Texas Personal Injury Laws: Deadlines to Sue, Fault Rules and Damage Caps

Two years after the day the cause of action accrues.

Two years for trespass for injury to the property of another, conversion of personal property, and taking or detaining personal property.

Two years from the date of the breach or tort, or from the date the treatment or hospitalization at issue was completed. Children under 12 have until their 14th birthday. Regardless, every health care liability claim must be filed within 10 years after the act or omission (statute of repose). Before suing, the claimant must send written notice by certified mail to each provider at least 60 days before filing.

Two years, counted from the date of death.

The action is for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse, children and parents of the person who died. Any of them may sue, alone or on behalf of all. If none of them has filed within three calendar months after the death, the executor or administrator must bring the action unless all of them ask the executor not to.

Modified comparative fault (51% bar), called proportionate responsibility. A claimant whose percentage of responsibility is greater than 50% cannot recover. Otherwise, the claimant's damages are reduced by their percentage of responsibility.

No general cap on compensatory damages in ordinary personal injury cases was found. Caps apply in health care liability claims, to exemplary (punitive) damages, and to claims against government units under the Tort Claims Act.

Noneconomic damages in a health care liability claim are capped at $250,000 per claimant against all physicians and other non-institution providers combined, $250,000 per claimant against a single health care institution, and $500,000 per claimant for all institutions combined. In wrongful death or survival actions against a physician or health care provider, total damages (including exemplary damages) are capped at $500,000 per claimant, adjusted for inflation since 1977 under a consumer price index formula.

Exemplary (punitive) damages may be awarded only if the claimant proves by clear and convincing evidence that the harm resulted from fraud, malice or gross negligence; ordinary negligence or bad faith is not enough. The award may not exceed the greater of (1) two times economic damages plus noneconomic damages found by the jury up to $750,000, or (2) $200,000. The cap does not apply to harm from certain knowing or intentional felonies listed in the statute (such as murder or intoxication assault).

Under the Texas Tort Claims Act, the government unit must receive notice of the claim no later than six months after the incident, describing the injury or damage, the time and place, and the incident. City charters may set shorter notice periods. Formal notice is not required if the government unit had actual notice of the death, injury or property damage. Damages are capped: the state at $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death ($100,000 for property damage); cities at $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence ($100,000 property); and other local government units at $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence ($100,000 property).

Minimum liability coverage is $30,000 for bodily injury or death of one person, $60,000 for bodily injury or death of two or more people in one collision, and $25,000 for property damage.

The driver in a collision that causes injury or death, or damages a vehicle so it cannot be normally and safely driven (for example, it needs towing), must immediately notify police by the quickest means available: the local police department if inside a city; the police or sheriff if within 100 feet outside city limits; otherwise the sheriff's office or the nearest Texas Department of Public Safety office.

Texas drivers no longer file their own written crash report with the state; the former driver-report statute applied only before September 1, 2017. Instead, a law enforcement officer who investigates a collision causing injury, death or apparent damage of $1,000 or more to any one person's property must file a written report electronically with the Texas Department of Transportation within 10 days of the collision. People involved in the collision (and their representatives and insurers) can request a copy.

A driver in a collision that causes, or is reasonably likely to cause, injury or death must stop immediately (or return), check whether anyone needs aid, and stay until they have given their name, address, vehicle registration number and liability insurer, shown their license if asked, and given reasonable help to anyone injured, including arranging transport for treatment. Leaving is a second-degree felony if someone dies, a third-degree felony if someone suffers serious bodily injury, and otherwise punishable by up to 5 years in prison or up to 1 year in county jail and/or a fine up to $5,000. In a crash damaging only an attended vehicle, the driver must stop and exchange the same information (on metro freeways, drivable vehicles should first move to a safe nearby spot); failing to do so is a Class C misdemeanor if total vehicle damage is under $200, or a Class B misdemeanor if $200 or more. For an unattended vehicle, the driver must find the owner or leave a written note with names, addresses and what happened (same penalty levels).

In a Texas slip-and-fall case, the duty depends on the visitor's status. For an invitee (such as a store customer), the owner can be liable if it knew of the dangerous condition or reasonably should have known of it; a licensee must prove the owner actually knew of an unreasonably dangerous condition. The Supreme Court of Texas restated these rules in a 2024 slip-and-fall case. When a claim against a government arises from a premises defect, the government owes only the duty a private owner owes a licensee, unless the claimant paid to use the premises.

