Austin, Texas Motorcycle Wrongful Death: The Legal Truth After a Fatal Crash
If you are reading this because someone you love was killed on a motorcycle in Austin — or anywhere in Travis County — you are probably sitting with a phone full of questions and a chest full of something no website can fix. We cannot undo what happened. What we can do is tell you the truth about the law, the evidence, the money, and the fight — plainly, the way we would tell you across a kitchen table at two in the morning. That is what this page is.
A well-known Austinite — a former University of Texas football legend who came home after his professional career to rebuild his community — was killed on a Saturday night in August 2019 when his motorcycle crashed on an Austin road. The public reporting carried the grief of a city but almost no facts about the crash itself: no named at-fault driver, no road conditions, no cause. What we know is that he was 36 years old, that he had returned to Austin to run a foundation serving underprivileged children, and that the news of his death left a hole in a community that had already survived the 2018 Austin bombings — bombings he had personally helped families recover from. That is the human loss. The legal loss is separate, and it is what we do.
This page uses that well-known case as the lens to explain everything Texas law says about a fatal motorcycle crash in Austin — who can be held accountable, how long the clock runs, what evidence vanishes before most families even think to call a lawyer, what the case is actually worth, and the insurance playbook that runs against every family in this situation. We are Attorney911 — The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC. We handle motorcycle accident and wrongful death cases in Texas. We were not the counsel of record on that 2019 case, and nothing here claims we were. What follows is the education, the governing law, the evidence clocks, and the honest evaluation of what a case like this is worth — the same analysis we would run for anyone who calls us today.
What Texas Wrongful Death Law Actually Says
Texas wrongful death actions are governed by the Texas Wrongful Death Act. Here is what it provides, in plain English:
The Texas Wrongful Death Act permits surviving spouses, children, and parents to recover for a family member’s death caused by another’s wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default.
That sentence is the door. Only three categories of people can walk through it: a surviving spouse, surviving children, and surviving parents. Siblings, fiancés, life partners who were not legally married, grandparents — none of them have standing under the Texas statute. If the person who died had no spouse, no children, and no living parents, the wrongful death claim generally does not exist. There is a separate survival claim that belongs to the estate, which can capture the decedent’s own pain and suffering between injury and death, plus pre-death medical expenses — but the wrongful death claim itself belongs to those three statutory beneficiaries and nobody else.
Texas follows a modified comparative negligence rule with a 51 percent bar. That means your recovery is reduced by the decedent’s percentage of fault — and if the decedent was 51 percent or more responsible for the crash, the family recovers nothing. Every percentage point the defense pins on the rider is money subtracted from the family’s recovery, which is exactly why the insurance company works so hard to build a narrative of motorcyclist recklessness. That narrative is not truth. It is strategy.
Texas does not impose damage caps on wrongful death claims arising from motor vehicle accidents. The caps that exist in Texas law apply to medical malpractice and certain governmental-entity claims — not to a death on the road caused by a negligent driver. A jury in Travis County can award the full measure of what the family lost: the financial support the decedent would have provided, the companionship, the counsel, the society, the mental anguish, and — in a survival claim — the pain the rider experienced before death.
Exemplary damages — what most people call punitive damages — are available in Texas, but only on clear and convincing proof of fraud, malice, or gross negligence. A drunk driver who killed a motorcyclist. A driver who was street-racing. A commercial carrier that sent a fatigued driver past federal hours-of-service limits and onto I-35. Those are the facts that open the punitive door. An ordinary failure to yield, without more, usually does not.
The Statute of Limitations: The Clock That Kills Cases Silently
Texas law gives surviving family members two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. That is the general rule. The Texas wrongful death statute of limitations runs from the date of death, not the date of the crash — though in most fatal motorcycle cases those are the same day or very close together.
For the August 2019 crash that took the life of the former Longhorn, that two-year window closed in August 2021. The limitation period has long since expired. This is why this page is positioned as legal education rather than active case intake — though the education itself is urgent for anyone reading it because of a crash that happened recently, or that is happening right now.
