All states have their own laws concerning personal injury, and Texas is no different. Because these laws can be confusing, you should contact a great personal injury lawyer—like those listed in this article—as soon as you can if you have been injured.
Waiting to talk to an attorney can mean missing out on any chance of recovery at all. An experienced personal injury attorney will be able to guide you through all the specifics of Texas law, but here’s just a few ways that Texas laws are unique.
Statute of Limitations in San Antonio
Most states have a statute of limitations of between one and three years. Texas falls in the middle of the spectrum with a two year statute of limitations on most personal injuries.
This means you have to file a personal injury case within two years of the initial injury or you may be barred from recovery entirely.
If you were injured by someone who worked for the government you may have even less time. The city of Austin, for example, may bar you from recovering if you don’t notify them of your injury within 45 days.
If you’re injured, it’s best to reach out to a skilled personal injury attorney without delay so you don’t jeopardize your chance at getting compensated for your injuries.
Determining Fault in San Antonio
There are a few different rules used to decide fault. One of the most common is used in Texas, called “modified comparative negligence.”
This rule deals with how courts will award damages when both parties are partially to blame for the injury. Imagine a car accident with $10,000 of damages to your vehicle. At trial, you were found to be 10% at fault and the other driver 90% at fault. In Texas, you will be awarded only $9,000 (after reducing your award by the percent you were at fault).
Importantly, though, if the other driver countersued for $20,000 in damages to their car and the jury finds them more than 50% responsible for the accident, this bars them from recovering anything.
This is different from states that use the regular comparative negligence rule, where the other driver would be allowed to recover 10% of their damages, getting back $2,000 of the $9,000 they had to pay you.
Some states use a rule called contributory negligence that is even more strict. In these states, you are not allowed to sue for anything at all if you were even 1% responsible for the accident.
Caps on Medical Malpractice Awards in Texas
Texas has put caps on how much juries can award plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases. These caps only apply to non-economic damages, however. Any treatment costs or lost wages are capped, but non-economic damages like pain and suffering are capped at $250,000 per defendant.
There is also a cap on medical malpractice wrongful death. It was initially set at $500,000 and is indexed for inflation, making it currently around $2 million.
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