicle, traveling between job sites, hauling equipment, running an errand for the employer — the employer is vicariously liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior. The employer’s commercial liability coverage is typically far larger than any individual driver’s personal auto policy, and the employer’s own assets sit behind that coverage.
Odessa sits in the heart of the Permian Basin. The oilfield economy means a significant percentage of drivers on Ector County roads at any given time are working — heading to a rig, hauling water, transporting frac sand, driving between well sites. If the at-fault driver in your case was an oilfield worker on the clock, the employer investigation is critical. Employment records, time logs, dispatch records, vehicle assignment logs — all of these must be preserved immediately, because they establish whether the driver was within the scope of employment. Employers may destroy or alter scheduling records; a preservation letter has to go out the day you call a lawyer.
The Permian Basin oilfield vehicle crash is a distinct category of case from an ordinary car accident. The defendants are different, the insurance towers are different, and the evidence is different. If the at-fault driver was driving a company truck, a water hauler, a frac sand transporter, or any commercial vehicle, the case has a commercial vehicle dimension that requires specific federal regulatory knowledge and specific evidence preservation.
The Dram Shop Defendant (If Alcohol Was Involved)
If the at-fault driver was intoxicated, the Texas Dram Shop Act provides an additional cause of action against the licensed establishment that served the alcohol. To prove a dram shop claim, you must show that the establishment served an obviously intoxicated person to the point that the person presented a clear danger to themselves and others, and that the intoxication was a proximate cause of the crash. This is not automatic — the bar or restaurant does not become liable simply because they served someone who later drove drunk. The proof requires showing the patron was visibly intoxicated at the time of service, which typically requires witness testimony, surveillance footage, receipt records, and server testimony. Dram shop claims have their own evidence preservation urgency: surveillance footage from bars and restaurants is overwritten on cycles that can be as short as seven days. If intoxication was a factor in the crash that killed your loved one, the dram shop investigation has to begin within days, not months.
The Evidence Clock: What Exists, Who Holds It, and How Fast It Legally Dies
This is the single most urgent section of this page. Every piece of evidence that will prove your case is on a clock right now. Some of it is being erased as you read this. The statute of limitations gives you two years. The evidence clocks give you days to weeks.
The DPS Crash Report (CR-3) and Investigation File
The Texas Department of Public Safety investigates fatal crashes in unincorporated Ector County. The CR-3 crash report is typically available within 10 to 14 days. The full investigation file — which includes the investigating trooper’s narrative, measurements, photographs, witness statements, and the basis for the arrest — can take 60 to 90 days. This file is discoverable in your civil case, but you should request it through the DPS Crash Records Information System (CRIS) immediately. The full investigation file is where the liability anchor lives — the trooper’s findings, the contributing factors, the citations issued, and the evidence that led to the arrest.
Toxicology and Blood Alcohol Test Results
If the arrest involved intoxication, blood was drawn. Texas implied consent law governs the chemical testing process, and the results are typically available within 30 to 60 days post-arrest. The blood samples are preserved by the crime lab. Those results are critical for two reasons: they establish the civil liability for negligence per se (driving while intoxicated violates Texas law, and that violation is negligence per se), and they create the gross negligence predicate for exemplary damages. The toxicology results are also the foundation of any dram shop claim — you cannot prove a bar overserved someone without knowing how intoxicated they were.
Vehicle Event Data Recorder (EDR) Data — The Black Box
Modern vehicles carry an event data recorder that captures pre-crash speed, braking, throttle position, seatbelt use, and other vehicle dynamics in the seconds before impact. This data is essential to crash reconstruction — it is the vehicle’s own sworn statement about what happened. But EDR data must be imaged before the vehicle is repaired, sold, or scrapped. Insurance companies may total and dispose of vehicles within weeks of a crash. If the at-fault driver’s vehicle is destroyed before the EDR is imaged, that data is gone forever. The same applies to the deceased’s vehicle — its EDR may contain corroborating data about speed, braking, and impact dynamics. A preservation letter demanding that both vehicles be held pending EDR imaging has to go out immediately.