There are narrow tolling exceptions. If the person who caused the death was incarcerated during part of the limitation period, the clock may pause. If the death was deliberately concealed, the discovery rule may shift the start date. If the decedent was a minor at the time of death, certain tolling provisions may apply. But these are rare, narrow, and jurisdiction-specific — and no family should ever gamble on a tolling exception without talking to a lawyer who can confirm the current rule.
The harder truth is that the statute of limitations is not the fastest clock that runs against a motorcycle death case. The evidence clock is faster. Much faster. And most families never even know it started.
Who Can Be Held Responsible After a Fatal Motorcycle Crash
When a motorcyclist is killed in Austin, the at-fault analysis begins with a simple question: was another vehicle involved, and did that vehicle’s driver breach a duty of care?
The At-Fault Motorist
If another driver caused or contributed to the crash — through failure to yield right-of-way, an unsafe lane change, running a red light, turning left across the motorcyclist’s path, following too closely, or impaired driving — that driver and the registered owner of the vehicle are the primary negligence targets. In Texas, the registered owner is generally responsible for the negligence of anyone driving with their permission. The insurance policy on that vehicle is the first layer of recovery.
Nighttime motorcycle crashes in Austin frequently involve intersection-conflict collisions and unsafe lane changes by passenger vehicles. The corridors that carry the most motorcycle hazard exposure — Interstate 35 with its congestion and construction zones, MoPac, US-183, and State Highway 130 — are corridors where driver inattention meets rider vulnerability at speed. A driver who never saw the motorcycle is not absolved because they did not look. The law requires drivers to see what is there to be seen.
The Governmental Road-Maintenance Entity
If a roadway defect contributed — a pothole that swallowed a front wheel, inadequate warning signage in a construction zone, a dangerous design element on an Austin corridor, standing water from a drainage failure — the governmental entity responsible for maintaining that roadway could face liability under the Texas Tort Claims Act. But the Act imposes strict notice requirements and limited damages. The notice deadline can be as short as six months from the date of the incident, and damage caps apply. This is not a theory you pursue slowly. The notice clock runs whether or not you have a lawyer.
The Motorcycle or Component Manufacturer
If a mechanical failure contributed to loss of control — a brake failure, a tire defect, a throttle-sticking, a frame or component failure — claims for design defect, manufacturing defect, or failure to warn could be brought against the manufacturer under Texas products liability law. No evidence of mechanical failure was reported in the public account of the 2019 crash, but this theory is part of every complete investigation. The motorcycle itself is the evidence, and if it was scrapped or sold for salvage before anyone examined it, that theory dies with the machine.
The Evidence Clock: What Exists and How Fast It Dies
This is the section that matters most for anyone whose loved one was killed recently. Every record below exists right now. Most of it will not exist for long.
The Austin Police Department Crash Report (CR-3)
Austin Police Department investigates fatal crashes within city limits, and its dedicated crash reconstruction units produce CR-3 reports with supporting forensic documentation. The CR-3 establishes official findings, contributing factors, roadway conditions, witness identifications, and any citations issued. For a 2019 incident, the report is finalized and exists in public records. For a recent crash, the report may take weeks to months to complete, and reconstruction supplements may follow on their own timeline. This is a durable record — but it is also the government’s version of what happened, and it is not always complete or correct. Independent investigation, separate from the police report, is essential.
The Motorcycle Itself
The motorcycle is the single most important piece of physical evidence. Damage patterns reveal angle of impact, component condition reveals mechanical state, and any onboard data may reveal speed, braking inputs, and throttle position in the seconds before impact. But tow yards in the Austin area may release or scrap unclaimed vehicles within 30 to 90 days. For a 2019 incident, the motorcycle has almost certainly been disposed of unless the family or counsel preserved it. For a recent crash, the motorcycle is sitting in a tow yard right now, accruing storage fees, and it must not be released — because that vehicle is evidence.
Scene Evidence
Skid marks, debris fields, road conditions, signage, sight lines, traffic-control devices — all of this documents the physical crash dynamics. Scene evidence is obliterated by traffic and weather within hours to days. For a 2019 incident, it is long gone. For a recent crash, it is already degrading. A reconstruction expert needs to photograph, measure, and document the scene before the asphalt tells no more stories.
