Frequently Asked Questions

Talk to a lawyer first. You are generally required to cooperate with your own insurer, but not with the other driver's. An adjuster records the statement to find admissions and inconsistencies that reduce what the insurer pays, and the recording is used long after you have forgotten what you said.

Uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy may cover the claim. Texas insurers must offer UM and UIM coverage, and it applies unless you rejected it in writing. A UM claim is made against your own insurer, which becomes an adversary once money is at stake.

Two years from the date of the collision, under section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Claims involving a governmental unit can require formal written notice far sooner, sometimes within months.

Preserve the evidence. A written demand that the carrier retain the electronic logging records, engine control module data, driver file, maintenance history and any camera footage should go out immediately, because normal retention practices and continued use of the truck can destroy it.

Generally yes. A motor carrier is responsible for the negligence of a driver acting in the course of employment, and it can also be directly liable for negligent hiring, training, supervision or retention if it placed an unfit driver on the road.

There are more defendants, more insurers, and far more documentary evidence, much of it obtained only through formal discovery. Injuries also tend to be more severe, and a claim should not resolve until the medical picture is settled.

Texas allows riders over 21 to ride without a helmet in defined circumstances, and riding legally without one does not by itself bar a claim. Expect the other side to raise it in relation to head injuries, which is a question best answered with medical evidence about how the injury actually occurred.

Texas law does not authorize riding between lanes of moving traffic, and it is treated as unlawful. If lane position is disputed, it becomes part of the fault analysis under section 33.001.

It generally helps. A driver's duty includes keeping a proper lookout, and failing to see a motorcycle that was there to be seen is a breach of that duty rather than an excuse.

Yes. CT imaging is designed to find bleeding and swelling that need urgent treatment, not the microscopic nerve damage that causes many lasting cognitive problems. Specialized imaging and neuropsychological testing are what identify those injuries.

A concussion is a traumatic brain injury. It is usually classified as mild, which describes how it presented at the time rather than how serious the consequences are. Some people recover fully in weeks and some have symptoms that persist for years.

Through objective testing rather than appearance. Neuropsychological evaluation measures function against expected performance, treating physicians document the course of symptoms, and people who knew the person before the injury describe what changed.

Only the surviving spouse, children and parents of the person who died. Siblings cannot bring the claim. If no eligible family member files within three months of the death, the estate's executor or administrator may file unless the family asks them not to.

A wrongful death claim compensates the family for their own loss. A survival claim belongs to the estate and covers what the person who died suffered between injury and death, including conscious pain and medical expenses. They are brought together but are legally separate.

No. A civil claim is separate from any criminal prosecution and runs on its own two year deadline. A criminal conviction can help prove the civil case, but an acquittal does not end it, because the standard of proof is lower in a civil claim.

Largely yes. Chapter 551 of the Transportation Code gives a person on a bicycle the rights and duties of a vehicle driver, with limited exceptions. A cyclist may use the roadway and is owed the same care as any other road user.

Texas has no statewide adult helmet requirement, though some local rules apply to children. Expect the other side to raise helmet use where there is a head injury, which is answered with medical evidence about the mechanism of injury.

Uninsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy may respond to a hit and run, and it can apply even though you were on a bicycle rather than in a car. Report the collision to police promptly, because a report is usually required.

No. An unmarked crosswalk exists at an intersection where a sidewalk would continue across the roadway. A driver's duty to yield can apply there just as it does at a painted crossing.

Possibly. Outside a crosswalk a pedestrian must yield to vehicles, but a driver still has to keep a proper lookout and drive at a safe speed. Fault is divided under section 33.001, and recovery is possible while you are 50 percent or less responsible.

Conditions a driver can anticipate rarely excuse a collision. A driver who cannot see is generally required to slow down or stop, so glare more often supports a failure to keep a proper lookout than defeats it.

While a passenger is in the vehicle the rideshare company's commercial policy of one million dollars applies, alongside uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. That applies whether the rideshare driver or another driver caused the collision.

It decides everything about coverage. App off means only the driver's personal policy. App on and waiting means limited contingent cover. Ride accepted or passenger aboard means the full commercial policy. Proving which period applied usually requires trip records from the company.

