How Long Do You Have to File a Car Accident Claim in Texas?

Most Texas Car Accident Lawsuits Have A Two-Year Deadline, But Some Deadlines Come Much Sooner

A Texas car accident can leave you dealing with medical treatment, missed work, vehicle repairs, and insurance adjusters all at once. It's understandable to focus on getting your life back together before thinking about a lawsuit.

The problem is that Texas law doesn't wait indefinitely.

Most personal injury lawsuits arising from a Texas car accident have to be filed within two years. The same general period applies to a lawsuit for damage to your vehicle. But that two-year rule isn't the only deadline that can matter.

A crash involving the City of Wichita Falls can trigger a 45-day notice period. Trucking evidence may need to be retained for only a matter of months. Insurance policies can contain their own notice requirements. Wrongful death and claims belonging to minors follow additional rules.

Our car accident lawyers at Hoover Rogers Law, LLP represent injured people in Wichita Falls, Decatur, and surrounding communities. Identifying the applicable deadline early gives us time to preserve evidence and pursue the claim before a legal or contractual deadline closes off an option.

What Is The Two-Year Texas Car Accident Deadline?

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 generally requires a lawsuit for personal injury to be brought no later than two years after the cause of action accrues.

The same section applies a two-year limitations period to claims involving injury to another person's property. That can include vehicle damage arising from a collision.

For an ordinary car accident in which another driver's conduct immediately causes an injury, the safest assumption is that the two-year period begins on the date of the crash.

There's an important distinction, though. Filing an insurance claim isn't the same thing as filing a lawsuit.

You might notify an insurer days after the collision and spend months negotiating a settlement. Those negotiations don't automatically stop the statute of limitations. If the deadline arrives without a lawsuit being properly filed, the defendant can raise the statute of limitations as a defense, even if settlement discussions had been underway.

Do Delayed Symptoms Give You More Than Two Years?

Not automatically.

Texas generally follows what's known as the legal-injury rule. A cause of action ordinarily accrues when wrongful conduct causes a legal injury, even if the injured person doesn't yet know the full extent of the damage.

That matters after a car accident because some injuries become clearer over time.

A person might initially experience back pain and later learn through an MRI that the crash caused a serious disc injury. Someone with headaches might receive a more significant neurological diagnosis several weeks later.

A later diagnosis doesn't ordinarily restart the two-year clock simply because the injury turned out to be worse than first believed.

Texas does recognize a discovery rule in limited circumstances. Courts generally reserve that exception for categories of injuries that are inherently undiscoverable and objectively verifiable.

Someone with delayed symptoms after a crash shouldn't assume that exception extends the deadline. Getting appropriate medical care and determining the legal deadline early is much safer than trying to establish an exception after two years have already passed.

Does A Minor Get Additional Time After A Texas Car Accident?

Texas law gives minors special limitations protection.

Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.001, a person younger than 18 is considered under a legal disability for purposes of the limitations statutes.

If the person is under that disability when the claim accrues, the period of disability generally isn't counted as part of the limitations period.

That can allow a child's own personal injury claim to remain viable beyond the ordinary second anniversary of the crash.

Families still have good reasons not to wait. Surveillance footage can disappear, witnesses can become difficult to locate, vehicles are repaired or destroyed, and years of medical history can make causation disputes more complicated.

The tolling rule should also be evaluated according to the specific claim being asserted rather than assuming that every claim arising from an accident involving a child receives the same extension.

What Is The Deadline If The Crash Causes A Death?

Texas treats wrongful death separately.

Section 16.003 provides that an action for an injury resulting in death generally must be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues, and the statute specifically states that the cause of action accrues on the injured person's death.

That distinction matters when someone survives the collision for a period of time before dying from the injuries.

For example, if a person is seriously injured on January 1 but dies from those injuries on February 15, the statutory wrongful-death period is generally measured from February 15 rather than the date of the original collision.

Texas courts have also held that the ordinary discovery rule doesn't change the accrual date that § 16.003 expressly establishes for wrongful death.

Do Truck Accident Lawsuits Have A Longer Deadline?

No. A collision with an 18-wheeler doesn't automatically receive a longer limitations period simply because the injuries or investigation are more complicated.

The ordinary two-year personal injury deadline generally applies to Texas truck accident lawsuits too.

What changes is how quickly important evidence can disappear.

Federal regulations require motor carriers to retain drivers' records of duty status and supporting documents for at least six months. These records can include electronic logging device data used to determine how long a truck driver had been on duty before a collision.

Federal maintenance-record rules follow a different timetable. Certain inspection, repair, and maintenance records generally have to be retained for one year while the carrier controls the vehicle and for six months after the vehicle leaves its control.

That creates a major difference between the lawsuit deadline and the practical investigation deadline.

A crash victim might technically have nearly two years left to sue while important trucking records are already reaching the end of a federal retention period.

That's why an early truck accident investigation can be critical to preserving driver logs and other evidence before records disappear through ordinary retention practices.

What If A Government Vehicle Caused The Crash?

Government-vehicle cases can have much shorter notice requirements.

The Texas Tort Claims Act provides a limited waiver of governmental immunity for certain injuries involving the operation or use of a motor-driven vehicle or equipment by a government employee acting within the scope of employment.