Surveillance Footage
Nearby businesses, traffic cameras, and even dashboard cameras may have captured the crash sequence, vehicle positions, signal status, and contributing factors from independent angles. Most commercial surveillance systems overwrite on a rolling cycle of 7 to 30 days. For a 2019 incident, all such footage is permanently lost. For a recent crash, every day that passes without a preservation demand is a day closer to that footage being recorded over forever.
Cell Phone Records
If another driver was involved, their cell phone records establish distraction — the timing of texts, calls, and data usage that prove they were looking at a screen instead of the road. Provider retention policies vary, and some data is purged within 90 to 180 days. For a 2019 incident, this data is irretrievable. For a recent crash, the preservation letter to the carrier and the carrier’s own records-retention schedule are in a race.
Autopsy and Toxicology Results
The medical examiner’s autopsy confirms cause and mechanism of death, the injury pattern, and screens for any contributing substances. Autopsy is typically completed within days, toxicology within weeks, and these results are retained permanently in official records. This is the one record set that survives indefinitely and remains accessible regardless of how much time has passed.
The Preservation Letter
Here is what we do the day you call: we send a spoliation preservation letter to every potentially involved party and their insurer. That letter orders them to freeze the motorcycle, the vehicle, the logs, the footage, the phone records, and every other piece of evidence before it can be legally destroyed. A preservation letter does not guarantee compliance — but it converts routine, legal evidence destruction into sanctionable spoliation. Once that letter is on file, if the other side lets evidence die, a judge can tell the jury to assume the lost record was as bad for the defense as the plaintiff says it was. That is leverage, and it begins the day you call.
What a Fatal Motorcycle Case Is Actually Worth
Every case value depends on its facts — the strength of liability, the insurance coverage available, the age and earning capacity of the decedent, and the venue. We cannot tell you what your case is worth without reviewing those facts. But we can tell you how the number is built.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are the money side — the part you can add up. For a 36-year-old with a demonstrated career trajectory, community leadership, and earning capacity, economic damages include lost earning capacity over the remaining working life expectancy (approximately 29 years), funeral and burial expenses, and any medical costs incurred between injury and death. A forensic economist projects the earnings stream the family lost, using worklife expectancy tables and wage-growth data, and reduces it to present value. For someone with public prominence and a post-athletic career in community leadership and philanthropy, the earning-capacity projection can be substantial — not because of celebrity, but because the career arc was real and documented.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are the human side — the part no receipt can measure. Mental anguish. Loss of companionship. Loss of counsel and guidance. Loss of society. The empty chair at the table. The phone call that does not come. In Texas, a jury in Travis County can award the full measure of these losses without a statutory cap, because motor vehicle wrongful death claims are not capped.
Survival Damages
If death was not instantaneous — if the rider survived for minutes, hours, or days after the crash — a survival claim captures the pre-death pain and the consciousness of impending death as separate damages. This belongs to the estate, not the beneficiaries, and it stands alongside the wrongful death claim as a second, independent recovery.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages require clear and convincing evidence of gross negligence — a conscious indifference to the safety of the motorcyclist. A drunk driver. A street racer. A commercial driver who falsified logs and drove past federal limits. Without those facts, punitive damages are unlikely. With them, the case changes character entirely.
Honest Case Value Range
For a fatal motorcycle crash with an identified at-fault insured driver, clear liability, and a 36-year-old decedent with demonstrated earning capacity and community contributions — filed timely in Travis County’s plaintiff-favorable venue — the case value could range well into seven figures. With adequate insurance coverage or a commercial defendant, eight figures is conceivable. Without an identified at-fault party, without insurance, or with the statute of limitations expired, the collectible value is zero. The absence of any identified defendant in the public reporting of the 2019 crash, and the expiration of the limitation period, means current recovery on that specific case is implausible absent extraordinary and rare circumstances. For anyone reading this because of a recent crash, the value of acting immediately cannot be overstated — because the evidence and the deadline are both running.
Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes.