Scene Evidence: Skid Marks, Gouge Marks, Debris, and Road Conditions
The physical evidence at the crash scene — skid marks, gouge marks in the pavement, the debris field, sight lines, the status of traffic control devices — is cleaned up within hours to days after a fatal crash. The road is swept, the vehicles are towed, and what remains is whatever DPS measured and photographed. If the DPS investigation was thorough, the scene evidence is captured in the report. If it was not — and sometimes it is not — an independent reconstruction team needs to document the scene before weather, road maintenance, or time erases what is left. In Ector County, where I-20 carries heavy traffic and where oilfield truck traffic on US 385, SH 191, and SH 302 adds a dimension of commercial vehicle complexity, the scene can tell a story that the police report does not capture.
Cell Phone Records
If distracted driving contributed to the crash — texting, calling, or app usage at the time of impact — the at-fault driver’s cell phone records will prove it. But carrier retention policies vary, and some carriers purge call detail records in as few as 90 days. A preservation letter to the carrier is required immediately. Cell phone evidence can be the difference between an ordinary negligence case and a gross negligence case — and it can be the evidence that defeats the defense’s attempt to shift fault to the deceased.
Surveillance and Dashcam Footage
Nearby businesses, homes, and other vehicles may have captured the crash itself or the vehicle behavior immediately before impact. Typical CCTV overwrite cycles range from 7 to 30 days. A canvass of the area around the crash scene — identifying every camera within sight line and sending preservation letters to each — has to happen within days. This is not something that can wait until the criminal case resolves. By the time a criminal case reaches trial, every civilian camera within a quarter mile of the crash scene will have overwritten its footage a dozen times over.
Witness Statements
Witnesses to a fatal crash disperse quickly. They may be oilfield workers passing through on a job, long-haul truckers who were never identified in the initial police report, or local residents who saw part of the collision but left before DPS arrived. Their memories fade, their contact information changes, and their willingness to talk diminishes as time passes. Independent witnesses — people not involved in the crash — are the most credible and the most fragile. A witness canvass and statement preservation effort should begin within the first week.
The At-Fault Driver’s Driving Record and Criminal History
The arrested driver’s prior traffic violations, DWI history, reckless driving convictions, or criminal record establish a pattern of dangerous conduct. This evidence supports gross negligence findings, punitive damages, and — if the vehicle owner or employer knew of the record — negligent entrustment and negligent hiring/retention claims. These records are relatively stable but should be obtained early to inform the demand strategy and the scope of civil discovery.
Employment Records and Time Logs
If employer liability is suspected — if the at-fault driver was operating a company vehicle or traveling between job sites — the employment records are the proof. Dispatch records, time logs, vehicle assignment sheets, and scheduling documents establish whether the driver was within the course and scope of employment. Employers may destroy or alter these records, particularly if they sense exposure. A preservation letter to the employer is required immediately if any employment connection is suspected. In the Permian Basin, where oilfield service companies operate on tight margins and tight schedules, the employment relationship can be the difference between a case worth the minimum policy and a case worth multiples of that.
The Insurance Reality: The Money Ladder and What Each Layer Means
Understanding where the money actually sits is half the value of the case. The same crash, with the same injuries, can be worth $30,000 or $2,500,000 depending on which policies apply and in what order they pay.
Layer One: The At-Fault Driver’s Auto Liability Coverage
Texas requires minimum liability coverage of $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for bodily injury. If the at-fault driver carried only the minimum, that is the first and possibly only layer of recovery from the driver’s own insurance. A single death exhausts the $30,000 per-person limit immediately. If multiple people were killed or injured, the $60,000 per-accident cap is split among all victims. This is the floor — and for many families, it is a shockingly low number compared to what they have lost.
But the at-fault driver may carry more than the minimum. Many drivers carry $100,000, $300,000, or $500,000 in liability coverage. Some carry umbrella or excess policies of $1 million or more above their primary coverage. We verify the actual policy limits through direct policy verification — not by taking the adjuster’s word for what the coverage is. The insurance claim process is adversarial from the first phone call, even when it sounds friendly.
