A crash in Missouri City or Richmond is a Texas personal injury claim that can be filed in the county where it happened: Fort Bend County for Richmond, the county seat, and for part of Missouri City, which also lies partly in Harris County. Maida Law Firm serves both cities from its one office in southwest Houston.
The short version
- Richmond is the Fort Bend County seat, and the county’s website lists ten district courts, each with an office in the Justice Center on Eugene Heimann Circle.
- Missouri City is in two counties. The Handbook of Texas places it in northeast Fort Bend and southwest Harris counties, so where the crash happened decides which county’s courts apply.
- TxDOT recorded 1,258 crashes in Missouri City and 248 in Richmond in 2024, with 8 deaths in Missouri City and none in Richmond.
- Three agencies respond: the Missouri City and Richmond police departments inside their cities, and the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office elsewhere in the county.
- The clocks match the rest of Texas: two years to sue in most cases, and a shorter six-month window, in the statute’s default rule, to notify a government body.
Which county’s courts hear a Missouri City or Richmond injury case?
Texas venue law’s first rule points to the county where the claim’s events happened in whole or in substantial part (see § 15.002(a)(1) of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code). For Richmond that is Fort Bend County. For Missouri City it is Fort Bend or Harris County, depending on where the crash happened.
The Handbook of Texas describes Richmond as the county seat of Fort Bend County, on the Brazos River fifteen miles southwest of Houston; it became the seat in December 1837, when the county was formed. The Handbook’s Missouri City entry places that city twenty miles southwest of downtown Houston, in northeast Fort Bend and southwest Harris counties. A city that straddles a county line is the unusual fact in this post, and it is why a map of the exact crash location matters before anything is filed. The statute also has other venue rules, such as a defendant’s residence or principal office (§ 15.002(a)(2) and (3)), and it lets a court transfer a case on a defendant’s motion under stated conditions, so venue is something to settle with an attorney rather than assume.
In Fort Bend County, the county’s district courts page lists ten judicial district courts, and each gives an office in the county’s Justice Center complex, whose address is 1422 Eugene Heimann Circle in Richmond. On the Harris County side, the county civil courts at law hear civil matters with an amount in controversy of up to $250,000. The pace of a filed suit is the subject of our realistic timeline article.
Which roads in Missouri City and Richmond matter after a crash?
The sources point to US 59 at Richmond, State Highway 6 and US 90A through Missouri City, and the Fort Bend Parkway and Westpark toll roads. Fort Bend County’s toll road authority says the Fort Bend Parkway has interchanges at Highway 6, Lake Olympia Parkway, FM 2234 (McHard Road), Beltway 8 and US 90A.
The Handbook of Texas puts Missouri City on US 90A and State Highway 6 and lists US 90A and US 59 among Richmond’s links. The Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority describes the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road as running from Sienna Parkway at its south end to US 90A (South Main) at its north end, with the Harris County Toll Road Authority operating the Harris County section from Beltway 8 to US 90A. It describes the Westpark Tollway as connecting the Grand Parkway (SH 99) to Loop 610, with access to SH 6, Beltway 8, US 59 and the Galleria area. Which authority runs a toll road can matter if a road condition, not a driver, is in question, because claims against government bodies follow their own rules; see the government-claims section below.
US 59 is where freight meets commuters. KPRC reported on 22 January 2026 a fatal crash on northbound US 59 near Crabb River Road involving an 18-wheeler and an SUV, with Richmond police and Fort Bend County deputies at the scene and three right lanes and the Crabb River Road exit blocked. Crashes with a commercial truck bring more parties and more evidence than a two-car collision, as the trucking accident page and the guide to evidence that proves a truck crash show.
For the Houston-side roads that feed these suburbs, our companion article on the most dangerous Houston roads and intersections sets out what published sources say about I-45, I-69 and Westheimer Road, and the Katy corridor article covers the west side.
How many crashes did TxDOT record in Missouri City and Richmond in 2024?
TxDOT’s 2024 city table lists 1,258 crashes in Missouri City, 6 of them fatal with 8 people killed, and 248 in Richmond, none fatal. Missouri City had 36 crashes with a suspected serious injury and 48 people seriously injured; Richmond had 3 and 3.
| City | Total crashes | Deadly crashes | Deaths | Crashes with a serious injury | Seriously hurt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri City | 1,258 | 6 | 8 | 36 | 48 |
| Richmond | 248 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Rosenberg | 994 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 24 |
| Stafford | 667 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 20 |
| Sugar Land | 2,189 | 7 | 8 | 28 | 34 |
The figures are copied from the city rows of TxDOT’s 2024 cities-and-towns report, built from Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Reports received and processed as of 9 April 2025. The counts are the crashes TxDOT files under each city’s name, so they say nothing about how many miles of road or residents each city has. A crash count is not a safety rating. If you were hurt in one of them, the questions are about your crash: who was at fault, what insurance applies, and what your medical care will cost. Our neighbor city’s pages, Sugar Land personal injury and Sugar Land car accidents, cover the same questions for the Fort Bend city with the most crashes on this table.
Who investigates a crash in Missouri City or Richmond, and how do you get the report?
Inside city limits, the Missouri City or Richmond police department; elsewhere in the county, the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office. Texas law requires a driver in a collision with injury, death or a disabled vehicle to notify the local police inside a municipality at once, and an investigating officer must file a written report that you can buy from TxDOT.