The Medicine of Motorcycle Trauma
A motorcycle offers its rider none of the protections a car provides. No steel frame. No crumple zone. No airbag. No seatbelt. When a motorcycle collides with a passenger vehicle or strikes the road surface at speed, the rider’s body absorbs the energy directly.
The signature injuries of fatal motorcycle crashes are traumatic brain injury — even when a helmet is worn, the rotational forces inside the skull can tear the brain’s wiring beyond repair — spinal cord injury from axial loading or flexion-distraction, blunt aortic injury from rapid deceleration, and internal organ rupture from handlebar or tank impact. A rider thrown from a motorcycle at highway speed on I-35 hits the ground at the speed the bike was traveling, and the body was not designed for that.
The medical record between crash and death — if any exists — is the survival claim. Emergency medical services run sheets document the first GCS, the first blood pressure, the first signs of life or unconsciousness. Emergency department records document the trauma workup: the CT scans, the blood gas, the surgical interventions attempted. If the rider was conscious and in pain before death, that pain has a dollar value in a survival claim. If the rider was conscious and aware that they were dying, that awareness — what the law calls “conscious pain and suffering” and “consciousness of impending death” — is a separate, compensable element.
The medical examiner’s autopsy report is the permanent record. It documents the mechanism, the injury pattern, and the cause of death. It is retained indefinitely. For a 2019 case, the autopsy report still exists and is accessible. For a recent case, it is being prepared right now.
The Insurance Adjuster’s Playbook: What They Do Before the Funeral
Lupe Peña spent years inside a national insurance-defense firm before he came to our side of the table. He sat in the rooms where adjusters and their software decided how to deny, delay, and devalue claims. He knows the playbook because he used to run it. Here are the plays — and here is how each one is countered.
Play 1: The Friendly “Just Checking In” Call
Within days of the crash, someone from the at-fault driver’s insurance company will call the family. The tone is warm. The words are gentle. “We just want to understand what happened.” “We want to get you something quickly.” The call is recorded. Every word the family speaks is being built into a defense exhibit. The adjuster is hoping the grieving spouse says something — anything — that can be framed as an admission that the rider was at fault, or that the family is not really suffering, or that the family just wants to move on.
The counter: Do not take the call. Do not give a recorded statement. Do not describe the crash, the rider, the family’s feelings, or what you think happened. Say nothing beyond “I am not prepared to discuss this, and I will have my attorney contact you.” Then hang up. A grieving family member is not equipped to navigate a conversation engineered to produce admissions against interest. That is not weakness. That is reality.
Play 2: The Fast Check with a Release
A check may arrive in the mail within weeks — sometimes before the funeral is over. It looks like help. It comes with a release printed on the back or enclosed in the envelope. Signing that release, or endorsing that check, can extinguish every claim the family has — forever — for a fraction of what the case is worth. The insurance company knows the bills are piling up. They are counting on it.
The counter: Never sign anything from an insurance company without a lawyer reviewing it first. A release is a legal document that sells the family’s rights for the amount on the check. Once signed, it is almost never unwindable. The check that arrives before the medical records, before the police report, before the family has even finished grieving, is not generosity. It is strategy.
Play 3: The Blame-the-Rider Narrative
The adjuster will build a file that frames the motorcyclist as reckless. Speeding. Lane-splitting. No helmet (if true — and Texas law allows riders 21 and older to ride without a helmet under certain conditions). The goal is to push the decedent’s comparative fault percentage above 50 percent, which under Texas’s 51 percent bar would eliminate the family’s recovery entirely. Every percentage point is money.
The counter: The reconstruction expert, the scene evidence, the vehicle data, and the witness statements are the answer to the blame-the-rider narrative. A motorcycle is not speeding simply because the defense says so — speed is proven with physical evidence, not opinion. A rider without a helmet is not automatically at fault — Texas law permits helmetless riding for those 21 and older who have completed a training course or carry sufficient medical insurance, and the failure to wear a helmet goes to damages mitigation, not to bar recovery entirely. The defense will try to make the rider’s choices the story. Our job is to make the at-fault driver’s choices the story — because the driver who failed to yield, who changed lanes without looking, who ran the light, is the one whose breach caused the death.