Layer Two: Commercial Coverage (If an Employer Is Liable)
If the at-fault driver was acting within the scope of employment, the employer’s commercial general liability or commercial auto policy applies. Commercial policies routinely carry limits of $1 million, $5 million, or more — and commercial vehicle operators may be subject to federal financial responsibility requirements that mandate even higher minimums. If the vehicle was a commercial motor vehicle — a truck over 10,001 pounds engaged in interstate commerce — federal minimum coverage requirements apply, and those minimums are far higher than the Texas personal auto floor. This is why the employer investigation is not a side issue. It is potentially the difference between a case that barely covers funeral expenses and a case that provides for a family’s future.
Layer Three: Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) Coverage
If the at-fault driver’s coverage is insufficient — and with a wrongful death, it almost always is — the deceased’s own auto insurance may include underinsured motorist coverage that stacks on top of the at-fault driver’s limits. UM/UIM coverage is optional in Texas, but many people carry it without realizing how valuable it becomes in a wrongful death case. We examine every policy in the deceased’s household — including policies on other vehicles, policies covering household members, and umbrella policies that may include UM/UIM coverage. This is also the point where the insurance company that seemed to be on your side — your own carrier — can become an adversary, because paying a UM/UIM claim means their money goes out the door.
The Stowers Lever
Texas has a doctrine called the Stowers doctrine, named after a landmark case that established a critical rule: when liability is reasonably clear and a plaintiff makes a settlement demand within the at-fault driver’s policy limits, the insurer must accept that demand or face exposure beyond the policy limits if a jury later awards more. This is leverage, not a guarantee — but in a case where the at-fault driver has been arrested and liability is strongly anchored, a properly framed Stowers demand puts the insurer in a position where refusing to settle within limits risks the insurer’s own money, not just the insured’s. This is one of the reasons why having a lawyer who knows how to build and frame a Stowers demand matters — done right, it converts a clear-liability case from a contested claim into a settlement conversation.
What the Case Is Worth: An Honest Assessment
We cannot tell you what your case is worth without knowing the specific facts — your loved one’s age, occupation, earning history, family structure, the at-fault driver’s coverage, whether an employer is implicated, and the full details of the crash. What we can tell you is the range and what drives it.
At the low end — if the at-fault driver carried only Texas minimum coverage, there is no employer involvement, no commercial coverage, no UM/UIM, and the deceased had modest earnings and no dependents — the recovery may be limited to the $30,000 minimum policy plus any applicable UM/UIM. That is a hard truth, and it is the truth the insurance company is counting on you not understanding until it is too late to investigate other avenues.
At the high end — if the at-fault driver was acting within the scope of employment with a Permian Basin oilfield company carrying commercial coverage, if intoxication supports gross negligence and exemplary damages, if the deceased was a high earner with a young family, and if UM/UIM coverage stacks on top of the commercial policy — a wrongful death case with criminal liability indicators in Ector County can reach a seven-figure resolution. The range is broad because the variables are many. But the variables do not resolve themselves. They are investigated, proven, and argued — or they are left on the table.
The damages in a Texas wrongful death case include: loss of the deceased’s earning capacity (what they would have earned over their working lifetime, reduced to present value), loss of care and maintenance, loss of support and services, loss of companionship and society, mental anguish, and loss of inheritance. Survival damages add the deceased’s pain and mental anguish between injury and death, medical expenses incurred before death, and funeral and burial expenses. If gross negligence is established, exemplary damages may be available on top of all of this. A forensic economist builds the economic loss number; the non-economic damages — mental anguish, loss of companionship — are committed to the jury’s discretion and vary by venue.
Ector County juries have historically trended more conservative than urban Texas jurisdictions like Harris, Dallas, or Bexar counties. This does not mean the case is worth less — it means the presentation must be sharper, the evidence must be tighter, and the voir dire must address jurors’ attitudes about civil recovery in cases where the defendant also faces criminal prosecution. Some jurors believe criminal punishment is sufficient and view civil suits as opportunistic. That attitude must be identified and addressed in jury selection, not discovered for the first time during deliberations.
The Insurance Adjuster Playbook: What They Will Do and How to Counter Each Move
The insurance company for the at-fault driver has a playbook. It is not written down for you to see, but it is predictable because we have sat on the other side of it. Lupe Peña spent years inside a national insurance-defense firm before joining this firm — he knows how adjusters price claims, how they select doctors for independent medical exams, how they conduct surveillance, and how they use delay tactics. Here are the plays you should expect and the counter to each.
