Earlier this month, a community in West Omaha held a vigil at 114th Street and Center Road. According to WOWT's coverage, two young brothers — ages 5 and 10 — died after the vehicle they were riding in was struck by a driver accused of driving drunk at a high rate of speed. Neighbors said the intersection had "been a problem for years." Our thoughts are with the boys' family. What follows is not a comment on guilt or innocence in a case I know only from the news; the driver's charges are allegations that remain pending in court.
I'm writing about it because of a question I get from grieving families more often than almost any other: the driver is being prosecuted — isn't that the case?
It isn't. And understanding why matters enormously to what a family can still do.
Two separate systems, two separate purposes
The criminal case belongs to the State of Nebraska. A prosecutor decides whether to file charges, a judge or jury decides guilt, and if there's a conviction, the punishment is jail, probation, fines, or license consequences — all owed to the state, not the family.
The civil case belongs to the family. A wrongful death claim is a separate legal action, with its own evidence, its own timeline, and its own outcome: financial compensation for the losses the family actually suffered — funeral and burial costs, loss of companionship, and other damages recognized under Nebraska law. Nothing about the criminal case automatically produces that. Families sometimes learn this only after the criminal case has already concluded, at which point evidence has aged and deadlines have moved closer.
Why the civil claim needs its own investigation
A prosecutor is building a case to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. A civil claim requires different work: identifying every insurance policy that may apply (the driver's, and sometimes others'), documenting the full scope of the family's losses, and preserving evidence — crash reconstruction data, witness accounts, roadway history at a problem intersection — before it disappears. None of that happens automatically just because charges were filed.
What families in this position should know
- You do not have to wait for the criminal case to resolve before pursuing a civil claim, and in most situations you shouldn't.
- Insurance companies negotiate with families the same way they negotiate with anyone else — and having a lawyer changes those numbers. Some of the results on my case results page started with a crash just like this one.
- For a realistic sense of what Nebraska crash and wrongful death cases have resolved for, see my Nebraska settlement examples guide.
If your family is living this right now
Nothing replaces what was lost. What I can do is make sure the people responsible — and every insurance policy that should be paying — are held to account, while you focus on your family. I handle these cases with the same trial-ready preparation that has produced a $5.4 million top recovery and many five-star client reviews and peer endorsements from a firm voted Best of Omaha for personal injury law in 2025 and 2026.
Related practice areas: Wrongful Death · Car Accidents
Frequently asked questions
- How are the criminal case and the family’s civil case different?
- The criminal case belongs to the State of Nebraska. A prosecutor decides whether to file charges, a judge or jury decides guilt, and if there's a conviction, the punishment is jail, probation, fines, or license consequences — all owed to the state, not the family.
- Why does the civil claim need its own investigation?
- A prosecutor is building a case to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. A civil claim requires different work: identifying every insurance policy that may apply (the driver's, and sometimes others'), documenting the full scope of the family's losses, and preserving evidence — crash reconstruction data, witness accounts, roadway history at a problem intersection — before it disappears.
- What should families know while a criminal case is pending?
- You do not have to wait for the criminal case to resolve before pursuing a civil claim, and in most situations you shouldn't. Insurance companies negotiate with families the same way they negotiate with anyone else — and having a lawyer changes those numbers.
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Frank Younes
Every page on this site is written by Frank Younes, a Nebraska trial attorney with a published record of verdicts and settlements, selection to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100, and a practice that covers every county in Nebraska and Iowa. No case is handed to an associate — the lawyer you read here is the lawyer who works your case.
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