Play 4: The Delay Aim at the Deadline
The adjuster may string the family along with requests for more documentation, more time, more review — all while the statute of limitations clock runs. The goal is to push the family past the two-year deadline without filing suit, at which point the claim is dead and the insurance company pays nothing.
The counter: Know the deadline. Confirm the deadline with a lawyer. Never assume the adjuster’s timeline is your timeline. The preservation letter goes out in days. The lawsuit goes out in months — not years. Time is not on the family’s side. It is on the insurance company’s.
How a Motorcycle Wrongful Death Case Is Actually Built
Here is the chronological walk — the way a case moves from the day you call to the day it resolves.
Week one. The preservation letter goes out to every potentially involved party and their insurer, freezing the motorcycle, the vehicle, the logs, the footage, and the records. The police report is requested. The medical examiner’s file is opened. The tow yard is contacted and the motorcycle is held. If surveillance footage may exist, preservation demands go to every business within sight of the crash scene.
Weeks two through four. The crash reconstruction expert is deployed. The scene is photographed, measured, and documented. The motorcycle is examined — every scratch, every bend, every component tells a story about the forces involved. If another vehicle is involved, its event data recorder is downloaded — that black box contains the pre-crash speed, the brake application, the throttle position in the seconds before impact. Cell phone records are subpoenaed if distraction is suspected.
Months one through three. The police investigation file is obtained through open-records requests. Witness statements are taken while memories are fresh. The medical records and autopsy report are assembled. The life-care planner and forensic economist begin building the damages model — the earnings projection, the household services valuation, the present-value calculation.
Months three through six. Discovery begins. Written questions go to the defendants. Documents are demanded — the driver’s phone records, the vehicle’s maintenance history, the insurance policy declarations. Depositions are taken. The at-fault driver sits across the table and answers questions under oath about what they did and what they saw.
Months six through twelve. The case is positioned for resolution — through a demand package, through mediation, or through trial preparation. A Stowers-style demand framework applies when a commercial defendant is involved. For a standard passenger-vehicle defendant, the demand strategy targets available policy limits with a complete liability and damages package.
The number at the end. It is built from all of it. The reconstruction. The medical records. The economist’s projection. The testimony of the people who knew the person who died. The community contributions. The foundation work. The families helped. The life that was lived and the life that was taken. Every piece of evidence is a brick in the wall, and the wall is what the jury sees.
Travis County Venue: Why the Courthouse Matters
Austin sits in Travis County, and Travis County is generally regarded as a plaintiff-favorable venue for personal injury and wrongful death litigation in Texas. That is not a marketing claim. It is a function of the jury pool — drawn from a diverse, urban population that tends to be more receptive to injury claims than the more conservative jury pools in certain other Texas jurisdictions.
When a fatal motorcycle crash happens in Austin, the case is typically filed in the district courts of Travis County. The jury that decides what a life was worth is twelve people from the reader’s own community — people who drive I-35, who know MoPac, who understand Austin traffic, who may ride motorcycles themselves or know someone who does. The home field is theirs.
Voir dire — the jury selection process — in a Travis County motorcycle case must directly address anti-motorcycle bias. Jurors frequently carry preconceptions about motorcyclist recklessness that must be neutralized through education on rider vulnerability and driver duty. A motorcyclist is not reckless for choosing to ride. A motorcyclist is not assuming the risk of being killed by a negligent driver. The rider has the same right to the road as every driver in a car, and the driver who fails to see them has the same duty to look.
Our Austin office sits on West 12th Street, three blocks from the Travis County courthouse, serving Travis, Williamson, Hays, and Bastrop counties. We know this venue because we work in it.
Motorcycle-Specific Legal Issues in Texas
Helmet Law and Recovery
Texas requires a Class M license endorsement to operate a motorcycle. The state helmet law mandates helmet use for riders under 21. Riders 21 and older may ride without a helmet only upon completion of a motorcycle operator training course or proof of sufficient medical insurance coverage. The failure to wear a helmet — where the law permitted helmetless riding — does not bar recovery. It may be raised as a comparative negligence factor related to the extent of head injuries, but it does not extinguish the claim. A rider who was legally helmetless and was killed by a driver who ran a red light has a wrongful death claim. The helmet question goes to damages apportionment, not to the existence of the right to sue.
