A Houston car accident lawyer gathers the evidence of how the crash happened and what it cost, presents the claim to the insurers, negotiates, and files suit when an insurer will not pay a fair amount. The order is set by the case, but Texas law fixes a few clocks along the way, including the two-year deadline to sue and the insurer’s deadlines on a claim under your own policy.
The short version
- The evidence comes first. The crash report, photographs, witness names and early medical records are the foundation of any demand, so they are gathered before a number is discussed.
- Your own insurer runs on statutory clocks. An insurer handling a claim under your own policy must acknowledge it within 15 days of notice and, in the usual case, send its written decision to accept or reject within 15 business days after receiving the items it required (Tex. Ins. Code §§ 542.055, 542.056, with exceptions).
- Shared fault can reduce or bar a recovery. Past 50 percent of responsibility, a claimant recovers nothing (§ 33.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code).
- The two-year window is the one most people hear about. Accrual starts it (§ 16.003(a)), and notice to a governmental body is due six months from the incident (§ 101.101(a)).
- The fee agreement must be in writing. A contingent fee agreement needs the signatures of both lawyer and client, on paper (Tex. Gov’t Code § 82.065(a)).
What does the lawyer do first in a Houston crash claim?
The first job is to fix the facts while they can still be fixed: the crash report, photographs, the vehicles, the names of witnesses and the medical records from the first treatment. Those records are the starting point for any discussion of who was at fault.
Crash reports are often the first document a claim draws on. When an officer investigates a crash that hurts or kills anyone, or that damages one person’s property by an apparent $1,000 or more, a written report is required, filed electronically within ten days (Tex. Transp. Code § 550.062). The state’s form includes the officer’s own narrative of events and a scene diagram. Both are compared with the photographs and with the other driver’s account (TxDOT, Instructions to Police for Reporting Crashes, CR-100, version 29.0 (2025), section 4.7).
Photographs, the vehicles themselves and the names of people who saw the crash are gathered early so they are on hand when the claim is written. Our guide to the photographs worth taking after a crash lists what to capture, and our article on why witnesses matter explains how their accounts are used. The early steps after the crash itself are in what to do when the other driver leaves and in our general checklist on steps to take at the scene.
Who can get the crash report, and when can it be requested?
Under Texas Transportation Code § 550.065, after a written request and payment of the fee, HPD releases a crash report to a person directly concerned in the collision, including an involved person, an authorized representative or an insurer. HPD advises waiting at least 10 days after the crash before asking.
HPD’s request form, revision 12/25, lists twelve qualifications. They cover any person involved in the crash, the authorized representative of such a person, whoever owns a damaged vehicle or property, and an insurance company that wrote a policy for someone in the crash. A requester who meets none of them may still ask for a redacted copy by certifying a direct concern in the crash (HPD, Crash Report Request Form, rev. 12/25).
The form sets the fee at $6 for a non-certified report and $8 for a certified one. Payment is by check or money order to the City of Houston, mailed to the Records Division at 1200 Travis Street, or the report can be bought through the state’s online vendor. The waiting period matters because the officer has ten days to file. The steps are walked through in ordering a crash report in Houston, and the question of who answers for the crash is treated in liability in multi-car accidents.
What does a lawyer do with your own insurance claim?
Your own policy has its own clock. When you claim under that policy, for example for medical payments benefits, the insurer has to respond within 15 days of notice, and in the usual case it must send a written decision to accept or reject within 15 business days after it holds every item it required.
The first deadline runs from the day the insurer receives notice. By then the insurer must acknowledge the claim, start investigating and ask for whatever items and statements it reasonably believes it will need (a longer period applies to one kind of surplus lines carrier) (Tex. Ins. Code § 542.055(a)). Once the insurer notifies you that it will pay, the money is generally due within five business days of that notice (§ 542.057(a)).
These periods govern the insurer that issued your policy. They are not a timetable for the other driver’s liability carrier, which negotiates on its own schedule. When an insurer stops responding, our pieces on what to do when insurance is stalling and on uninsured and underinsured motorist claims lay out the options. Some crashes involve a rideshare trip or a motorcycle and more than one policy. Our pages on rideshare accidents and motorcycle accidents in Houston describe those layers, and when a lawyer is useful for an insurance claim covers the question directly.
