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Compensatory damages are available in a pipeline explosion lawsuit in Texas. In some cases, you can also recover punitive, or exemplary, damages in conjunction with economic and non-economic damages.
The damages you can recover in your Texas pipeline explosion lawsuit depend on your tangible and intangible losses. Below are details about various damages awarded in pipeline explosion lawsuits.
You can receive economic damages for past and future costs of hospital stays, surgeries, skin grafts, physical therapy, medical devices, medications, and other medical expenses for explosion injuries.
Per Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code Section 41.0105, in your pipeline explosion lawsuit, you can recover past medical expenses equal to what was paid or incurred by or on behalf of the claimant.
If you suffer explosion injuries that keep you from working, you can pursue economic damages for your loss of income.
Similarly, if your explosion injuries prevent you from working the same job you held before the blast, you can seek economic damages based on your lost earning capacity.
You can obtain non-economic damages for pain and suffering you experience due to burns or other injuries from a pipeline blast. Reasons why pain and suffering damages can be awarded include:
To help estimate your pain and suffering damages, your explosion accident lawyer may multiply your financial losses by a number between 1.5 and 5, depending on the severity of your injuries.
Alternatively, explosion injury attorneys may set a dollar amount for every day that you suffered from your injuries until you are healed.
In certain instances, you can recover economic damages for the burial and funeral expenses you incur after losing a family member in a fatal pipeline explosion through a wrongful death lawsuit.
Based on Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 71.004, the surviving spouse, child, or parent of a deceased person (decedent) is eligible to file a wrongful death lawsuit on their behalf.
If none of these beneficiaries files within three months of the death, the executor or administrator generally must bring the action unless all eligible beneficiaries request that it not proceed.
Rarely, Texas courts will award punitive damages to punish someone who causes a pipeline explosion due to malice or gross negligence.
Punitive damages are governed in alignment with Chapter 41 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
To recover exemplary damages, you will have to provide clear and convincing evidence that illustrates that you or a loved one suffered harm because of malice or gross negligence.
Punitive damages can be awarded separately from economic and non-economic damages. Additionally, a jury verdict for exemplary damages must be unanimous.
Based on Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 41.008, exemplary damages can be capped at $200,000 or twice the economic damages plus non-economic damages up to $750,000, whichever is greater.