Lane Splitting
Texas does not have a statute explicitly legalizing lane splitting — the practice of riding between lanes of stopped or slow traffic. The defense will raise it if it appears in the facts. The reconstruction expert determines whether it occurred and whether it contributed to the crash. If the rider was not lane-splitting, the defense argument is baseless. If the rider was, the question becomes whether it was a proximate cause of the crash or merely a condition — and Texas proximate cause law, which requires the negligent act to be a substantial factor in causing the harm, gives the plaintiff room to argue.
Vulnerable Road User Status
Motorcyclists are among the most vulnerable road users on Texas highways. The physics are unforgiving: a motorcycle and rider together may weigh 600 pounds, while a passenger vehicle weighs 4,000. In a collision, the energy transfer is 20-to-1 against the rider. When a vulnerable road user is killed by a negligent driver, the law does not treat the vulnerability as the rider’s fault. It treats it as a reason the driver’s negligence was so dangerous.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Texas?
Two years from the date of death, under Texas’s wrongful death statute of limitations. That is the general rule. Narrow tolling exceptions exist — for incarceration of the defendant, for deliberate concealment of the cause of death, and in certain minor-related circumstances — but none of those should be relied on without a lawyer confirming the current rule. The two-year clock is unforgiving. Once it runs, the claim is gone.
Can I still recover if the motorcyclist was not wearing a helmet?
Yes. Texas law allows riders 21 and older to ride without a helmet if they have completed a motorcycle operator training course or carry sufficient medical insurance coverage. Even where a rider was not legally helmetless, the failure to wear a helmet does not bar a wrongful death claim. It may be used by the defense to argue comparative negligence on the head-injury portion of damages, but it does not extinguish the family’s right to recover. A rider killed by a drunk driver has a wrongful death claim regardless of helmet use.
What if the motorcyclist was partly at fault for the crash?
Texas follows a modified comparative negligence rule with a 51 percent bar. The family’s recovery is reduced by the decedent’s percentage of fault. If the decedent was 50 percent at fault, the family still recovers 50 percent of the damages. If the decedent was 51 percent or more at fault, the family recovers nothing. This is why the defense works so hard to pin fault on the rider — every percentage point is money, and crossing the 51 percent line is the defense’s goal.
How much is a motorcycle wrongful death case worth?
It depends on the facts — the strength of liability, the insurance coverage, the age and earning capacity of the decedent, and the venue. For a 36-year-old with demonstrated earning capacity and community contributions, in Travis County’s plaintiff-favorable venue, with clear liability and adequate insurance, the case could command seven to eight figures. Without an identified at-fault party or with the statute of limitations expired, the collectible value is zero. No honest lawyer can give you a number without reviewing the facts.
Who can file a wrongful death claim in Texas?
Surviving spouses, surviving children, and surviving parents. Those are the three statutory beneficiaries under the Texas Wrongful Death Act. Siblings, fiancés, unmarried life partners, and grandparents generally do not have standing. If none of the three statutory beneficiaries exist, the wrongful death claim generally does not exist — though a survival claim belonging to the estate may still be available.
What evidence disappears fastest after a motorcycle crash?
Surveillance footage from nearby businesses or traffic cameras — often overwritten within 7 to 30 days. Scene evidence — skid marks, debris, road conditions — obliterated by traffic and weather within hours to days. The motorcycle itself — tow yards may release or scrap unclaimed vehicles within 30 to 90 days. Cell phone records of any involved driver — purged by providers within 90 to 180 days. The police report and autopsy results are the most durable records, retained for years or permanently. The preservation letter that freezes the fast-dying evidence is the most time-critical step in the case.
What if the other driver did not have insurance?