How is the claim presented to the at-fault driver’s insurer?
A written demand, backed by the crash report, proof of fault and records of the loss, goes to the at-fault driver’s liability insurer. Both sides then trade offers. Texas Rule of Evidence 408 generally keeps those offers and the talks around them out of evidence when the dispute is over the claim’s validity or amount.
Rule 408 bars evidence of offers to compromise a claim, and of conduct or statements made during compromise talks, when it is offered to prove or disprove the claim’s validity or amount. A court may still admit such evidence for another purpose, such as showing a witness’s bias (Texas Rules of Evidence, Rule 408, effective September 1, 2025).
A demand is only as persuasive as the records attached to it. The commercial-truck version of this sequence involves more parties and more carriers. What a truck accident lawyer does sets that out, and our 18-wheeler accident page covers the carrier side. Medical records are the usual point of friction, and our guide on medical records requests from adjusters covers what gets requested.
How does a lawyer prove what the claim is worth?
With records, not estimates. Medical records and bills show the treatment and its cost, employment records show lost income, and treating doctors describe future care. Texas separates economic damages from noneconomic damages, and it limits recovery for medical care to sums actually paid or incurred.
Economic damages are compensatory damages for actual economic or pecuniary loss, and the statutory definition leaves out exemplary and noneconomic damages (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.001(4)). Medical expenses are recoverable only up to what was paid or incurred on the claimant’s behalf (§ 41.0105).
Our article on how much a Houston car accident claim is worth works through the arithmetic. An injury that heals slower than expected changes the future-care part of the case, as the article on brain injury compensation explains. When a crash worsened an older condition, the proof has to separate the new harm from the old, which how aggravation of a pre-existing condition is proved in Texas covers.
How does shared fault change the settlement?
Texas reduces a recovery by the claimant’s percentage of responsibility, and it bars recovery altogether once that percentage is above 50. Each side argues over who caused the crash, so the fault argument can shape what the claim is worth before any figure is put on the table.
Above that halfway mark, the claimant takes nothing (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001). At or below it, the court takes the claimant’s percentage off the damages (§ 33.012(a)). Every point of fault argued in a negotiation therefore carries a dollar consequence.
How that argument is framed depends on the crash. the comparative fault approach in Texas claims explains the approach. Pedestrian crashes raise separate right-of-way questions, covered on our Houston pedestrian accident page.
When must a lawsuit be filed, and what happens next?
Two years is the usual answer, and most injury claims have to be filed inside that window. The personal injury limitation in Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003(a) runs from accrual, and the Code’s exceptions at sections 16.010, 16.0031 and 16.0045 can change the picture.
The period is set in Chapter 16, the limitations chapter of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Other rules can change it in particular cases, so the date for a specific claim has to be checked against its facts. A filed suit moves through a petition, written discovery, depositions, often a mediation, and trial if the case does not settle. The timing of each step is covered in the timeline of a Texas injury case, and the firm’s personal injury practice describes the work at each stage.
A claim against a governmental unit under Chapter 101 has its own, shorter notice period. Section 101.101(a) gives the unit a right to notice by the sixth month counted from the incident, and that notice must reasonably describe the injury claimed, the time and place of the incident, and the incident itself (§ 101.101(a)). A city charter can set its own notice period, and § 101.101(b) gives it effect.
Some Houston car crash cases do reach a jury. The Houston Chronicle reported on November 24, 2025, that a federal jury awarded $13 million to the family of a 75-year-old man who died when a police cruiser hit his car on North Shepherd Drive in 2021. The family had sued the police department in 2023 (Houston Chronicle, “Houston family wins $13M verdict after HPD officer crashes into grandfather’s car,” November 24, 2025). The Chronicle describes a federal suit against the city over police driving policies, not an ordinary car accident claim between two drivers. It does not predict the value of any other claim. Families pursuing a death claim should also read Houston wrongful death suits.
What are the stages of a car accident claim, and which deadlines are fixed?
