Houston Personal Injury Lawyers — Felicetti Law Firm, Texas

Houston has more freeway lane-miles than almost any metropolitan area in the country and no zoning to keep heavy industry away from the people driving past it. The Southwest Freeway, the 610 Loop, the Katy, the Gulf and the Eastex all feed a road system that mixes commuter traffic with tanker and flatbed freight from the Ship Channel. The result is a crash mix weighted heavily toward high-speed impacts and commercial vehicles.

Houston Gives You Ninety Days, Not Six Months

The Texas Tort Claims Act requires written notice to a governmental unit within six months of the incident (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101(a)). But subsection (b) expressly ratifies shorter periods set by a city’s own charter — and the City of Houston requires notice within ninety days.

That distinction has ended real cases. Someone hit by a METRO bus or a city vehicle who waits four months because they read that Texas allows six is already out of time in Houston. Other Texas cities set their own charter periods, so the answer genuinely depends on which municipality’s vehicle was involved. Notice is excused only where the governmental unit already had actual notice of the injury.

Against a private driver the deadline is the ordinary one: two years from the date the cause of action accrues, for injury and for wrongful death alike (§ 16.003).

The Fifty-One Percent Line in Proportionate Responsibility

Texas divides fault under Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, which it calls proportionate responsibility. The statute bars recovery where a claimant’s “percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent.”

Read that precisely, because a great deal of published material gets it wrong. A claimant found exactly fifty percent responsible still recovers, reduced by half. Only when the figure passes fifty — fifty-one and up — does the claim end. “Fifty percent or more bars recovery” is a common sentence on Texas legal websites and it is simply not what the statute says.

“Paid or Incurred” — Why the Bill Is Not the Claim

Texas limits recovery of medical expenses to amounts actually paid or incurred by or on behalf of the claimant (§ 41.0105), rather than the gross amount a provider billed. Where a health insurer negotiated a hospital charge down, it is generally the negotiated figure that can be recovered, not the sticker price.

This has a practical effect people rarely anticipate: how and whether treatment is billed can change the size of a claim substantially. It is a reason to get advice before treatment decisions are made and before letters of protection and liens are signed, not afterwards.

There Is No Cap on an Ordinary Texas Car Accident Claim

Texas is widely described as a state that caps injury damages. That is true in two specific places and false everywhere else. Non-economic damages are capped in health care liability claims under Chapter 74, and recoveries against governmental units are capped by § 101.023.

Neither applies to a claim against a negligent private driver. In an ordinary Texas car or truck crash there is no statutory ceiling on compensatory damages. Anyone who has been told their case is worth “up to $250,000 because that is the Texas cap” has been told something about medical malpractice, not about their collision.

The Southwest Freeway Office

The office serves Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Brazoria and Galveston counties and takes Texas matters from Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley. Typical work includes car collisions, 18-wheeler and oilfield truck crashes, motorcycle claims, pedestrian injuries, premises cases, construction and industrial injuries, work injury claims and wrongful death.

Free Case Review in Houston

If a city vehicle was involved, assume ninety days and act accordingly. Call the Felicetti Law Firm at (800) 333-1988 or reach us online. There is no charge for the review and no fee unless the firm recovers money for you.

Call (800) 333-1988 — Free Texas Case Review

The firm is also available in: Arizona · Georgia · California · Missouri

Texas deadlines, notice rules and damages rules are summarised generally and have exceptions. This page is not legal advice and creates no attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Texas matters are handled by attorneys licensed in Texas.