Play One: The Sympathy Call
Within days of the crash, a claims adjuster will call. They will express condolences. They will sound warm and concerned. They will ask if they can “just get a recorded statement from you about what happened.” The recording is not for your benefit. It is engineered to get you to say things that can be quoted against you later — “I’m doing okay,” “I don’t know all the details yet,” “He was a careful driver” — anything that minimizes the loss, admits fault on the deceased’s part, or locks you into a version of events before you have the DPS report. The counter is simple: do not give a recorded statement. Do not discuss the crash. Do not discuss your loved one’s injuries or your family’s financial situation. Say “I am not prepared to give a statement at this time” and hang up. Everything you say can and will be used to reduce what the insurance company pays.
Play Two: The Quick Check
A check may arrive in the mail — fast, before the funeral, before you have had time to think. It will come with a release form. Signing that release settles the entire claim for whatever amount is on that check. Once you sign, the case is over. There is no reopening it when you discover six months later that the at-fault driver had a $1 million commercial policy through their employer that the adjuster never mentioned. The counter: never sign anything from an insurance company without having a lawyer review it first. A document that looks like a routine acknowledgment can be a full release of all claims. The cost of that review is zero. The cost of signing without review can be everything.
Play Three: The Social Media and Surveillance Watch
The insurance company will monitor social media accounts belonging to the deceased’s family. A photograph of a family gathering, a post about “trying to stay strong,” a check-in at a restaurant — each can be screen-captured and presented later as evidence that the family is not suffering as much as they claim. In wrongful death cases, the surveillance is less about physical injury and more about the emotional impact: the defense will look for anything that suggests the family’s grief is less debilitating than they have described. The counter: set all social media accounts to private, do not post about the case, do not post about the deceased, and instruct family members to do the same. Do not discuss the case with anyone outside your immediate family and your lawyer.
Play Four: The Delay
The adjuster will say they need more time — to investigate, to review records, to get authorization from a supervisor. Each delay burns months off the statute of limitations. The strategy is transparent: push the family past the two-year deadline, and the case dies without the insurance company paying a dime. The counter: a lawyer with a litigation calendar and a willingness to file suit when the insurance company stalls. Filing a lawsuit changes the dynamic overnight — the adjuster is no longer the gatekeeper; the court is.
Play Five: The “Criminal Case Is Enough” Argument
Because the at-fault driver was arrested, the insurance company may try to frame the civil case as unnecessary — “the driver is being prosecuted, isn’t that enough?” Some jurors may feel the same way. The counter is to explain, clearly and repeatedly, that the criminal case does not compensate the family. A prison sentence does not replace a paycheck. A conviction does not pay for a child’s education. The civil case is the only mechanism through which the family is made whole, and the criminal case is irrelevant to that financial recovery.
The Medicine of a Fatal Crash: What Happened to Your Loved One
We do not know the specific injuries your loved one suffered. What we can tell you is how fatal crash injuries work and why the medical evidence matters to the civil case — even when the person did not survive.
In a high-energy crash — and a crash on I-20 at highway speeds, or a collision with an oilfield truck on US 385, is a high-energy event — the mechanism of injury is typically a combination of blunt force trauma, acceleration-deceleration forces, and crush injury. The body goes from speed to zero in milliseconds. Internal organs continue moving after the body stops — the brain hits the inside of the skull, the aorta tears, the liver and spleen rupture. Seatbelts save lives but they also cause their own injury patterns: rib fractures, abdominal injuries, vertebral fractures. In a side-impact or a rollover, the mechanism shifts to lateral acceleration and roof intrusion.
If your loved one survived for any period after the crash — if they were transported to Medical Center Hospital in Odessa, or flown to a Level I trauma center — the medical records from that period are evidence in the survival action. The pain and mental anguish a person experiences between injury and death is compensable, and the medical records are the proof. An emergency department record that shows the patient was conscious and in pain, even briefly, establishes the survival claim. If the person was alert enough to speak, to ask about family, to express fear — that testimony, documented in the medical record, is powerful evidence of conscious pain and suffering.
