Texas Personal Injury Claims

Free Texas injury tools

• Texas Settlement Calculator — estimate what a claim may be worth, with the 51% bar rule and Texas insurance limits applied to your numbers.
• Texas Filing Deadline Checker — enter the date of injury and see exactly how much time is left, including the shorter government deadlines.

The two-year deadline, and what shortens it

Most Texas personal injury and wrongful death claims must be filed within two years of the injury or death, under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003. That is the rule most people know, and it is the one that catches the fewest of them out.

The deadlines that actually end claims are the short ones. A claim against a city, county or state agency needs written notice within six months under § 101.101, and home-rule cities can shorten that through their own charters — Houston requires notice within 90 days. If a city bus, a public works truck or a government-maintained road was involved, the two-year deadline is not the one that matters.

Medical malpractice runs two years from the negligent act or the end of that course of treatment, with a ten-year statute of repose that applies no matter when the harm was discovered. For ordinary injury claims by anyone injured under 18, the clock generally does not start until they turn 18; medical claims involving children follow a shorter rule.

How Texas divides the blame

Texas uses modified comparative fault under § 33.001. Your recovery is reduced by your share of the blame, and disappears entirely once that share reaches 51%.

This makes fault the single most contested issue in most Texas claims. An adjuster assigning you 30% is not stating a fact — it is a negotiating position, and one that moves regularly once the police report, witness accounts and damage patterns are examined properly.

What Texas caps, and what it does not

There is no cap on pain and suffering in ordinary injury claims. Texas caps apply in narrower situations:

• Medical malpractice — non-economic damages are limited to $250,000 per claimant against physicians and providers, with a separate $250,000 per healthcare institution up to $500,000, under Chapter 74.
• Claims against government units — $250,000 per person and $500,000 per incident against the State and cities, and $100,000 per person and $300,000 per incident against other local units such as counties, with no punitive damages, under §§ 101.023 and 101.024.
• Exemplary damages — the greater of $200,000, or twice economic damages plus non-economic damages up to $750,000, under § 41.008.

Insurance limits are the real ceiling

Texas requires only 30/60/25 in liability coverage: $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per crash, $25,000 for property damage. Plenty of drivers carry exactly that.

A claim worth $90,000 against a driver with minimum coverage does not produce $90,000. It produces $30,000 from that policy, and whatever can be found elsewhere — your own underinsured motorist coverage, an employer if the driver was working, or a commercial policy if a business vehicle was involved. Underinsured motorist coverage must be offered in Texas but can be rejected in writing, so it is worth checking your declarations page before assuming the number is unreachable.

Where Texas injury cases are filed

Harris, Dallas, Bexar and Tarrant counties handle the bulk of the state’s injury filings, and they are also where most of the state’s serious crashes happen. Venue matters more in Texas than many people expect: jury attitudes in urban counties and rural ones differ sharply, and the same facts can be valued very differently depending on where the case is heard.

Common questions

Does Texas have a cap on personal injury settlements?

Not for ordinary injury claims. Caps apply to medical malpractice, claims against government entities, and exemplary damages. Everything else is limited by the evidence and the available insurance, not by statute.

What if I was partly responsible for the accident?

Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, and ends completely at 51%. The percentage is argued rather than fixed, and it is the issue insurers work hardest on.

How long do I really have to file?

Two years in most cases, but six months for written notice against a government entity, and 90 days in Houston. If any public body might be involved, treat the deadline as months rather than years.