Usually the claim is made against the applicable insurance rather than the company, because drivers are classified as independent contractors, which limits vicarious liability. The insurance structure is what provides the recovery.

That description is misleading. An owner is liable where the dog had shown dangerous tendencies and the owner knew, and a prior bite is not required. Lunging, snapping, muzzling or a warning sign can each show knowledge. A separate negligence claim does not depend on the dog's history at all.

A claim may still exist in negligence, where the owner failed to control the animal with reasonable care. If a local leash ordinance was broken, that breach can establish negligence without any need to prove what the owner knew about the dog.

Homeowner or renter insurance commonly covers dog bite liability, subject to exclusions for certain breeds or undisclosed animals. Identifying the policy early usually matters more than the owner's personal financial position.

Because treatment continues long after the wound closes. Grafting, revision surgery for scar contracture, pressure garments, rehabilitation and management of persistent nerve pain can extend over years, and the initial hospital bill is only part of the total.

Yes. Texas treats disfigurement as a separate category of damages, alongside physical pain, mental anguish and physical impairment. Visible scarring is compensable in its own right rather than being folded into medical costs.

It depends on whether your employer carries workers compensation. Texas does not require it. An employer without coverage loses the usual defenses, and third party claims may exist against a manufacturer, contractor or property owner regardless of coverage.

No. The claim usually requires proof that the shop knew about the spill, or that it had been there long enough that reasonable inspection would have found it. That is why the length of time the hazard existed, and the inspection records, matter so much.

An invitee enters for the mutual benefit of both parties, which covers customers at a business. Invitees are owed the highest duty, including a duty to discover hazards through reasonable inspection. A social guest is a licensee and is owed a narrower duty.

Not necessarily. An owner generally owes no duty to warn about an open and obvious hazard, but the defense has limits, particularly where a visitor had no realistic alternative but to encounter it, or where the owner should have anticipated harm anyway.

A school district is a governmental unit, so immunity applies and is waived only within the Texas Tort Claims Act. Formal written notice is required within a short period, and recoverable damages are capped by statute. These claims need attention immediately rather than close to the two year deadline.

Large buses rely on compartmentalisation, using closely spaced padded seat backs to contain passengers. That approach works reasonably in frontal impacts and much less well in rollovers and side impacts, which is why bus injury patterns differ from car crashes.

A common carrier transports passengers for hire. Texas holds common carriers to a high degree of care toward passengers, which is a more demanding standard than the ordinary duty of reasonable care owed between drivers.

No. Texas is the only state that does not require private employers to carry it. An employer without coverage is a non-subscriber and can be sued directly in negligence, and it loses the usual defenses such as contributory negligence and assumption of risk.

You generally cannot sue a subscribing employer, but claims against other companies on the site remain available. Construction sites involve many separate contractors, and a claim against one of those is not barred by workers compensation.

Sometimes. Chapter 95 generally limits an owner's liability to a contractor's employee to situations where the owner retained control over how the work was performed and had actual knowledge of the danger. What happened day to day matters more than what the contract says.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens are the primary investigating authority on Texas waters, rather than local police. Their report is an important record, though like a police crash report it is not the final word on fault.

No. Coverage may exist under a homeowner policy or a specialist marine policy, or there may be none at all. Establishing what coverage exists early shapes what a claim can realistically recover.

Possibly, through negligent entrustment. An owner who allows an inexperienced, unlicensed or intoxicated person to operate the vessel may be liable for the harm that follows.

Because the evidence is removed within days. Scenes are cleared for safety, damaged pipe and appliances are taken away and repairs eliminate the physical proof. Utilities send investigators quickly, so waiting means arriving after the other side has collected what remains.

Often it strengthens it. Natural gas has no odour of its own and an odorant is added so leaks can be detected. If nobody smelled anything, the question becomes whether odorant levels were adequate, which is itself a potential failure.

Frequently more than one party: the utility that maintained the system, a contractor that struck a line or installed equipment incorrectly, a manufacturer whose component failed, or a landlord who ignored reports of a gas smell. Each brings separate insurance.