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Quick answer: The Texas personal injury statute of limitations is generally two years from the date of the injury under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.003. Miss the two-year deadline and the claim is typically lost forever. Important exceptions apply: claims against Texas government entities require written notice within six months (and as little as 90 days for some cities); claims involving minors may be tolled until they turn 18; wrongful death claims also run two years but are measured from the date of death, not injury. Medical malpractice claims have additional layered deadlines and the two-year rule interacts with a ten-year statute of repose.
Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.003 provides the core deadline for most personal injury cases: a person must bring suit for personal injury not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues.
The two-year clock normally starts on the date of the injury itself. For a car accident, that's the date of the crash. For a slip and fall, the date of the fall. For a dog bite, the date of the bite.
If you don't file suit (not just negotiate, file) within two years, courts in Texas will almost always dismiss the case no matter how strong the underlying claim. Insurance companies are well aware of this deadline and routinely drag settlement negotiations out past two years when they think the victim doesn't have counsel.
If the at-fault party is a Texas government entity — a city, a county, a state agency, a public school district, a public hospital — separate notice requirements apply in addition to the two-year statute of limitations. These notice deadlines are often as short as six months from the date of injury.
Under the Texas Tort Claims Act (Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code Chapter 101), written notice to the governmental unit is generally required within six months. But many Texas cities have shorter local notice requirements. The City of Houston requires written notice within 90 days of the incident. Other municipalities may have their own charters imposing similarly short deadlines.
Miss the notice deadline and the claim is barred — even if you're well within the two-year statute of limitations.
Examples of cases where this applies: crash with a METRO bus; injury on a public sidewalk; accident with a Houston Police Department vehicle; injury at a municipal swimming pool; collision with a Harris County maintenance truck.
When the injured person is a minor (under 18), the two-year clock is generally tolled (paused) until the minor turns 18. Under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.001, a minor's cause of action accrues on their 18th birthday.
Practical impact: a 10-year-old injured in a crash has until age 20 to file suit. A 16-year-old has until age 20.
Parents, however, do not get the same tolling benefit. A parent's claim for their own damages (including medical bills they paid for the injured child) must still be filed within two years of the injury — even if the minor's claim is tolled.
Under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.003(b), wrongful death claims must be brought within two years of the death. If the person injured survives the injury for some period of time before dying from related causes, the deadline runs from the date of death, not the date of injury.
Only specific family members have standing to bring a wrongful death claim — generally the surviving spouse, children (including adopted children), and parents. Siblings and grandparents do not have wrongful death standing under Texas law.
Medical malpractice is separately governed by Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §74.251. The two-year statute of limitations applies, but starts from the date of the negligent treatment or the last date of a continuing course of treatment.
A 10-year statute of repose (§74.251(b)) creates an absolute bar: no medical malpractice claim can be brought more than 10 years after the alleged negligent act, even if the patient didn't discover the injury until later.
A mandatory expert report must be served within 120 days of filing suit under §74.351. Failure to serve a compliant expert report is almost always fatal to the claim.
The "discovery rule" allows the two-year clock to start on the date the injury was discovered (or reasonably should have been discovered), rather than the date it occurred. Texas courts apply the discovery rule narrowly — usually only for inherently undiscoverable injuries like surgical objects left inside the body, toxic exposure with latent disease, or cases of fraud.
For a typical car crash, slip and fall, or other trauma-based injury, the discovery rule does not apply — the clock runs from the date of injury.
The two-year deadline requires filing a lawsuit in court, not sending a demand letter or negotiating with insurance. Insurance negotiations do not pause the clock. The filing must be made in a court of appropriate jurisdiction before 11:59 PM on the final day.
If settlement negotiations have not produced an acceptable offer by the 23-month mark, file suit. You can continue to negotiate after filing, but the clock is protected. Missing the deadline because you were "still talking to the adjuster" is an irreversible mistake.
Generally two years from the date of the injury under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.003. Specific case types have different or shorter deadlines — government claims often require notice within 6 months or less, wrongful death runs two years from date of death, and medical malpractice has additional procedural deadlines.
No. Claims against the City of Houston and METRO generally require written notice within 90 days of the incident under the City of Houston Charter, even though the overall statute of limitations is still two years. Miss the 90-day notice and the claim is barred regardless of the two-year rule.
Not for the child's own claim — the statute of limitations is tolled until the child turns 18, at which point they have two years to file. Parents' separate claims, however, are not tolled, and those parental claims are now out of time.
No. Insurance negotiations do not pause the statute of limitations. Insurance adjusters sometimes drag negotiations past the two-year mark intentionally. If negotiations haven't produced an acceptable resolution well before the two-year deadline, suit must be filed to preserve the claim.
Texas applies the discovery rule only narrowly — usually for inherently undiscoverable injuries like retained surgical objects or latent toxic exposures. For typical crashes, slips, or trauma, the clock runs from the date of injury regardless of when symptoms appeared.
This guide is general information about Texas law, not legal advice for your specific case. Every case has different facts. For a free case-specific review, call (713) 842-9442 or start an online case review.
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