If death was instantaneous — and in the most severe crashes, it sometimes is — the survival claim may be limited to medical expenses and funeral costs. But even in those cases, the medical examiner’s report, the autopsy findings, and the cause-of-death determination are evidence that confirms the mechanism and the causation. The medical evidence closes the loop between the crash and the death, and it is part of the proof story we build.
How a Wrongful Death Case Is Actually Built: The Proof Story
Here is how a case like yours is built from the day you call to the day it resolves. This is not a summary — it is the actual sequence.
Week One: The preservation letter goes out. It goes to the at-fault driver’s insurance company, to the vehicle owner if different, to the employer if employment is suspected, to every business and homeowner near the crash scene with a camera, to the cell phone carrier, and to any bar or restaurant if intoxication is suspected. That letter orders each recipient to preserve every piece of evidence — the vehicles, the EDR data, the footage, the logs, the records — and puts them on notice that destruction after receipt of the letter is spoliation. If they destroy evidence after that letter, the jury can be told to assume the destroyed evidence was as bad for them as we say it was.
Weeks Two Through Four: The DPS crash report is obtained through CRIS. The investigating officer’s narrative is reviewed. The contributing factors, the citations, and the basis for the arrest are analyzed. If the at-fault driver was arrested for intoxication manslaughter, the toxicology results are tracked. If the driver was cited for a traffic violation — speeding, failure to yield, running a red light — that citation establishes negligence per se. The full investigation file is requested, including witness statements, photographs, measurements, and any reconstruction data DPS prepared.
Months One Through Three: Insurance coverage is verified. Not by taking the adjuster’s word — by demanding the actual policy declarations pages and verifying the limits directly. UM/UIM coverage on the deceased’s own policies is identified. Employer liability is investigated: was the at-fault driver on the clock? Driving a company vehicle? Traveling between job sites? Employment records, dispatch logs, and vehicle assignment records are subpoenaed if necessary. The at-fault driver’s complete driving record and criminal history are obtained. If a dram shop claim exists, the bar or restaurant’s surveillance footage, receipt records, and server identities are pursued — on a clock that may already be running out.
Months Three Through Six: Experts are retained. An accident reconstructionist analyzes the physical evidence — skid marks, gouge marks, debris field, vehicle damage, EDR data — and produces a reconstruction report that establishes speed, braking, and crash dynamics. If intoxication is involved, a forensic toxicologist analyzes the blood alcohol concentration and correlates it with impairment and driving performance. A forensic economist projects the deceased’s lost earning capacity over their expected working lifetime, accounting for age, occupation, education, and career trajectory. If the case involves catastrophic injury before death, a life-care planner documents the medical costs that would have been incurred.
Months Six Through Twelve: Discovery. The at-fault driver is deposed. The vehicle owner is deposed. The employer’s safety director or fleet manager is deposed. Witnesses are deposed. The at-fault driver’s cell phone records are produced and analyzed. The employment records are produced and analyzed. Every fact that supports liability, every fact that supports gross negligence, every fact that supports employer involvement is locked in under oath.
The Demand and Resolution: If liability is clear and damages exceed the available coverage, a Stowers demand is evaluated. This is a formal settlement offer within the at-fault driver’s policy limits that puts the insurer on the clock: accept the demand and settle, or reject it and face a verdict that could exceed the limits — with the insurer on the hook for the excess. If the demand is rejected and the case proceeds to trial, the evidence is presented to an Ector County jury in the 161st or 358th Judicial District Court. If the case settles — and most do — it settles because the evidence was preserved, the experts were retained, the coverage was verified, and the demand was framed in a way that made the insurance company’s risk calculus point toward paying rather than fighting.
The First 72 Hours: What to Do and What Not to Do
Do:
- Preserve every photograph, document, and personal effect related to the deceased. Their driver’s license, their phone (do not wipe it), their wallet contents, their clothing from the crash if it was returned.
- Obtain a copy of the death certificate — you will need it for insurance claims, estate administration, and the wrongful death filing.
- If the deceased had a will, locate it. If not, begin the process of having an administrator appointed for the estate — the survival action requires an estate representative.
- Set all social media accounts to private. Instruct family members to do the same. Do not post about the crash, the deceased, or the case.
