Austin Personal Injury Lawyer

Culver Legal represents people hurt in car crashes, truck crashes, and other accidents in Austin, Texas. Texas gives most injury claims two years to be filed, but a claim against the City of Austin or against CapMetro can require written notice in as little as 45 days, long before that two-year deadline arrives.

What Should I Do After a Crash in Austin, and How Do I Get the Crash Report?

If anyone was hurt or killed in an Austin crash, or a vehicle cannot be safely driven away, Texas law requires the driver to give notice of the crash immediately, by the quickest means, to the police department with jurisdiction over the place it happened. Calling for emergency help from the scene does that and brings medical help at the same time. Keep the responding officer’s name and the incident number, and get contact information for everyone involved and for anyone who saw what happened.

Once the crash is on record, the Texas Department of Transportation sells the official CR-3 crash report through its Crash Report Online Purchase System for $6 for a regular copy or $8 for a certified copy, emailed after purchase. If the Austin Police Department investigated the crash, the City of Austin also sells its own crash reports online through LexisNexis for crashes inside APD’s jurisdiction; the City’s page does not list a price or how long that request takes.

How Long Do I Have to Take Action After Getting Hurt in Austin?

A person hurt in an Austin crash generally has two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit in Texas, but a claim against a government entity such as the City of Austin or CapMetro requires separate written notice on a much shorter deadline, and that notice deadline can run out long before the two years does.

Texas’s general personal injury statute of limitations is two years from the day the claim accrues. A wrongful death claim has its own two-year clock, but it runs from the date of death rather than the date of the original injury, so the two deadlines are not always the same date.

Separately, if the City of Austin or a city vehicle may be responsible, the City’s charter requires written notice, sworn by affidavit, within 45 days after the injury or damage happened. If CapMetro may be responsible, Texas’s Tort Claims Act gives a longer six-month window to send notice, counted from the date of the incident, because CapMetro does not have its own shorter charter period. Confirming which deadline applies, and acting early, is especially important in Austin.

What If the City of Austin or a City Vehicle Was Involved?

If the City of Austin itself, a city employee on the job, or a city-owned vehicle was involved in your crash, Texas’s Tort Claims Act and Austin’s own City Charter control your claim, and the City’s charter gives you only 45 days, not the usual two years, to send written notice.

Austin’s Charter requires that notice to be in writing, sworn by affidavit, and sent within 45 days after the injury or damage happened. It must state when, where, and how it happened, the extent of the injury, the amount of damages, the claimant’s current address and address for the six months before the crash, and the names and addresses of any witnesses relied on. Missing the 45 days, in the time and manner the charter sets out, excuses the City from liability altogether; no city employee’s conduct can waive that requirement, and only a City Council resolution passed before the 45 days run out can excuse a late notice.

The City of Austin’s own online claim page describes sending a letter within 45 days, but does not mention that the charter requires it be sworn by affidavit. This notice requirement may not apply if the City already had actual notice that someone was hurt, but that is not something to count on; written notice should still go out well before the 45 days are up.

What If CapMetro Was Involved in My Accident?

If a CapMetro bus, train, or other CapMetro vehicle was involved in your crash, Texas law treats CapMetro as its own government defendant, separate from the City of Austin, with its own six-month notice deadline rather than the City’s 45 days.

CapMetro is a transit authority created under Chapter 451 of the Texas Transportation Code, and that same chapter makes CapMetro a governmental unit under the Texas Tort Claims Act for all purposes, not a private company. That means a claim against CapMetro follows the Tort Claims Act’s six-month notice window, counted from the date of the crash, rather than Austin’s 45-day charter deadline. The same caution applies here as with a City of Austin claim: this notice period may not apply if CapMetro already had actual notice of the injury, but written notice should still go out well within the six months.

What If I Was Partly at Fault for My Accident in Texas?

In Texas, if you were partly at fault for your own crash, you can still recover damages as long as your share of responsibility is 50 percent or less; if a jury finds you more than 50 percent responsible, you cannot recover anything.