The county district attorney’s list of Fort Bend County law enforcement agencies includes the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office, the Missouri City Police Department and the Richmond Police Department, each with its own non-emergency line. Transportation Code § 550.026 directs the driver of a vehicle in a collision with injury or death, or a vehicle too damaged to be driven normally and safely, to notify the “local police department if the collision occurred in a municipality”; away from a municipality the notice goes to the sheriff’s office or the department’s nearest office, and a separate clause covers crashes within 100 feet outside city limits. Section 550.062 requires an officer who investigates a collision that hurts or kills a person, or apparently damages property by $1,000 or more, to make a written report, filed electronically with the department by the tenth day.
TxDOT’s crash reports page says a copy of the Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report (CR-3) can be bought through its online purchase system and that the report arrives by email. Our accident report copy guide walks through the steps and what the report contains. If the other driver left the scene, read our hit-and-run page as well.
What if a city, county or government vehicle is involved?
The Texas Tort Claims Act governs the claim. A government body can be liable for an employee’s negligent driving, but only to capped amounts, and it is owed notice of the claim inside six months of the crash. A municipality’s cap is $250,000 per person; other local units’ is $100,000.
Under Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 101.021, a governmental unit can be liable when injury or death results from an employee’s negligence, within the scope of employment, when the harm arises from how a motor-driven vehicle or piece of motor-driven equipment is operated or used, and the employee would be personally answerable to the claimant, and Section 101.101 entitles the unit to notice within six months after the incident, describing what the injury was and when, where and how it happened; a city’s own charter may fix a different notice period (§ 101.101(b)). Section 101.023 gives a municipality a ceiling of $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence, and other local units a lower one of $100,000 and $300,000. Notice is excused if the unit already knew of the death, the injury or the property damage (§ 101.101(c)). The same rule applies to a school bus crash and its six-month notice.
A Missouri City example: Houston Public Media reported on 27 March 2026 that a Fort Bend County jury had convicted a former Missouri City police officer on three counts of aggravated assault by a public servant and that he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for a June 2024 crash on Cartwright Road that killed three people, and noted that one victim’s family had earlier filed a lawsuit. A criminal sentence is separate from a civil claim for damages, and the story does not say how any civil case was resolved.
Which deadlines and fault rules govern a Fort Bend County injury claim?
The same as elsewhere in Texas. A lawsuit generally must be brought no more than two years after the claim accrues; for a death, accrual is the date of death. Someone who is more than half at fault recovers nothing; otherwise damages shrink by that person’s share.
Section 16.003 sets the two-year period, counted from accrual of the cause of action; for a death, accrual falls on the date of death. Section 33.001 bars recovery when the claimant’s responsibility exceeds 50 percent, and Section 33.012 reduces the award by the claimant’s percentage. Insurers press that percentage hard; see how lawyers answer a comparative negligence argument. A neighboring city’s walk-through of the filing deadline in Sugar Land applies the same period in Fort Bend County.
The deadlines are why the first weeks matter. Keep the crash report number, photographs and medical records together; our Sugar Land article on building the insurance claim lists what to gather, and speaking to an attorney before the adjuster explains why the first call matters. If the other driver has no insurance, see uninsured and underinsured motorist claims.
Which claims does Maida Law Firm take for Missouri City and Richmond residents?
The firm serves Missouri City and Richmond from one office in southwest Houston; it has no office in either city. The pages linked below describe car, rideshare, pedestrian, workplace and wrongful-death claims in detail, and each page explains the facts that matter for that type of crash.
Common Fort Bend County claims start from our pages on car accidents, rideshare crashes, pedestrian accidents and workplace injuries. For a family that has lost someone, wrongful death claims and the article on who can file after a fatal crash explain who may bring the claim. Our Sugar Land pedestrian article describes how a Fort Bend crosswalk claim works. A Fort Bend crash can be described in a message through the contact page.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Richmond, Texas?
Richmond is on the Brazos River, fifteen miles southwest of Houston, according to the Handbook of Texas. It is the county seat of Fort Bend County, and the Handbook lists U.S. highways 90A and 59 among its transportation links.
Where is Missouri City, Texas?
The Handbook of Texas places Missouri City on U.S. Highway 90A and State Highway 6, twenty miles southwest of downtown Houston. It lies in northeast Fort Bend and southwest Harris counties.
What county is Missouri City, Texas in?
Two. The Handbook of Texas and the Texas Almanac data it carries both list Missouri City under Fort Bend County and Harris County, which is why a Missouri City injury suit can be filed in whichever county the crash happened in, unless another venue rule applies.
What county is Richmond, Texas in?
Fort Bend County. Richmond became the seat of government in December 1837, when the county was formed, and the county’s district courts page places each court’s office in the Justice Center there.
Is Richmond, Texas safe?
A crash count is not a safety rating, but TxDOT’s 2024 table lists 248 crashes under Richmond’s name, none fatal, and 3 with a suspected serious injury. The same table lists 1,258 crashes in Missouri City, with 6 fatal. The counts do not adjust for population or road miles.
How far is Missouri City from Houston?
The Handbook of Texas puts Missouri City twenty miles southwest of downtown Houston. Richmond is described as fifteen miles southwest of Houston. These are the Handbook’s distances, not drive times, which depend on the route and traffic.
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.