A San Antonio personal injury claim can involve more than the driver who hit you: the City of San Antonio, VIA Metropolitan Transit, and your own insurer can all have a role, each on its own clock. Culver Legal represents injured people across San Antonio from its Dallas office, in English and Spanish, and handles car, truck, dog bite, brain injury, uninsured motorist, and wrongful death claims under Texas law.
What should I do right after a crash in San Antonio?
Report the crash right away and say plainly if you are hurt or think you might be. Texas law requires a driver involved in a crash that injures or kills someone, or damages a vehicle so badly it can’t be driven, to notify local police immediately, by the quickest means available; inside San Antonio, that means the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD). SAPD follows its own written crash procedure: if everyone involved is uninjured, the vehicles can be driven away, and both drivers have a valid license and insurance, officers hand out an information-exchange form instead of writing a full crash report. A complaint of any injury at the scene is one of the things that gets a full crash report written instead. Exchange insurance and contact information, photograph the vehicles and the scene, and get medical attention even if an injury doesn’t feel serious at first.
How do I get a copy of my San Antonio crash report?
Request your San Antonio crash report, known as a CR-3, through TxDOT’s Crash Report Online Purchase System, where a regular copy costs $6 and a certified copy costs $8; reports can take up to 14 days to appear after the crash. SAPD also sells crash reports in person at SAPD Headquarters, 315 S. Santa Rosa, San Antonio, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., or online through the City’s Open Government Portal, though those routes carry their own added fees. If your crash was minor enough that officers didn’t write a CR-3 at the scene, there may be no report to request; ask what documentation, if any, was created before assuming one exists.
What makes a San Antonio injury claim different from a typical Texas case?
A San Antonio injury claim can turn on local facts and local government rules that a generic overview of Texas law skips entirely. TxDOT counted 159 fatal crashes in the City of San Antonio in 2025, and the Texas Department of State Health Services lists two Level I trauma centers in the city, Brooke Army Medical Center and University Hospital, on its trauma facility list current as of October 28, 2026.
The City of San Antonio’s 2024 Vision Zero plan names Fredericksburg Road among its priority corridors, a 1.8-mile stretch of road with eight pedestrian crashes among ten severe or fatal crashes from 2019 to 2023. And if the City of San Antonio, VIA Metropolitan Transit, or another government entity is involved, the case runs on a notice deadline far shorter than the two years you get to sue a private driver, with its own rules about what that notice must say.
How long do I have to file a personal injury claim in San Antonio?
In most cases, Texas law gives you two years from the day of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. That deadline applies to a claim against another driver or a private party, and it runs from the date you were hurt, not from when you first saw a doctor or settled with an insurer. Certain situations, such as the injured person being a minor at the time, can change when that clock starts or how long it runs, so confirm your own deadline rather than counting the standard two years yourself. If a government entity caused your injury, a separate and much shorter notice deadline applies before the two-year lawsuit deadline ever comes into play.
What if the City of San Antonio caused my injury, how much notice do I have to give, and what must it say?
If a City of San Antonio vehicle, a City employee, or City property caused your injury, San Antonio’s city charter requires written notice to the City Manager or the City Clerk within 90 days of the incident, far sooner than the two-year lawsuit deadline. That notice must state when, where, and how the injury happened, the apparent extent of the injury, and the amount of damages you’re claiming. The same charter section also says the City is not liable for a defect in any sidewalk, and that for an injury caused by a defect in a street, alley, plaza, bridge, or riverbank you have to show the City actually knew about the defect long enough beforehand to have fixed or guarded it. A charter limit is not the last word on a claim against a city, so do not read either provision as closing your case; have it looked at. Because this deadline is so short, start counting from the day of the incident. If 90 days have already gone by, still ask: written notice is not required where the government already had actual notice that someone was injured.
What if a VIA bus or VIA vehicle was involved in my crash?
If a VIA bus or other VIA vehicle was involved, your claim goes to VIA Metropolitan Transit, not the City of San Antonio; the City’s own claims process says so directly. VIA is a transit authority created under Texas Transportation Code Chapter 451, and the same law makes VIA a governmental unit under the Texas Tort Claims Act, so a claim against VIA follows that Act’s notice rule rather than the City’s charter: written notice reasonably describing the injury, the time and place, and the incident, generally required within six months of the crash, unless VIA already had actual notice that you were hurt. Because VIA’s claims process is separate from the City’s, confirm where and how to send that notice as soon as possible rather than assuming the City’s 90-day window applies to VIA as well.
Can I still recover if I was partly at fault for my San Antonio accident?
Yes, as long as a jury finds you were 50 percent or less responsible for what happened. Texas law only bars you from recovering anything if your own share of responsibility is found to be greater than 50 percent; if it’s 50 percent or less, the law reduces your damages by your own percentage of fault instead of cutting them off entirely. Don’t assume you have no claim just because you think you share some of the blame; the actual percentage is decided by the evidence, not by your own guess.
What if the other driver didn’t have insurance, can I still recover?
Yes, your own insurance policy may cover the gap. Texas law requires every auto insurance policy to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, covering a crash caused by a driver with no insurance or not enough insurance, unless the person named on the policy rejected that coverage in writing. If that coverage was rejected in writing on an earlier policy, the rejection carries over automatically to a renewed or reinstated policy with the same or an affiliated insurer unless the coverage was later requested again in writing. Check your own policy, or ask your insurer directly, to find out whether you have this coverage before assuming you don’t.
Did you reject uninsured motorist coverage, or is it already on your policy?
Texas law puts that coverage on every auto policy unless it was rejected in writing, so it may already be there even if no one ever mentioned it to you.