Texas’s comparative fault law bars recovery outright once a claimant’s own percentage of responsibility is found to be greater than 50 percent. If your share of fault is 50 percent or less, you are not barred, but the court reduces whatever damages you are awarded by that same percentage before you are paid. How fault is split between everyone involved is a factual question decided case by case.

What If the Other Driver Had No Insurance?

If the driver who hit you in Austin had no insurance, Texas law requires that uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage be included on most auto policies unless the policyholder rejected that coverage in writing, so your own policy, not the other driver’s, may be where your claim for an uninsured driver belongs.

Texas insurers may not issue an auto liability policy without including uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, at least at the state’s minimum limits, unless the named insured on that policy rejected the coverage in writing. If that rejection was made, the insurer is not required to offer the coverage again on a renewal or reinstated policy with the same or an affiliated insurer unless the policyholder asks for it in writing. Whether that coverage exists on a given policy, and whether it was ever rejected, is worth confirming directly rather than assuming either way.

Where Does a Personal Injury Case in Austin Actually Get Filed?

A personal injury case arising out of an Austin crash is generally filed in the Travis County civil courts at 1700 Guadalupe Street in Austin, with the specific court depending on how much the case is worth.

Travis County’s courts at law handle civil cases only up to $325,000 in controversy; a claim pleaded above that amount goes to a Travis County district court instead, and both sit at the same courthouse. Government claims, like one against the City of Austin or CapMetro, still go through the same courthouse once the required notice has been given.

Where Do Austin Crash Victims Get Treated, and Why Does That Matter to a Claim?

The Texas Department of State Health Services lists two trauma centers in Austin designated Level I (‘Comprehensive’) and one designated Level II (‘Major’), on its facilities list current as of October 28, 2026.

Which hospital treats a particular crash victim depends on the severity of the injury and decisions made at the scene, not anything a claim can control. What matters for a claim is that the medical records generated at whichever hospital provides treatment become part of the evidence connecting the crash to the injury, so keeping copies of discharge paperwork, imaging, and billing records from the start is worth doing regardless of which Austin hospital was involved.

Which Austin Streets Are on the City’s High-Injury Network?

The Texas Department of Transportation counted 94 fatal crashes and 276 suspected serious injury crashes in the City of Austin in 2025, and the City of Austin’s own High-Injury Network map identifies specific streets where serious and fatal crashes concentrate.

The City of Austin’s High-Injury Network map includes North Lamar Boulevard, Manchaca Road, South Congress Avenue, FM 2222, South 1st Street, Airport Boulevard, Burnet Road, Manor Road, East Riverside Drive, and Guadalupe Street, among other segments. The City says the network covers about 8 percent of Austin’s streets but accounts for nearly 60 percent of all serious injury or fatal crashes across all modes of travel. The underlying map data was last updated in May 2022, and the City has described updating the network as a work in progress, so it is a starting point for understanding a street’s history, not a current ranking of the single most dangerous road.

Personal Injury Cases We Handle in Austin

Culver Legal represents people hurt in a range of accidents across Austin. Each type of claim below follows the deadlines and rules already described on this page; the law does not change by case type, only the facts do.

Car Accidents

A car accident claim is the most common personal injury case in Austin, governed by Texas’s two-year filing deadline, its comparative fault rule, and, where no driver carried enough insurance, the state’s uninsured and underinsured motorist rules described above. A city or CapMetro vehicle involved in a car accident brings the shorter government notice deadlines into play instead of, or alongside, the two-year deadline.

Truck Accidents

A truck accident claim follows the same two-year filing deadline and comparative fault rule as any other crash claim in Texas, though it can involve a commercial driver and the company that owns or operates the truck in addition to the driver. The same uninsured and underinsured motorist rules apply if a liable party did not carry enough insurance.

Dog Bite Claims

Austin requires that all animal bites be reported to Animal Protection, and a dog, cat, or ferret reported to have bitten someone must be observed for 10 full days from the date of the bite regardless of its vaccination status. Texas’s Health and Safety Code sets no civil-damages rule for a dog bite, so a bite claim runs on common law, and there are two routes to it. The Texas Supreme Court has held that a person who keeps an animal he has reason to know has dangerous propensities abnormal to its class is liable for the harm it causes even though he exercised the utmost care to prevent it. The same decision held that a possessor of an animal that is not vicious can still be liable for negligent handling of it, so a first bite by a dog with no known history is not automatically the end of a claim.