Treatment, evidence, the insurer’s claim handling, the demand and negotiation, and a lawsuit if needed. Only some stages have fixed clocks: the insurer’s deadlines on your own policy, the government notice period and the two-year suit deadline. The rest move at the pace of the medical care and the evidence.
| Step | What happens | Deadline or rule |
|---|---|---|
| Medical treatment | Care continues until doctors can describe the further care the injury will need. | None. The pace is medical. |
| Your own insurer (claim under your own policy) | The insurer acknowledges, investigates and rules on the claim. | 15 days to acknowledge and begin investigating (Ins. Code § 542.055(a)); in the usual case, 15 business days to accept or reject in writing (§ 542.056(a), with exceptions in § 542.056(b) and (d)); 5 business days to pay after notice of acceptance (§ 542.057(a)). |
| Government body | A notice that reasonably describes the injury, the time and place and the incident. | Notice due six months from the incident, with exceptions in the same section. |
| At-fault driver’s liability insurer | Written demand, offers and counter-offers. | Set by negotiation. Offers and statements are governed by Texas Rule of Evidence 408. |
| Lawsuit | Petition, discovery, mediation and trial. | Two years from accrual (§ 16.003(a)). |
Statutes and rules as read on October 16, 2026: Texas Insurance Code, Chapter 542; Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Chapter 16; Chapter 101.
How is a Houston car accident lawyer paid?
At the firm, an attorney’s fee is owed only if money is recovered, and a first consultation costs nothing. Texas requires a written contingent fee contract for legal services, signed by the attorney and by the client.
Section 82.065(a) is brief: the contract for a contingent fee has to be written down and signed by the lawyer and the client (Tex. Gov’t Code § 82.065(a)). Read the agreement before signing, and ask how expenses are handled and how the percentage is worked out.
The firm offers a free consultation. Attorney profiles, such as that of Sam A. Maida, Jr., are public before you sign anything, and a specific crash can be described through the contact page. What a Houston accident lawyer costs is explained in how much a Houston accident lawyer costs, and a checklist for the first call with an injury firm is a useful companion.
Frequently asked questions
Is a lawyer needed after a minor car accident?
Some crashes do not call for one. Where someone was hurt, fault is contested, a driver has little or no insurance, or an insurer has gone quiet, a lawyer adds the most.
How long after a car accident can you claim an injury?
The usual period for a suit over injuries is two years from accrual, under Chapter 16, the state’s limitations chapter in the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Exceptions in sections 16.010, 16.0031 and 16.0045 apply in some cases, so an attorney should confirm the date for your claim.
Do I need a lawyer for a car accident settlement?
A settlement can be negotiated without one, but the offer is only as good as the records behind it. Medical bills, treatment notes and proof of lost income are what an insurer will ask for, and a claim that settles early can close before the full cost of treatment is known.
Can you make a car accident claim without a police report?
The officer’s report is one source of evidence, not the only one. Photographs, the names of people who saw the crash, the vehicles and the medical records can all support a claim, and the report is still worth requesting because it records the officer’s narrative and diagram.
What does hiring a car accident lawyer cost?
The firm is paid only from a recovery; if nothing is recovered, no attorney’s fee is charged. The agreement itself has to be a signed writing, with signatures from both lawyer and client.
How early should a car accident lawyer be brought in?
Soon enough that the evidence and the deadlines stay in view. The two-year suit window runs from accrual and the six-month notice rule for a government defendant runs from the incident, so waiting for a settlement can use up time the law sets.
Is a lawyer worth it when the crash wasn’t my fault?
A lawyer can still help when the other driver was mostly at fault. A recovery shrinks in step with the claimant’s own fault and disappears once that fault tops 50 percent (sections 33.001 and 33.012(a) of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code).
About the authors
Sam A. Maida, Jr.
Owner and Managing Attorney
Sam A. Maida, Jr. has represented injured Texans in the greater Houston area since the firm opened in 1993.
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Bernard G. Johnson III
Litigation Managing Attorney
Bernard G. Johnson III is a board certified trial lawyer licensed in Texas since 1996 and a graduate of South Texas College of Law.