How long does a personal injury case take in Texas?
- Texas Attorney
- Yale B.A. · University of Houston Law Center J.D.
- Habla español
- Updated October 1, 2026
It depends on your medical treatment and whether the insurer negotiates in good faith. Many cases resolve within several months once you finish treating and the full extent of your injuries is known; cases that require a lawsuit take longer. Settling too early — before you know if you need future care — is one of the most expensive mistakes an injured person can make. A good lawyer moves efficiently but won't rush you into a lowball settlement.
Tell me what happened
Jimmy reads every request himself and will be in touch with you shortly.
The honest answer: it depends on your medical treatment
Most of the variation is not lawyering. It is medicine.
A case should not be valued until you reach what doctors call maximum medical improvement — the point where you have either recovered or your condition has stabilized enough to predict what you will need going forward. Settle before that and you are guessing at the largest number in your own case, and the release is permanent.
So a soft-tissue injury that resolves in three months of therapy produces a much shorter case than a back injury that leads to injections and then a surgical consult. That is not delay. That is the case being valued honestly.
Roughly what to expect
Treatment phase. However long it takes. Weeks for minor injuries, many months for serious ones. We work during this period — gathering records, investigating fault, locating every policy — but we do not demand yet.
Demand and negotiation. Once treatment is complete, the records and bills are assembled into a demand. Insurers typically take several weeks to respond, and there is usually back-and-forth. Many cases resolve here.
If suit is filed. Filing adds a year or more. Discovery, depositions, expert reports and mediation all take time, and court schedules are not fast — Harris County is one of the busiest civil dockets in the country. Most cases still settle, often at mediation, but the timeline lengthens considerably.
What actually slows a case down
Gaps in treatment. If you stop going for six weeks and resume, the insurer argues you recovered and something else caused the later problem. That argument takes time to answer and costs money to overcome.
Disputed fault. When liability is contested, evidence has to be developed — reconstruction, vehicle data, witnesses — before anyone can talk about value.
Multiple parties or policies. A truck case with a carrier, a broker and a trailer owner has more insurers to satisfy than a two-car collision.
Liens. Health insurers, Medicare, Medicaid and medical providers may all have reimbursement rights, and those get negotiated before you are paid. It is real work and it happens at the end.
An insurer that simply will not pay. Sometimes the only way to move a claim is to file suit and show you will try it.
The deadline that does not move
Most Texas injury suits must be filed within two years. Claims involving a government entity require notice far sooner — the City of Houston requires notarized written notice within 90 days. Negotiating does not pause either clock, and insurers are under no obligation to remind you.
Faster is not always better
An insurer that offers to close your file in three weeks is not doing you a favor. Early offers arrive precisely because nobody yet knows what your treatment will cost, and that uncertainty is worth money to them. The fastest possible case and the best possible case are rarely the same case.
Authority: Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003
Your next steps, and ours
Call Jimmy
713-600-6233A number set before your prognosis is known is a guess, and the release is permanent. Call and we explain where your case is on the timeline.
Keep every appointment
Gaps become the insurer's argument and add months. Finishing treatment is your part.
We build the file and track deadlines
We gather records, prove fault, find every policy, and track the two-year deadline or any shorter government notice.
We negotiate the liens
Health insurers, Medicare, Medicaid and providers get resolved before you are paid. We do that work properly.
If someone else's negligence put you here, we take it from here
Car Accidents
Rear-endings, intersection crashes, uninsured drivers, hit-and-runs — in Houston, El Paso, and everywhere in between.
Truck & 18-Wheeler Crashes
Federal regulations, black-box data, driver logs, multiple insurers. We move fast to preserve evidence before it disappears.
Work Accidents
Hurt on the job for a non-subscriber employer, or injured by a third party at a job site? Texas gives you real options.
Wrongful Death
When the worst happens, we pursue accountability for surviving families with the care and seriousness it deserves.
¿Lastimado en un accidente? Hablemos — en español.
La consulta es gratis y confidencial. No paga nada a menos que ganemos su caso. Jimmy se comunicará con usted en breve. ¿Sin papeles? Usted tiene derechos.
Every day you wait, evidence disappears and the insurer gets ahead. One free call. Straight answers about your case — in English or Spanish. If you need a fighter, you'll have one, from the first call to the last check.