Where does a San Antonio personal injury case actually get filed?
A San Antonio personal injury lawsuit is filed at the Bexar County Courthouse, 100 Dolorosa, San Antonio. Larger claims are heard in one of Bexar County’s 14 civil district courts, which share jurisdiction over civil cases and are assigned by rotation, so no one chooses which court gets a given case. Smaller claims, up to $325,000 under a change in state law that took effect in December 2025, can instead be filed in one of Bexar County’s county courts at law. Which specific court hears your case depends on the rotation and the amount you’re claiming, not on anything you or the other side picks.
Personal injury cases we handle in San Antonio
We represent people hurt in San Antonio in the kinds of cases below; each turns on its own facts, and some carry their own separate deadlines.
Car accidents. A San Antonio car accident claim starts with the crash report described above and runs on the two-year lawsuit deadline, unless a government vehicle or VIA bus was involved, which changes both the defendant and the notice deadline. We help identify who is actually responsible, gather the evidence that supports your share of fault being 50 percent or less, and pursue the driver’s insurance, your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, or a government notice of claim, depending on what the crash involved.
Truck accidents. A truck accident claim can involve the driver, the trucking company, or more than one insurance policy. The same two-year lawsuit deadline and 50-percent fault rule apply, but the facts, who was driving, who employed them, and what caused the crash, take more evidence to establish than a simpler claim.
Dog bites. If you were bitten or scratched by a dog in San Antonio, the City’s Animal Care Services asks that any bite or scratch that breaks the skin be reported to the local rabies control authority, and a dog involved in a bite investigation is typically placed under a 10-day quarantine from the date of the bite. If a dog has already been found dangerous, its owner is required to carry a liability insurance policy. We help you report the bite correctly, preserve the evidence of what happened, and pursue a claim against the dog’s owner.
Brain injuries. Brain injuries are not always obvious right away, so a full medical evaluation matters even if you feel okay after the crash. We help connect the severity of the injury to the claim, without guessing at a diagnosis ourselves.
Uninsured motorist claims. If the driver who hit you had no insurance, or not enough, Texas law requires your own policy to include uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless that coverage was rejected in writing, and a past written rejection carries forward to renewal policies unless coverage was requested again in writing. We review your own policy’s coverage and pursue that claim alongside any claim against the other driver.
Wrongful death. A wrongful death claim after a fatal San Antonio crash belongs, under Texas law, to the surviving spouse, children, and parents of the person who died, and any one of them can bring it for the benefit of all. If none of them files suit within three calendar months of the death, the deceased’s executor or administrator must bring and prosecute the claim, unless all of those family members ask otherwise. The two-year deadline for a wrongful death claim runs from the date of death, not from the date of the crash, which can matter if the person survived for some time before dying. A wrongful death claim is also separate from the claim for what your relative went through before dying, which belongs to the estate and can close sooner than the wrongful death claim, so confirm both dates as early as you can.
Does this firm have an office in San Antonio?
No, Culver Legal does not have an office in San Antonio. We represent injured people across San Antonio from our Dallas office at 325 N. St. Paul Street, Suite 3100, Dallas, TX 75201, and we work with clients in English and Spanish. That doesn’t change how your claim is handled: the deadlines, the evidence, and the local facts about San Antonio’s courts, hospitals, and government notice rules described above still apply the same way.
Do I need a San Antonio personal injury lawyer, or can I handle this myself?
You can file a claim yourself, but a San Antonio crash claim comes with more moving parts than a simple fender-bender between two private drivers: a short notice deadline if a government vehicle is involved, a separate notice process if VIA is involved, your own insurer’s uninsured motorist coverage, and a fault percentage that can reduce or eliminate what you recover. Missing one of those deadlines, especially the City’s 90 days or VIA’s notice window, can end a claim before it starts. If you’d rather have someone else track those dates and handle the insurance conversations, that’s exactly the kind of work a lawyer does.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do you have to make a personal injury claim in San Antonio?
In most cases, Texas law gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver. If a government vehicle, like a City of San Antonio vehicle or a VIA bus, was involved, a much shorter notice deadline applies well before that two-year window closes. Confirm which deadline applies to your situation as early as possible.
What is the time limit for filing an insurance claim in Texas?
This page doesn’t cover a single statewide deadline for notifying your own insurer. What does apply on a San Antonio claim is short: two years to sue a private driver, 90 days’ written notice if the City of San Antonio caused the injury, and generally six months’ notice if VIA Metropolitan Transit was involved.
Can you sue someone 25 years later over a car accident?
Generally, no. Texas law requires a personal injury lawsuit to be filed within two years of the crash, and once that window closes, the claim is generally barred. Some circumstances, such as the injured person being a minor at the time, can change when that clock starts, so don’t assume the standard two years is your exact deadline without confirming it.
How long after an accident must it be reported?
Texas law requires a driver involved in a crash that injures or kills someone, or damages a vehicle so it can’t be driven, to report it immediately, by the quickest means available, to local police, which in San Antonio means SAPD. Reporting right away, and saying so if you’re hurt, is also what gets a full crash report written instead of just an information-exchange form.
What should I do with my car after a car accident?
Keep the vehicle as it was left after the crash until it has been photographed and any crash report has been completed, rather than having it repaired right away. Photos of the damage, taken before anything is fixed, help support your claim regardless of who else was involved. If the car can’t be driven safely, say so when you report the crash.
If you were hurt in a San Antonio crash, we can talk through what happened and what deadlines apply to your situation. We work on contingency: no fee unless we win, and no case costs charged if there is no recovery. 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.
