Texas law gives most injured people two years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. This deadline comes from Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003, and it applies to car accidents, truck accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, and most other negligence-based injury claims. The same two-year period applies to wrongful death claims, though the clock starts on a different date.
This deadline is not a suggestion. Texas courts apply it strictly, and a claim filed even one day late is almost always dismissed, regardless of how clear liability is or how serious the injuries are. A handful of situations can change how the deadline works, including claims involving injured children, claims involving a person with a legal disability, and claims against a city, county, or other government entity. Confirming exactly which deadline applies to your situation can protect your right to compensation, which is why many injured Texans talk to a Abogado de lesiones personales de Houston soon after an accident rather than waiting.
The Two-Year Deadline for Most Personal Injury Claims
Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003, a person must bring a personal injury lawsuit within two years after the day the claim accrues. This two-year period covers most of the claims people bring after an accident, including:
- Car and truck accidents
- Motorcycle and rideshare accidents
- Slip and fall and other premises liability claims
- Mordidas de perro
- Most other injuries caused by another party’s negligence
The two-year period is measured in calendar time, not business days. If you were hurt in an accident on a specific date, you generally have until that same date two years later to file suit in court. This is a filing deadline for the lawsuit itself, not a deadline to reach a settlement. An insurance company can negotiate with you for months without ever making it clear that the clock is still running toward that court deadline.
When the Filing Clock Starts Running
For most injury claims, the two-year period begins on the date of the accident, not the date treatment ends or the date a case is reported to insurance. A car accident on a specific date starts the clock that day. A fall at a store starts the clock the day it happens, even if the full extent of the injury is not clear until later.
Texas courts recognize a narrow exception known as the discovery rule for situations where an injury could not reasonably have been discovered at the time it occurred. This exception applies in limited circumstances and is not a general extension for cases where symptoms simply worsened over time. Because the discovery rule depends heavily on the specific facts of how and when an injury became apparent, it should not be assumed to apply without a careful review of the timeline.
Wrongful Death Claims Follow the Same Two-Year Window
Section 16.003 also sets the deadline for a demanda de muerte por negligencia in Texas at two years. The important difference is when that clock starts. For a wrongful death claim, the two-year period begins on the date of death, not the date of the original accident or injury.
This distinction matters most when someone survives an accident for a period of time before passing away from their injuries. If a person is injured in a crash in January and dies from those injuries the following November, the wrongful death claim’s two-year deadline runs from November, the date of death, rather than from the date of the crash itself.
Exceptions That Can Pause the Deadline
Injured Children and People Under a Legal Disability
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.001 addresses how the deadline works when the injured person is under a legal disability at the time the claim accrues, meaning they are younger than 18 or of unsound mind. In that situation, the time the person spends under that disability is not counted toward the limitations period.
In practical terms, this means a child injured in an accident generally does not have their own two-year clock start running until they turn 18. Their personal injury claim can typically still be pursued for two years after that birthday. This tolling protects the injured child’s own claim. A parent’s or guardian’s separate claims, such as for medical expenses they personally paid on the child’s behalf, are treated as that parent’s own cause of action and are not automatically paused by the child’s disability.
Claims Against a City, County, or State Entity
Claims involving a government defendant follow a different and often much shorter timeline than the two-year lawsuit deadline. Under the Texas Tort Claims Act, a governmental unit is generally entitled to written notice of a claim against it within six months of the incident. This notice requirement exists separately from the two-year deadline to file suit, and missing it can bar a claim even though the underlying two-year period has not expired.
Several Texas cities set their own notice deadlines that are shorter than six months through their city charters, and Houston is one of them. The City of Houston’s charter requires written notice of a personal injury claim within 90 days of the incident, sent to the mayor and city council. This shorter window can apply to accidents involving a METRO bus, a city-owned vehicle, a hazard on a city-maintained street, or an injury at a municipal facility. Because this notice period runs so much faster than the general two-year deadline, it is worth identifying early whenever a government vehicle or government-owned property may be involved.
Insurance Negotiations Do Not Pause the Deadline
One of the most common ways people lose their right to sue is by assuming that ongoing conversations with an insurance adjuster are protecting their deadline. They are not. An insurance company can continue requesting documents, discussing a potential settlement, or delaying a decision for well over a year without ever agreeing to extend the statute of limitations. If the two-year deadline passes while negotiations are still open, the ability to file suit is generally gone, along with much of the leverage needed to negotiate a fair settlement.
Why Acting Early Matters Beyond the Filing Deadline
The statute of limitations sets the outer boundary for filing a lawsuit, but waiting until close to that deadline creates practical problems long before the legal deadline itself becomes an issue. Surveillance footage may be overwritten, witnesses can become harder to locate, and details about how an accident happened can grow harder to reconstruct the longer a case sits untouched. Confirming liability, identifying the correct defendant, and reviewing available insurance coverage all take time to do well.
Our attorneys review the facts of each case early, including whether a government entity may be involved and whether any shorter notice deadline applies, so that important evidence and notice requirements are not lost while a case is still being evaluated.
Related Questions
Does the deadline change if I was partially at fault for the accident?
Texas’s statute of limitations rules do not change based on fault. Shared fault can affect how much compensation is available, but the two-year filing deadline applies the same way regardless of whether fault is fully clear.
What happens if I file my lawsuit after the deadline has passed?
A defendant can ask the court to dismiss a lawsuit filed after the statute of limitations has expired, and Texas courts generally grant that request. This is true even if liability is clear and the injuries are severe, which is why identifying the correct deadline early matters as much as building the underlying case.
Understanding which deadline applies to your situation, whether it is the standard two-year window, the later start date for a wrongful death claim, or a shortened notice period involving a government entity, is one of the most important steps in protecting your right to pursue compensation. Joe I. Zaid & Associates offers free consultations to help injured Texans understand their filing deadlines and next steps before time becomes a problem.