- Write down everything you remember about the day — what your loved one told you before they left, where they were going, what route they typically took. Memory fades, and contemporaneous notes are valuable.
- If anyone contacted you as a witness, save their contact information.
- Call a lawyer. Not next month. Not after the funeral. Now — because the evidence preservation letter has to go out before the footage is overwritten, before the vehicle is scrapped, and before the employer “loses” the time logs.
Do Not:
- Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance company — the at-fault driver’s, your own, or anyone else’s.
- Do not sign any document from an insurance company without having a lawyer review it first.
- Do not discuss the case on social media, in group texts, or with anyone outside your immediate family.
- Do not communicate with the at-fault driver or their family.
- Do not assume the criminal case will resolve your civil rights. It will not.
- Do not wait. Evidence is being erased on a schedule, and that schedule does not pause for grief.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we file a wrongful death claim if the driver was arrested but not yet convicted?
Yes. The civil case does not depend on a criminal conviction. The arrest and the underlying investigation create a strong evidentiary anchor, but your civil claim is independent of the criminal prosecution. The burden of proof in civil court is lower — preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt. Even if the criminal case results in a plea to a lesser charge or an acquittal, your civil case can proceed on the negligence evidence.
How long do we have to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Texas?
Two years from the date of death. This is the statute of limitations under Texas law for wrongful death claims. Survival actions — the estate’s claim for the deceased’s pain and suffering and medical expenses — also carry a two-year limitations period. These deadlines are strict. Waiting to see how the criminal case resolves can cost you the civil case entirely if the two-year clock runs out.
Who gets the money from a wrongful death settlement?
The wrongful death damages are distributed among the statutory beneficiaries — the surviving spouse, children, and parents — according to Texas law. The distribution is not automatic; it depends on the family structure and can be agreed upon by the beneficiaries or determined by the court. Survival damages — the estate’s claim for pain and suffering, medical expenses, and funeral costs — are distributed through the estate, which means they pass according to the deceased’s will or Texas intestacy law. These are separate claims with separate distributions, and the structure should be discussed with a lawyer early.
What if the at-fault driver only has minimum insurance?
Texas minimum liability coverage is $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. If that is the only coverage available, the recovery from the driver’s insurance is limited to those amounts. But that is rarely the only source. We investigate UM/UIM coverage on the deceased’s own policies, commercial coverage if an employer is implicated, the vehicle owner’s insurance if the driver was using someone else’s car, and dram shop liability if a bar or restaurant contributed to the intoxication. The minimum policy is the floor, not the ceiling — but only if every avenue is investigated.
Can we sue the employer if the driver was working?
Yes — if the driver was acting within the course and scope of employment at the time of the crash. This is the respondeat superior doctrine, and it is one of the most powerful liability theories in a Permian Basin wrongful death case. If the at-fault driver was driving a company vehicle, traveling between job sites, or performing work-related duties, the employer is vicariously liable. The employer’s commercial insurance is typically far larger than any individual’s personal auto policy, and the employer’s own assets may be reachable. The key is proving the employment relationship and the scope of employment — which requires employment records, dispatch logs, and vehicle assignment documents that must be preserved immediately.
What if the deceased was partly at fault for the crash?
Texas follows a modified comparative negligence rule with a 51% bar. If the deceased was 50% or less at fault, the family can recover — but the recovery is reduced by the deceased’s percentage of fault. If the deceased was 51% or more at fault, the family recovers nothing. The at-fault driver’s insurance company will try to shift fault to the deceased, even when their own insured was arrested. The criminal arrest makes this defense harder, but it does not make it impossible. We prepare for the comparative fault fight from the beginning.
Will the criminal case testimony help our civil case?
It can. Evidence gathered during the criminal investigation — the crash report, toxicology results, witness statements, and the arresting officer’s findings — is generally discoverable in the civil case. Criminal convictions can also be used as evidence in some civil contexts. But the criminal case and the civil case are separate proceedings with different rules, different burdens of proof, and different goals. We monitor the criminal case and use the evidence it generates, but we do not depend on it. The civil case stands on its own.
How much does it cost to hire a wrongful death lawyer?