A government-owned vehicle being involved in the crash doesn't automatically establish liability. The claim still has to fit within an applicable waiver of immunity and satisfy the other requirements of the Texas Tort Claims Act.

One of those requirements can be notice.

Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 101.101, a governmental unit is generally entitled to notice of a claim within six months after the incident. The notice must reasonably describe the injury or damage, the time and place of the incident, and what happened.

But six months isn't a universal Texas-government deadline.

The same statute recognizes lawful notice provisions contained in city charters and ordinances, and some cities require notice substantially sooner.

A Wichita Falls City Vehicle Claim Can Have A 45-Day Notice Requirement

The City of Wichita Falls currently instructs claimants to submit a claim within 45 days of the injury or loss.

Section 2-1091 of the Wichita Falls Code of Ordinances requires written notice containing detailed information about the incident, injuries or damage, witnesses, and claimed losses.

Decatur is different. Its current city charter generally requires notice within six months for claims involving death, personal injury, or property damage.

That means two crashes occurring in cities served by the same law firm can have very different local notice periods.

Texas law also contains an exception when the governmental unit has legally sufficient actual notice. But actual notice is more complicated than showing that a police officer or city employee knew a collision occurred.

Texas Supreme Court decisions require a fact-specific examination of what the governmental unit actually knew, including its awareness connecting alleged governmental conduct to the injury or property damage.

Relying on the actual-notice exception instead of providing timely formal notice can therefore create an unnecessary dispute over whether the claim was preserved.

Is The Government Notice Deadline The Same As The Statute Of Limitations?

No.

A tort claim notice and a statute of limitations perform different functions.

The notice requirement tells the governmental unit about the potential claim. Filing that notice isn't the same thing as filing a lawsuit, and satisfying a 45-day or six-month notice requirement doesn't give the claimant unlimited time to sue.

Both the notice requirements and the applicable lawsuit deadline have to be considered.

That's why someone hit by a municipal vehicle shouldn't simply mark the two-year anniversary on a calendar and assume nothing else needs to happen before then.

Can Your Auto Insurance Policy Have An Earlier Deadline?

Yes.

A Texas statute of limitations determines when a lawsuit must generally be filed. An automobile policy can separately require an insured to provide prompt notice of an accident, cooperate with an investigation, submit proof of loss, or satisfy other conditions.

Those issues can become especially important when the claim involves uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, MedPay, collision coverage, or another benefit under your own policy.

The precise effect of a policy deadline depends on the contract and Texas insurance law. Don't assume that having two years to bring a negligence lawsuit against another driver means you can wait two years before telling your own insurer about the crash.

What Happens If You File The Lawsuit Too Late?

The statute of limitations is generally an affirmative defense in an ordinary Texas car accident case.

If a lawsuit is filed after the applicable limitations period has expired, the defendant can raise that defense and ordinarily seek dismissal of the time-barred claims.

That also changes the practical leverage of settlement negotiations.

Before the limitations period expires, an injured person can file suit if the insurer refuses to make an acceptable offer. Once the right to sue has been lost, that leverage can disappear too.

That's why a person shouldn't wait until the final days of the limitations period to start investigating a collision. Determining the defendants, obtaining evidence, evaluating injuries, and properly preparing a lawsuit all take time.

Evidence Can Disappear Long Before The Two-Year Deadline

The statute of limitations isn't the only clock running after a crash.

Depending on the case, evidence can include:

• Surveillance and Traffic-Camera Footage: Video can be overwritten long before a lawsuit deadline arrives.
• Vehicle Data: Electronic crash information can be lost when a vehicle is repaired, sold, or destroyed.
• Trucking Records: Federal retention periods for some logs and supporting documents can be as short as six months.
• Cellphone Evidence: Records relevant to distracted driving may require preservation and formal legal process.
• Witness Testimony: Memories become less precise as months and years pass.
• Physical Evidence: Skid marks, roadway conditions, damaged barriers, and vehicle damage don't remain unchanged indefinitely.

Taking the right steps after a Texas car accident can help preserve evidence while the circumstances of the crash are still fresh.

Our Law Firm Can Identify The Deadlines That Apply

For many Texas crashes, the central lawsuit deadline is two years. But a government claim, insurance policy, child's injury, wrongful death, or commercial truck collision can add timing issues that need attention much sooner.

Hoover Rogers Law, LLP has more than 25 years of combined legal experience representing injured people in Texas and Oklahoma. Hoover Rogers Law, LLP has more than 25 years of combined legal experience representing injured people in Texas and Oklahoma. Our case results include a $1.49 million settlement in a tractor-trailer accident, as well as other significant recoveries for people injured in motor vehicle collisions.

If you were hurt in a car or truck accident in Wichita Falls, Decatur, or elsewhere in North Texas, contact us for a free personal injury case evaluation. We'll determine which deadlines may apply, identify evidence that needs to be preserved, and explain the legal options available based on the circumstances of your crash.

"Ben Hoover is the man for the job! He handled EVERYTHING for me when my car was rear-ended last summer. He is very honest, hardworking, and dependable. He was very timely and on top of things from beginning to end and left me no room to worry. If you're looking to hire an attorney, contact Ben to handle your case." - Sarah