In Russell v. Ingersoll-Rand, the Texas Supreme Court summarized the limitations rule in wrongful death cases as follows: “If a wrongful death action exists, it accrues, not when the decedent was injured, but at his death, and the limitations period on that action begins to run at death. But if a wrongful death action does not exist because the decedent could not maintain an action in his own right immediately prior to his death, for whatever reason, then no wrongful death action ever accrues.”

Statutes of limitation in wrongful death cases can be confusing and seemingly contradictory. Limitations do not begin to run until the date of death in some cases, but limitations begin to run even before death in other cases.