Texas Truck Accident Statute of Limitations

Every deadline in one table

Charter notice periods vary by city and entity. Confirm the rule for the specific governmental unit involved.

The two-year rule

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003(a) gives an injured person two years from the day the cause of action accrues to bring suit for personal injury. For a truck crash, that day is almost always the day of the wreck.

Filing means filing a lawsuit in court. Reporting the crash to an insurer does not stop the clock. Negotiating with an adjuster does not stop the clock. Adjusters sometimes stretch talks past the deadline and then stop returning calls, and a court will not rescue a claim that ran out during friendly negotiations.

Wrongful death runs on its own version of the same rule. Section 16.003(b) provides that in an action for injury resulting in death, the cause of action accrues on the death of the injured person. When someone survives a wreck for weeks or months before dying, the injury claim and the death claim carry different deadlines, and the difference matters.

When the deadline gets shorter

Here is the trap that ends more Texas cases than the two-year rule does. A crash involving a city dump truck, a school district bus, a transit vehicle, or a county road crew falls under the Texas Tort Claims Act, and that statute requires formal written notice long before suit.

Section 101.101(a) sets the default at six months. Section 101.101(b) then ratifies shorter periods set by city charter. The City of Houston uses that authority: Article IX, Section 11 of its charter requires verified written notice to the mayor and city council within 90 days, and states that failure to give notice exempts the city from liability.

A family with a strong case against a city truck can lose it in three months while still believing they have two years. Section 101.101(c) provides one narrow escape, excusing notice when the governmental unit already had actual notice of the death, injury, or property damage. Courts read that exception narrowly, and a police report alone rarely satisfies it.

The Tort Claims Act also caps what you can recover

Section 101.023 sets those caps, and they differ by defendant.

Bodily injury and death figures under CPRC 101.023. Property damage caps separately at $100,000 per occurrence for each governmental category.

That table explains why identifying every private defendant matters so much in a case that starts out looking governmental. A contractor doing road work for a county is not the county.

When the deadline gets longer

Section 16.001 pauses the clock for a person under 18 at the time of injury. A child hit by a semi at age 9 generally has until age 20 to bring their own claim. The parents' separate claim for that child's medical expenses runs on the ordinary two-year clock, so a family that waits still loses part of the case.

The same section tolls the clock for a person of unsound mind. A traumatic brain injury that leaves someone unable to manage their own affairs can qualify, though proving it takes medical evidence and courts apply the rule carefully.

Section 16.063 stops the clock while a defendant is absent from Texas. The discovery rule can also delay accrual when an injury was inherently undiscoverable, but it almost never applies to a truck crash, where the injury announces itself the same day. Treat it as an argument of last resort rather than a plan.

The 51 percent bar

Texas uses modified comparative fault. Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code governs it, and section 33.001 states the rule in a single sentence: a claimant may not recover damages if his percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent.

Read that carefully. At 50 percent you still recover. At 51 percent you recover nothing. Below that line, section 33.012 reduces your award by your share of fault.

That cliff explains defense strategy in nearly every trucking case. A carrier's investigators do not need to prove you caused the wreck. They need to move one juror from 49 to 51. Expect arguments that you were speeding, following too closely, in the truck's blind spot, or distracted, built from cell phone records and scene measurements gathered within days of the crash while your family is still at the hospital.

Section 33.004 lets a defendant designate a responsible third party, which spreads blame toward someone who is not even in the lawsuit. In trucking cases that often means pointing at a phantom vehicle, the shipper who loaded the trailer, or a road contractor.

The clock that runs out first

Two years sounds generous. The evidence schedule is not.

Federal regulation 49 CFR 395.8(k) requires a motor carrier to keep drivers' records of duty status and supporting documents for six months from the date of receipt. Section 396.11(a)(4) requires driver vehicle inspection reports, along with the certification of repairs and the driver's review, to be kept for three months from the date the report was prepared. Onboard event data can be overwritten the next time the truck returns to service. Dashcam footage on many fleets recycles in weeks. None of that destruction is illegal if the company had no reason to preserve the material.

A spoliation letter changes that. It puts the carrier on written notice that specific records matter to a claim, which creates a duty to preserve them and exposes the company to a jury instruction if it destroys them anyway. That letter has to go out in the first weeks, not the second year.

Let us break down what a first letter typically demands: electronic logging device data and driver duty records, dispatch and trip records, the driver qualification file, drug and alcohol test results, pre-trip and post-trip inspection reports, maintenance and repair history for the tractor and trailer, engine control module and event data recorder downloads, dashcam and telematics footage, bills of lading and weight tickets, and the carrier's own internal incident investigation.

Chapter 72 and the bifurcated trial

House Bill 19 took effect September 1, 2021 and added Subchapter B to Chapter 72 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. It applies to civil actions involving a commercial motor vehicle, and only to actions filed on or after that date.

Under section 72.052, a defendant who moves on time gets a two-phase trial. Phase one covers the driver's liability and compensatory damages. Phase two covers exemplary damages. Section 72.054 goes further: if the trucking company stipulates that the driver was its employee acting in the scope of employment, its liability for ordinary negligence rests only on respondeat superior, and the jury in phase one hears nothing about how the company hired, trained, or supervised that driver.

Section 72.053 also limits when a regulatory violation comes into evidence in phase one. The regulation must govern the specific conduct or equipment at issue, and a reasonable jury must be able to find that the failure to comply proximately caused the injury or death.

The statute defines commercial motor vehicle narrowly, covering vehicles used for commercial purposes in interstate or intrastate commerce to transport property or passengers, deliver goods, or provide services, and excluding vehicles used for personal, family, or household purposes at the time of the crash. Whether a given defendant qualifies is worth contesting.

What did not change in 2025

Senate Bill 30 moved through the 89th Legislature as a broad damages bill. Early versions would have limited past medical expense evidence to amounts actually paid, redefined noneconomic damages, and created new remittitur procedures. The House stripped the tort provisions, the two chambers appointed conferees on May 30, 2025, and no final version passed before the session ended on June 2, 2025.

Existing law on medical damages and noneconomic damages stands. Anyone reading older commentary that assumed passage should check the date.

Sources

• Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 16, limitations, including 16.001, 16.003, and 16.063
• Chapter 33, proportionate responsibility
• Chapter 101, Texas Tort Claims Act, including 101.023 caps and 101.101 notice
• Chapter 72, liability of motor vehicle owner or operator
• Notice of claim for damages, City of Houston Legal Department, quoting Charter art. IX, sec. 11
• 49 CFR 395.8, driver's record of duty status
• 49 CFR 396.11, driver vehicle inspection reports
• Texas House Bill 19, 87th Legislature

Reviewed August 21, 2026 against the primary statutes and regulations linked above. Deadlines turn on facts specific to each crash, and statutes change. This page explains general Texas rules and is not legal advice about any particular claim. Talk to a Texas-licensed lawyer about your own deadlines.

If your deadline is close

Sgt. Pike has handled Texas trucking cases for 30 years and has recovered more than $750 million for injured clients and their families. If you are not sure which clock applies to your crash, call before you guess. Our 18-wheeler crash page covers what an investigation looks like, and our county crash data shows where these wrecks happen across Texas.