Brain Injury Claims

A traumatic brain injury from an Austin crash is treated as any other personal injury claim for filing purposes, subject to the same two-year deadline and comparative fault rule described above. This page does not offer medical guidance on brain injury; a claim can only account for a diagnosis and treatment a doctor has actually documented.

Uninsured Motorist Claims

When the at-fault driver has no insurance, or not enough, Texas requires most auto policies to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless the policyholder rejected it in writing, as described above. An uninsured motorist claim is often filed against your own insurer rather than, or in addition to, the other driver.

Wrongful Death Claims

A wrongful death claim in Texas is for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased, and any one or more of them may bring it for the benefit of all. If none of them has begun the action within three calendar months after the death, the executor or administrator must bring and prosecute it. A wrongful death claim must be filed within two years after the date of death.

There is a second, separate claim that is easy to miss: the injured person’s own personal injury claim does not end at death. It survives to and in favor of the heirs, legal representatives, and estate of the injured person, and survives against the liable person and that person’s legal representatives. Because it is still the injured person’s own claim, its two-year deadline runs from the date of the injury, not the date of death. The death suspends the running of that deadline for 12 months after the death, but if an executor or administrator qualifies before that 12 months is up, the deadline starts running again at the time of qualification. Where someone was hurt and died months or years later, the survival claim can run out before the wrongful death claim does, so a family in that position should have both deadlines checked.

Do You Handle Cases in Spanish?

Yes. Culver Legal works with clients in Austin in both English and Spanish.

How Do I Reach the Austin Office?

Culver Legal’s Austin office is located at 111 Congress Avenue, Suite 500, Austin, TX 78701, by appointment only.

Call to schedule an appointment before visiting; the Austin office is not open for walk-ins. Your first conversation about your case can also happen by phone before any appointment is scheduled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a personal injury lawyer after a crash in Austin?

You are not required to hire a lawyer to bring a personal injury claim in Texas. Austin claims can carry more than one deadline, including a two-year filing deadline, a 45-day notice if the City of Austin is involved, and a six-month notice if CapMetro is involved, so confirming which ones apply early, rather than assuming the two-year rule is the only one, can matter.

How long do I have to file a personal injury lawsuit in Austin, TX?

In most cases, Texas law gives you two years from the date of the crash to file suit. If the City of Austin or a city vehicle was involved, written notice sworn by affidavit is due within 45 days of the injury; if CapMetro was involved, written notice is due within six months of the incident, both well before the two-year deadline arrives.

How do I get a copy of my Austin crash report?

The official CR-3 crash report is available from the Texas Department of Transportation’s Crash Report Online Purchase System for $6 for a regular copy or $8 for a certified copy. If the Austin Police Department investigated your crash, the City of Austin also sells crash reports for its cases through LexisNexis.

What happens if I’m partly at fault for an accident in Texas?

Under Texas’s comparative fault rule, you can still recover damages as long as your own share of responsibility is 50 percent or less, though the amount you are awarded is reduced by that percentage. If a jury finds you more than 50 percent responsible for the crash, Texas law bars you from recovering anything.

What if the other driver has no insurance?

Texas requires most auto insurance policies to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless the policyholder rejected it in writing, so your own insurer may owe you coverage even though the other driver did not have any. Whether that coverage exists on your policy, and whether it was ever rejected, is worth confirming directly.

An Austin personal injury lawyer who already knows the City’s 45-day notice rule, CapMetro’s separate six-month deadline, and Texas’s comparative fault rule can tell you which clock applies to your situation before any of them run out. Culver Legal works on contingency, so you pay no fee unless we win, and if there is no recovery, you owe nothing for case costs; any expenses we advance along the way are repaid only out of a recovery. Attorney responsible for this page: Thanos Simoudis, licensed in Texas, primary office Los Angeles, California. Case expenses are advanced by the firm and repaid from the recovery, and if there is no recovery, no case costs are charged. 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.