We work on contingency. That means we do not get paid unless we win your case. The fee is 33.33% of the recovery if the case settles before trial, and 40% if the case goes to trial. The consultation is free. We advance the costs of the case — expert fees, filing fees, deposition costs, record retrieval — and those costs are repaid from the recovery. If there is no recovery, you owe us nothing for fees or costs. This is not generosity; it is the structure that ensures every family, regardless of financial situation, has access to the same quality of legal representation.
Should we wait for the criminal case to finish before filing a civil claim?
No. The evidence preservation clock does not wait for the criminal case. Surveillance footage is overwritten in days to weeks. Vehicles may be scrapped within weeks. Employment records may be altered or destroyed. Cell phone records may be purged in 90 days. The civil case investigation has to run in parallel with the criminal case — not after it. By the time the criminal case resolves, which can take a year or more, the civil evidence that was not preserved may be gone forever.
What if the crash involved an oilfield truck or company vehicle?
If any commercial vehicle was involved — an oilfield service truck, a water hauler, a frac sand transporter, a company fleet vehicle — the case has a commercial vehicle dimension that changes everything. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations may apply if the vehicle meets the commercial motor vehicle threshold. The employer’s commercial coverage may be available. The driver’s hours-of-service records, driver qualification file, and vehicle maintenance records may all be discoverable. This is a different case from an ordinary two-car collision, and it requires a lawyer who understands the commercial vehicle regulatory framework and the Permian Basin oilfield economy.
Who We Are and Why It Matters
Ralph Manginello has spent 27 years in courtrooms, including federal court. He is the managing partner of this firm. He was a journalist before he was a lawyer, which means he learned early that the truth is not something you assert — it is something you prove, fact by fact, document by document. He is admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He handles wrongful death, catastrophic injury, and commercial vehicle cases across Texas. He is a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and the Houston Bar Association. He does not lose well, and that is a quality you want in the person standing between your family and the insurance company.
Lupe Peña is a former insurance-defense attorney. He spent years inside a national defense firm — the rooms where adjusters and their software decide how to deny, delay, and devalue claims exactly like yours. He knows how Colossus values injuries. He knows how reserve-setting works in the first 48 hours after a crash. He knows how IME doctors are selected, how surveillance is conducted, and how delay tactics are deployed. He now uses that knowledge for injured clients and grieving families. He is fluent in Spanish and conducts full consultations in Spanish without an interpreter. He is a third-generation Texan with family roots to the King Ranch. He knows West Texas, and he knows the insurance industry from the inside.
Together, they are the team that handles Texas wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases for this firm. They are supported by a 24/7 live staff — not an answering service — and a 48-hour evidence-preservation protocol that moves the moment you call.
Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes.
What the First Call Feels Like and What It Costs
The first call is free. It costs you nothing — not money, not obligation, not pressure. You will speak with a person, not a recording. You will tell us what happened. We will listen. We will tell you, honestly, whether we believe you have a case and what the next steps are. If we are not the right fit for your situation, we will tell you that too — because a family in grief deserves honesty, not a sales pitch.
If we take your case, the first thing we do is send the preservation letters. Not next week. Not after we have reviewed every document. The day you hire us. Because the evidence that will prove your case is dying on a clock, and the only thing that stops that clock is a formal demand to preserve it.
You can reach us at 1-888-ATTY-911 — that is 1-888-288-9911 — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can also call our direct line at 713-528-9070. Hablamos Español. Lupe conducts full consultations in Spanish, and our bilingual staff is available around the clock.
We do not get paid unless we win your case. That is not a slogan. It is the fee structure — 33.33% before trial, 40% if the case goes to trial. If there is no recovery, you owe us nothing.
The crash happened on September 8, 2023. The arrest followed. The criminal case is proceeding. And the evidence that will determine what your family can recover — the footage, the vehicle data, the employment records, the witness statements — is on a clock that started the moment the crash occurred and has not stopped. Every day that passes is a day the other side is counting on.
Call us. Let us tell you what we can do. The consultation is free, the call is confidential, and the evidence preservation starts the day you say yes.
Attorney911 — The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC — Legal Emergency Lawyers™ — 1-888-ATTY-911 — Contact us — Hablamos Español.
