Two years, six months or 90 days: which Texas injury claim deadline applies to you

Most people have heard that Texas gives you two years to bring an injury claim. That is the general rule, but it is not the only deadline, and for some claims it is not the one that matters. A claim against the City of San Antonio can be lost in 90 days. This article sets out the deadlines that apply to injury claims in San Antonio and when each one starts.

The two-year rule

Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003(a) requires a suit for personal injury to be brought not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues. For a crash, a fall or a dog bite, that is usually the day it happened. For a suit about an injury that caused a death, section 16.003(b) also allows two years, but the claim accrues on the death, so the two years run from the date of death.

The deadline is for filing a lawsuit, not for making an insurance claim. An insurer can settle at any time, but once the two years have passed without a suit, the claim normally cannot be brought in court, and the insurer knows it. That is why negotiations do not stop the clock, and why a lawyer files suit before the deadline when talks are still going.

Children and people of unsound mind

Under section 16.001, a person who is younger than 18, or of unsound mind, when the claim accrues is under a legal disability, and the time of the disability is not counted in the limitations period. For a child hurt in a crash, the two years usually start at the 18th birthday. Two limits apply: a disability that arises after the period has started does not suspend it, and one disability cannot be added onto another to extend the period.

Waiting is still rarely wise: witnesses move, memories fade and video is recorded over.

Claims against the government

Claims under the Texas Tort Claims Act, for example over a crash with a city or county vehicle, come with a notice requirement on top of the two years. Section 101.101 entitles a governmental unit to notice of the claim not later than six months after the incident, reasonably describing the injury, the time and place, and the incident. It also ratifies city charter provisions that require notice within a charter period.

San Antonio’s charter does. Section 150 of the City Charter, as quoted on the City’s notice of claim page, requires the injured person, or their representatives if they have died, to give the City Manager or the City Clerk notice in writing within 90 days, stating when, where and how the injury or death occurred, the apparent extent of the injury and the damages. The City’s page adds that claims involving CPS Energy, SAWS or VIA Metropolitan Transit must be filed with those entities instead.

The notice rules do not apply if the governmental unit has actual notice that someone has died or been injured (section 101.101(c)). Whether a unit had actual notice can itself be argued, so it is safer to give the written notice.

Wrongful death and the three-month rule

In a wrongful death case, the surviving spouse, children and parents may bring the action, and any of them may bring it for the benefit of all (section 71.004). If none of them has started the action within three calendar months after the death, the executor or administrator must bring it, unless all of them ask that it not be brought (section 71.004(c)). That rule is about who sues, not a bar on the family, but it is a reason to decide early how a family wants to proceed.

The deadlines side by side

Situation	Deadline
Injury claim against a person or company	Suit within two years of the injury
Claim for a death	Suit within two years of the death
Child injured	Two years usually start at 18
City of San Antonio involved	Written notice within 90 days, then suit within two years
Other government unit involved	Notice within six months, then suit within two years

For the rest of the Texas law that decides an injury claim, including the 51 percent fault rule and how insurance pays, see our personal injury lawyer San Antonio page.