Injury and Accident Settlements in Texas

This section is for people in Fort Worth, Dallas, Arlington and the rest of North Texas who were hurt in a crash or lost a family member to one, and who want to understand how the claim that follows is put together. Three sets of Texas rules shape almost every such claim: a filing deadline, a method for splitting blame, and timelines that bind an insurer handling a claim on its own policy. The guides below take each of those apart, and this page shows how they connect.

Nothing here estimates what a claim is worth. The guides describe what the statutes and the federal carrier rules say, quoted or cited to the section.

Three rules that run through every claim

The clock

A Texas personal injury suit has to be filed within two years of the day the cause of action accrues, under section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. When the injury causes a death, the two years count from the date of death. Ongoing treatment and talks with an adjuster are not among the events chapter 16 lists as pausing it.

The split of blame

Texas assigns each person in the case a percentage of responsibility. Under section 33.001, someone found more than half responsible recovers no damages. At 50 percent or less, section 33.012(a) shrinks the award by the claimant's own share.

Whose insurer you are dealing with

The prompt payment rules in chapter 542 of the Insurance Code protect only first-party claims, meaning claims you make on a policy you hold or as its named beneficiary (section 542.051). When the insurer on such a claim misses those deadlines, section 542.060 adds 18 percent yearly interest plus reasonable attorney's fees. A claim against the other driver's liability carrier sits outside those rules. After a crash, one first-party claim that can arise is on your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, and section 1952.101 makes it part of every Texas auto liability policy unless a named insured turns it down in writing.

How the pieces fit in order

The path above starts with the officer's report. According to TxDOT, when a crash kills or injures someone, or appears to cause at least $1,000 in damage to one person's property, the investigating officer must file a CR-3 report with the agency within ten days. From there, medical records build up, insurance claims open on one or both sides, and the fault question takes shape. The written demand follows, and then talks or a mediation. If the parties sign a written settlement that resolves the dispute, section 154.071 makes it enforceable like any other written contract. If they do not, the two-year limit decides whether a lawsuit is still possible.

Two kinds of case add layers. A crash with a commercial carrier brings in federal financial responsibility minimums and driver logs, and a carrier has to keep duty records and their supporting documents for at least six months under 49 CFR 395.8(k)(1), far shorter than the state filing period. A crash that kills someone produces a wrongful death claim, which section 71.004 reserves for the surviving spouse, children and parents.

Crashes in Dallas and Tarrant counties, 2025

Dallas County: Total Crashes

43,946

Dallas County: Fatal Crashes

258

Dallas County: Fatalities

274

Dallas County: Suspected Serious Injuries

1,664

Tarrant County: Total Crashes

30,433

Tarrant County: Fatal Crashes

186

Tarrant County: Fatalities

190

Tarrant County: Suspected Serious Injuries

1,076

Source: Crashes and Injuries by County 2025, 2025.

TxDOT built those county figures from officer crash reports it had received and processed as of April 7, 2026, so later reports could change them.

Which guide answers your question

• How a car accident claim works follows a single claim from the CR-3 report to settlement or suit, including how to buy a copy of the report from TxDOT and who may get the unredacted version.
• Commercial truck accident claims explains the federal coverage floors for carriers, hours-of-service logs, driver qualification files and how long each record must be kept.
• The deadline to sue for an injury sets out when the two years start and every pause the statute allows, from minority to a defendant leaving the state.
• Proportionate responsibility works through who receives a percentage, how responsible third parties are named, and how a prior settlement is credited.
• Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage covers the written rejection rule, the hit-and-run contact requirement and how UIM is measured by subtraction.
• How fast Texas insurers must handle a claim lays out each prompt payment deadline in the statute's own words, the extensions, and the interest remedy.
• Wrongful death claims answers who may sue after a death, when the estate's representative steps in, and how a survival claim differs.

If the claim turns into a negotiation, the disputes section covers demand letters and mediation, and the home page of DRS North Texas indexes the other sections.

All settlements guides

Sources

1. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003
2. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code sections 33.001 and 33.012
3. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 71.004
4. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 154.071
5. Texas Insurance Code sections 542.051 and 542.060
6. Texas Insurance Code section 1952.101
7. 49 CFR 395.8 (records of duty status)
8. TxDOT, Crashes and Injuries by County 2025