A Texas city is liable under the Tort Claims Act for damages arising from its governmental functions, which include street construction and design and street maintenance. For a premise defect, the government owes only the duty owed to a licensee (generally requiring actual knowledge of the danger), but that limit does not apply to the duty to warn of special defects such as excavations or obstructions on roads and streets. A city's charter and ordinance provisions requiring notice of a claim within a charter period are ratified by statute. The statutes read do not address liability of the owner of property next to a sidewalk.

Under the Texas Tort Claims Act, a governmental unit, including a city or county, is entitled to written notice of a claim no later than six months after the incident; the notice must describe the injury or damage, the time and place, and the incident. City charters and ordinances may set their own notice periods, which the statute ratifies. The notice requirement does not apply if the government had actual notice of the death, injury or property damage. Liability of a unit of local government is capped at $100,000 per person, $300,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death, and $100,000 for property damage; for a municipality the caps are $250,000 per person, $500,000 per occurrence and $100,000 for property damage. The same Act covers the State, with its own caps.

A Texas owner, lessee or occupant who gives permission to enter land for recreation does not by that permission promise the premises are safe and owes the visitor no greater care than is owed a trespasser, and is not liable for injuries caused by the visitor's own acts. The protection does not apply if the owner was grossly negligent or acted with malicious intent or in bad faith, and the law does not relieve liability for deliberate, willful or malicious injury. For private owners it applies only if they do not charge for entry, charge only limited amounts (total recreational charges in the prior year not more than 20 times the property taxes on the premises), or carry the liability insurance the chapter describes.

Texas requires motorcycle operators and passengers to wear protective headgear, but a rider who is at least 21 is exempt if he or she has completed a motorcycle operator training and safety course or is covered by a health insurance plan providing medical benefits for motorcycle crash injuries. Police may not stop a rider solely to check whether the rider has the course or insurance. The section does not say that not wearing a helmet reduces damages.

No Texas statute names lane splitting. The general lane rule says that on a road divided into two or more clearly marked lanes, a driver must drive as nearly as practical entirely within a single lane and may not move from the lane unless the movement can be made safely.

Where no traffic signal is in place or working, a driver must stop and yield to a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk who is on the driver's half of the road or approaching closely from the other half. A pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb into the path of a vehicle too close to stop, and drivers may not pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk for a pedestrian. A pedestrian crossing anywhere other than a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection must yield to vehicles, and between adjacent intersections with working signals a pedestrian may cross only in a marked crosswalk.

A person riding a bicycle has the rights and duties of a vehicle driver unless the bicycle chapter changes them or they cannot apply by their nature. Cyclists slower than traffic ride as near as practicable to the right edge, with exceptions such as passing, turning left, hazards, or an outside lane under 14 feet wide; they may ride two abreast in a single lane if they do not impede traffic. The state or a local authority may prohibit bicycles on sidewalks. Texas's bicycle chapter contains no helmet requirement and no minimum passing distance.

Texas requires rideshare (transportation network company) drivers or the company to carry primary auto insurance. While the driver is logged on and available but not on a ride: at least $50,000 for bodily injury or death per person, $100,000 per incident, and $25,000 for property damage. During a prearranged ride: a total aggregate limit of $1 million per incident for death, bodily injury and property damage. In both periods the policy must include uninsured/underinsured motorist and personal injury protection coverage where Insurance Code §§ 1952.101 and 1952.152 require them. If the driver's policy lapses or falls short, the company must provide the coverage from the first dollar.

Texas's Department of Public Safety director must adopt rules for the safe operation of commercial motor vehicles that are consistent with federal safety regulations, and may adopt all or part of the federal regulations by reference; the rules apply uniformly in the state, with listed exceptions for certain intrastate vehicles. Motor carriers that must register with the state must keep liability insurance in an amount set by department rule, no higher than the federal requirement. For interstate trucks, federal minimum insurance is set in 49 CFR 387.9.

Texas has a statute limiting a property owner's liability to contractors and their employees hurt while building, repairing or renovating an improvement: the owner is not liable, including for failing to provide a safe workplace, unless it exercised or kept some control over how the work was done (beyond starting or stopping work or inspecting) and had actual knowledge of the danger and failed to adequately warn. For an employer covered by workers' comp, workers' comp benefits are the injured worker's exclusive remedy against the employer, and the worker may also seek damages from a liable third party.