A 27-year-old Texas woman was killed recently in a motorcycle accident. According to The Examiner, the accident occurred shortly before 6:25 PM on a Sunday evening at the end of May. The incident happened on Interstate 10. A 2014 Harley Davidson was traveling west and using an exit ramp when the male driver of the Harley slammed on the brakes for an unknown reason. This caused him to lose control of the motorcycle.
The motorcycle crashed into the concrete side wall, rolled several times and finally stopped. The 34-year-old driver and younger passenger were transported to the hospital with serious injuries resulting from the crash.
Unfortunately, several days later, the passenger died as a result of her injuries. The case is one of many in which Texas motorcycle accident victims lose their lives each year.
What Happens After a Fatal Motorcycle Accident?
In the case of a fatal motorcycle accident, there are often significant costs incurred by the victim and their family members. In this recent example, for instance, the woman who was injured was hospitalized for two days prior to her death. Those medical bills will become the responsibility of the deceased victim's estate, which can result in financial pressure on her surviving family members.
A motorcycle accident fatality can also result in funeral expenditures, which can be costly for family members. There is generally no insurance to cover the cost of a funeral and some families will have to struggle to pay those bills.
In many cases, when a motorcycle accident is fatal, the victim of the accident was the breadwinner for a family or was contributing his or her income to help support other family members. In other circumstances, the victim may have been providing parental care or other services to family members. The loss of that person's income or the loss of services and assistance provided by the deceased can cause further financial hardship at a time when surviving family members are also worrying about medical costs and funeral expenses.
Texas law allows for wrongful death claims to help protect dependents and close family members from financial losses suffered due to a motorcycle accident. If the victim's family can prove someone else was to blame, it will be possible to get compensation through a personal injury civil lawsuit.
This is true even if the person who was killed was a passenger riding on the back of a motorcycle with a driver whose negligence caused the accident to occur. Victims need to explore their options for pursuing legal action after motorcycle accidents and should consider getting legal help in negotiating a settlement or pursuing compensation through litigation.
