How long do I have to file an injury claim in Texas?

The two-year rule

Texas gives you two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. That comes from section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, and courts apply it strictly. Miss it and the case is over — a judge will dismiss a claim worth six figures the same way as one worth five hundred dollars.

The deadline is about filing suit, not about negotiating. Talking with an adjuster does not pause the clock. Neither does waiting on medical records, waiting to finish treatment, or an adjuster telling you they are "still reviewing it." Insurers are under no obligation to warn you that your time is running out, and some are content to let it.

The deadlines that are much shorter

If a government entity is involved, the two years is not your real deadline — a notice requirement hits first, and it is measured in months, not years.

City of Houston. The city charter requires written, notarized notice of the injury within 90 days, delivered to the City Secretary. That applies if you were hit by a city vehicle, injured by a city employee on the job, or hurt by a dangerous condition the city was responsible for. Ninety days goes quickly when you are in treatment.

The State of Texas and state agencies. The Texas Tort Claims Act requires notice within six months under CPRC 101.101.

Other cities and counties. Many have their own charter deadlines, and they vary. Some are shorter than Houston's. If any public entity might be involved — a transit bus, a school district vehicle, a county road crew — the deadline needs to be identified immediately, not eventually.

When the clock starts later

A few situations move the starting line:

Injured children. Under CPRC 16.001, the limitations period is tolled while a claimant is a minor. In practice, a child's own claim generally does not start running until they turn 18 — though a parent's separate claim for the child's medical expenses can run on the ordinary schedule, which is a trap worth knowing about.

Injuries that could not reasonably have been discovered. Texas applies the discovery rule narrowly, and mostly in cases where the injury was inherently undiscoverable. It is not a general safety net for a late claim, and you should never plan around it.

Death cases. A wrongful death claim generally runs two years from the date of death rather than the date of the incident, which are not always the same day.

Why waiting costs you even inside the deadline

The deadline is the outer edge, not the target. Evidence decays on its own schedule: dashcam and surveillance footage is often overwritten within days or weeks, skid marks wash away, vehicles get repaired or scrapped, and witnesses stop answering the phone. Trucking companies have specific retention obligations for some records, but those obligations do not last forever, and a preservation letter has to go out while the records still exist.

There is also a treatment-gap problem. Insurers read a delay between the crash and the first doctor's visit as evidence that you were not really hurt. The longer the gap, the harder that argument is to answer.

Authority: Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003 · Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101 · City of Houston — filing a claim