Texas requires drivers to carry minimum liability insurance, but uninsured drivers are a reality on Austin roads. If the at-fault driver was uninsured or underinsured, the family’s own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage — on the motorcyclist’s policy or on a household policy — may provide recovery. UM/UIM coverage is its own claim, with its own requirements, and the insurer providing it may fight the family just as hard as the at-fault driver’s carrier would have. An experienced lawyer identifies every available policy and pursues every layer.
Is a motorcycle accident legally different from a car accident?
The legal framework — negligence, duty, breach, causation, damages — is the same. But the physics, the injury severity, the jury bias, and the evidence are different. Motorcycle crashes produce catastrophic or fatal injuries at speeds where car occupants walk away. Jurors carry preconceptions about motorcyclists that must be addressed in voir dire. The physical evidence — the motorcycle, the helmet, the road-surface interaction — requires reconstruction expertise specific to two-wheel dynamics. And the damages are typically larger because the injuries are typically worse. A lawyer who handles motorcycle cases knows these differences. A generalist may not.
What should I do in the first 72 hours after a fatal motorcycle crash?
First: seek medical attention for yourself and anyone else injured — symptoms can be delayed, and your health is the priority. Second: do not sign anything from any insurance company. Third: do not give a recorded statement to any insurance adjuster. Fourth: do not post about the crash on social media — the insurance company is watching. Fifth: contact a lawyer who handles motorcycle wrongful death cases in Texas. The preservation letter that freezes the evidence goes out the day you call. Every day you wait is a day the evidence dies.
Does Texas require motorcyclists to wear helmets?
Yes, for riders under 21. Riders 21 and older may ride without a helmet only if they have completed a motorcycle operator training course or can show proof of sufficient medical insurance coverage. A Class M license endorsement is required to operate a motorcycle legally in Texas. The Texas Transportation Code governs all motor vehicle operation standards, right-of-way rules, and traffic-signal compliance applicable to crash analysis.
Why Attorney911
Ralph Manginello has spent 27-plus years in courtrooms, including federal court. He was a journalist before he was a lawyer — he learned to find the truth and tell it before he learned to argue it in front of a jury. He is Texas Bar #24007597, admitted in 1998, a graduate of South Texas College of Law Houston and the University of Texas at Austin. He built this firm in 2001 and has recovered more than $50 million for injured clients. He handles motorcycle and wrongful death cases in Texas because he understands that the person on the motorcycle is not the story — the person who failed to see them is.
Lupe Peña is a former insurance-defense attorney. He spent years inside a national defense firm — the rooms where adjusters and their software decided how to deny, delay, and devalue people exactly like the reader. He knows how claims are priced, how reserves are set, how IME doctors are chosen, and how surveillance is deployed — because he used those tools for the other side. Now he uses that knowledge for injured clients. He is Texas Bar #24084332, fluent in Spanish, a third-generation Texan with family roots to the King Ranch. He conducts full client consultations in Spanish without an interpreter.
We work on contingency. That means we do not get paid unless we win your case. The fee is 33.33 percent before trial and 40 percent if the case goes to trial. The consultation is free. The staff is live, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — not an answering service. You call at 2 a.m., a human picks up.
Our Austin office is at 316 West 12th Street, Suite 311 — three blocks from the Travis County courthouse. We serve Travis, Williamson, Hays, and Bastrop counties. We know the corridors. We know the courthouse. We know the jury pool. And we know what the insurance company does before the funeral is over, because one of us used to do it.
Hablamos Español. Lupe conducts full consultations in Spanish. If your family prays in Spanish, you can talk to your lawyer in Spanish.
If someone you love was killed on a motorcycle in Austin — or anywhere in Texas — call us at 1-888-ATTY-911 (1-888-288-9911). The consultation is free. The call is confidential. And the evidence preservation letter goes out the day you call — because the evidence is dying, and the deadline is running, and the insurance company is already three moves ahead.
We do not get paid unless we win your case. Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. But the fight — the preservation, the investigation, the reconstruction, the economics, the courtroom — that is what we do. And we do it until the truth is on the record and the family has everything the law allows.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. Or call our Austin line at (713) 528-9070. The line is live. The consultation is free. And the clock is already running.