If you were hurt in an accident in Houston, Texas law gives you different amounts of time to act depending on who is responsible, and a claim against the City of Houston or against METRO moves on a deadline far shorter than the two years most injury claims allow. This page covers what to do right after a crash, the separate notice deadlines for a government claim, and the other Houston-specific facts a general national page will not tell you.
What should I do right after a car accident in Houston?
Call 911 if anyone is hurt, then exchange insurance and contact information with the other driver while you are still at the scene. Texas law requires a driver involved in a crash that causes injury, death, or damage severe enough that a vehicle cannot be driven safely to notify the police immediately, by the quickest means available. Tell the call taker if anyone is injured, since that is one of the conditions that brings an officer out to the scene.
If no one is hurt, the vehicles can still be driven, and none of the other conditions apply, such as intoxication, no license, no proof of insurance, a disabled vehicle, government property, a hit-and-run, a school bus, or a bicyclist or pedestrian, Houston Police Department policy is to have the dispatcher instruct the drivers to move to a safe location, exchange information, and file a report at a police station within 24 hours rather than send an officer. Either way, photograph the vehicles, the scene, and any visible injuries, get the names and phone numbers of any witnesses, and seek medical attention for anything that does not feel right, even if it seems minor at first.
How do I get a copy of my Houston crash report?
A Houston crash report, known as Form CR-3, is purchased through the Texas Department of Transportation’s online crash report system or directly from the Houston Police Department. Where an officer investigated the crash, TxDOT sells a regular copy for $6 and a certified copy for $8.
HPD’s Records Division, at the Edward A. Thomas Building at 1200 Travis Street, also sells copies in person or by mail at the same $6 and $8 rates, on HPD’s own crash report request form, and asks that you wait a number of days after the crash before requesting it so the investigating officer has time to file the report. If your crash was not investigated by an officer, in a minor crash with no injuries, for example, there may be no CR-3 at all, only the information exchanged at the scene or the Blue Form an officer leaves when no investigation is required.
How long do I have to file a personal injury claim in Houston?
In most cases, Texas law gives you two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. If the person hurt was younger than 18 years of age when the injury happened, that time is not included in the limitations period, so a minor’s own two-year clock does not start running until they turn 18. A wrongful death claim also runs on a two-year clock, but that clock starts on the date of death, not the date of the incident that caused it, so the two deadlines can land on different days when death follows the injury some time later.
A claim against a Texas governmental unit, such as the City of Houston or METRO, has to clear a much shorter notice deadline before the two-year filing clock even matters, and Houston’s own deadline is one of the shortest in the state. The next two sections cover the City’s notice requirement and METRO’s separate notice requirement, since missing either one can end a claim against that defendant before it starts.
What is the notice deadline for a claim against the City of Houston?
A claim against the City of Houston requires written notice, sworn before a notary, within 90 days of the injury, under the City’s own charter, which is shorter than the six months the Texas Tort Claims Act allows most other governmental units to require. Houston’s charter states that before the City can be held liable for a personal injury or for property damage, the injured person must give the Mayor and City Council that notice within 90 days after the injury occurred.
The notice has to state specific things most people would not think to include on their own, such as the amount you would settle for and your address for the six months before the injury happened. The charter says that missing the 90-day deadline, or missing what the notice is required to state, excuses the City from liability entirely. Texas law does allow an exception when the City already has actual knowledge of the injury, but whether that exception applies to your situation is a fact question, not something to rely on without confirming it first.
Did you know a claim against the City of Houston can close in 90 days, not two years?
That notice has to be sworn before a notary and already state the amount you would settle for, long before most injury deadlines even start to feel urgent.
Do I need to notify METRO separately if a bus or rail vehicle was involved?
Yes. If a METRO bus or rail vehicle was involved in your crash, METRO is a separate governmental defendant from the City of Houston, with its own notice deadline, and Texas law makes METRO a governmental unit for tort-claim purposes, so missing either the City’s or METRO’s notice can bar your claim against that defendant specifically. Under the Texas Transportation Code, a regional transit authority like METRO is a governmental unit under the Texas Tort Claims Act, and none of its operations count as a private, proprietary function.
METRO’s own Notice of Claim form asks that it be completed, signed, and delivered within 180 days of the incident, a different deadline, on a different form, than the 90-day notice the City of Houston requires for its own claims. If your crash involved both a METRO vehicle and the City, at a City intersection, for example, you may need to send separate, timely notice to each one.
What if I was partly at fault for my Houston accident?
You can still recover damages as long as your own share of the fault is 50 percent or less; Texas law only bars recovery entirely once a claimant’s percentage of responsibility is found to be greater than 50 percent. Being found 50 percent at fault, or less, does not take away your claim, it reduces it.
When you are not barred, the court reduces the damages you can recover by a percentage equal to your own share of the fault, and reduces that amount further by the dollar value of any settlements you have already reached with others. How fault actually gets divided among drivers in a real crash is something an insurance adjuster and your own lawyer are likely to see differently, which is part of why early investigation matters.
What happens if the other driver has no insurance?
If the other driver has no insurance, your own auto policy likely has uninsured motorist coverage you can turn to, unless someone named on the policy rejected that coverage in writing. Texas law requires every auto liability policy issued in the state to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless the named insured on the policy rejected it in writing.
