Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 414
an individual’s death if the injury was caused by the person’s
or his agent’s or servant’s wrongful act, neglect, carelessness,
unskillfulness, or default.” Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.002.
A wrongful death claim can be proven by establishing that one of the
other claims described in this Chapter caused the death of another
person. In other words, the “wrongful act, neglect, carelessness,
unskillfulness, or default” that is needed to establish a wrongful
death claim, can be established by proving that the defendant was
liable for a tort such as battery or negligence and that the tort caused
the death of a person.
III. WHAT CAN THE PLAINTIFF RECOVER?
If a person is sued in civil court and the plaintiff convinces a jury
that the defendant was liable for damages, what and how much
can a plaintiff get? There are scores of cases discussing the details
of each category of damages that a plaintiff can recover in a civil
lawsuit. The following is a brief description of two very important
concepts: “proximate cause,” which is essential to recover damages
in most circumstances; and the basic types of damages that a
plaintiff may typically seek in a gun case.
A. Proximate cause
One basic concept that is important to most civil claims, and is
usually required to recover damages, is “proximate cause.” Virtually
every tort claim will require the plaintiff to prove that their damages
were proximately caused by the defendant. “Proximate cause” is
defined as cause that was a substantial factor in bringing about an
event and without which the event would not have occurred. This
concept is much discussed and has few bright-line tests.
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