If no one named on the policy ever signed a written rejection, that coverage should be on your policy even if you do not remember buying it. If someone named on the policy did reject it once, in writing, with the same insurance company or an affiliated one, the insurer is not required to offer it again on a renewal or reinstated policy unless the named insured asks for it in writing, so a rejection from years ago can still be the reason the coverage is not there today.
Where does a Houston personal injury case get filed?
A Houston-area personal injury lawsuit is filed in the Harris County civil courts, at the Harris County Civil Courthouse at 201 Caroline Street, where both the county civil courts at law and the district courts sit.
Which court hears the case depends on the amount in controversy. Harris County’s county civil courts at law handle civil cases up to $325,000, not counting interest, statutory or punitive damages, and attorney’s fees and costs; a claim worth more than that is filed in a Harris County district court instead.
Which Houston hospitals treat the most serious trauma injuries?
The Texas Department of State Health Services lists three Level I trauma centers in Houston, all in the Texas Medical Center, on its statewide trauma facility list current as of October 28, 2026.
Which hospital treats a particular crash victim depends on the severity of the injury, the location of the crash, and the call paramedics make on the scene, not on anything a law firm’s website can tell you in advance.
Which Houston streets are part of the City’s Vision Zero plan?
The City of Houston’s Vision Zero Action Plan, released in November 2020, set a goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries in Houston by 2030, after finding that nearly 60 percent of the city’s traffic deaths and serious injuries happen on just 6 percent of its streets. TxDOT counted 273 fatal crashes and 1,249 crashes with a suspected serious injury in the City of Houston in 2025.
In its 2022 Vision Zero Annual Report, the City said it had identified 10 locations on this high-injury network in 2021 to plan, design, or build safety improvements, including stretches of Martin Luther King Boulevard, Shepherd Drive, Fondren Road, Hillcroft Avenue, Airline and Montrose, Freeport Street, Cavalcade Street, the Quitman Street corridor, North Main Street, and Rankin Road. The same report named Bagby Street as part of the network because of the crashes recorded there between 2014 and 2018. Being on this list reflects the City’s own crash data from past years, not a judgment about how any particular street looks today.
Personal injury cases we handle in Houston
Car accidents. A Houston car accident claim usually starts with the police report, if one exists, and the insurance information exchanged at the scene; comparative fault and, where a government vehicle or agency is involved, a separate notice deadline can all affect how the claim proceeds.
Truck accidents. A crash involving a commercial truck often brings in more than one potentially responsible party and more than one insurance policy, which can make the investigation more involved than a crash between two passenger vehicles.
Dog bites. Texas’s dangerous-dog law, Health and Safety Code chapter 822, has no provision making an owner automatically liable in damages for a bite, so a Houston dog bite claim turns on the facts, including what the owner knew about the animal. A bite is worth having reviewed even if the dog had never bitten anyone before. In Houston, an animal bite can be reported to 311, and a complaint that a dog is dangerous is made to BARC as a sworn statement.
Brain injuries. A brain injury from a crash can take time to fully diagnose, and the medical and legal picture can change as treatment continues; our role is to help make sure the claim accounts for the injury as it is actually understood, not just as it first appeared.
Uninsured motorist claims. When the at-fault driver has no insurance, or not enough, the claim often runs against your own insurer under your policy’s uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage rather than against the other driver directly, which brings its own rules about notice and cooperation with your own insurance company.
Wrongful death. A wrongful death claim in Texas is for the exclusive benefit of the deceased’s surviving spouse, children, and parents, any one of whom can bring the claim on behalf of all of them; if none of them files within three months of the death, the deceased’s executor or administrator is required to bring it. The wrongful death claim must be filed within two years of the date of death. The injured person’s own claim also survives the death, in favor of the heirs, legal representatives, and estate, but it runs from the date of the injury rather than from the death, and is only suspended for 12 months after the death, so it can come due before two years from the death have passed.
Where is your Houston office, and do you handle cases in Spanish?
Our Houston office is at 708 Main St, Floor 10, Houston, TX 77002, by appointment only.
Yes, we work with clients in Houston in both English and Spanish.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if the person who hit me has no insurance?
Texas requires auto insurers to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on every policy unless a named insured rejected it in writing, so your own policy may cover the gap. If no one named on the policy ever signed a written rejection, that coverage is likely already on your policy.
How do I know if I have a worthwhile personal injury case?
That depends on facts specific to your crash, like how the injury happened, who was involved, and what evidence exists, not anything a general description can answer. A lawyer can review your situation and tell you where you stand, and nothing on this page is legal advice.
What questions should I ask before hiring a Houston personal injury lawyer?
Ask whether the lawyer is licensed to practice in Texas, who will actually be handling your case day to day, and how they will keep you updated as it moves forward. It is also fair to ask how fees and case costs work before you sign anything.
If you were hurt in a Houston crash and are not sure which deadline applies to your situation, especially one involving a government vehicle or agency, it is worth talking to a lawyer before any of these windows close. We work on contingency: no fee unless we win. Case expenses are advanced by the firm and repaid from the recovery, and if there is no recovery, no case costs are charged. Attorney responsible for this page: Thanos Simoudis, licensed in Texas, primary office Los Angeles, California. Call (214) 269-1184 for a free case review, or send us the details and we will call you back. More on Texas personal injury claims.
