If you were hurt in Texas by someone else's conduct, you generally have two years from the date of the injury to file a personal-injury lawsuit. The deadline comes from Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003, and the clock starts on the date the harm occurred. Miss the window and the courthouse door closes, even if the underlying case is strong.
The two-year number is the rule most Texas injury searches return. The traps are everything around it: a six-month notice to a city, county, or state agency under the Texas Tort Claims Act, a 60-day pre-suit notice for medical malpractice with a 10-year statute of repose, and a 51% modified-comparative-fault bar that ends a case if the plaintiff is more than half at fault. This post walks through what the two-year SOL really means in 2026, where the exceptions are, and the fact patterns we see trip people up most.
The default Texas PI window: two years under CPRC 16.003
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003 sets a two-year statute of limitations for "a suit for personal injury." It is the catch-all for the vast majority of Texas PI cases: car crashes, slip-and-falls, dog bites, premises liability, product-liability injuries, and most negligence claims.
The clock starts on the date the injury occurred. For a car accident, that is the date of the crash. For a slip-and-fall, the date of the fall. Texas does recognize a discovery rule in narrow categories (latent injuries, certain professional-malpractice cases), but the default is calendar-date-of-injury.
Texas is a fault-based auto-insurance state. The injured party's recovery generally runs through the at-fault driver's insurer or your own uninsured-motorist coverage if the at-fault driver was uninsured.
Exception one: the Texas Tort Claims Act notice trap
If your injury involves a governmental unit (a city bus, a state agency, a county vehicle, a public sidewalk, an injury at a public hospital), the Texas Tort Claims Act applies. Under CPRC section 101.101(a), the governmental unit must receive written notice of the claim no later than six months after the incident. Cities and other political subdivisions may set shorter notice periods by charter or ordinance, but no shorter than 30 days. Houston, for example, has historically required notice within 90 days under its city charter.
There is a narrow exception under section 101.101(c): the notice requirement does not apply if the governmental unit has actual notice of the death, injury, or property damage. Police reports and accident reports sometimes trigger actual notice, but courts are inconsistent about what qualifies. Do not rely on the actual-notice exception unless an attorney has reviewed the specific facts.
The underlying two-year SOL still applies to the lawsuit itself once notice has been timely given. Notice is a prerequisite, not a substitute for the SOL.
Exception two: medical malpractice under Chapter 74
Medical-malpractice cases in Texas run under CPRC section 74.251: a two-year SOL from the breach or tort, or from the last date of medical treatment, whichever is later. The window looks longer in continuous-treatment cases because the clock can run from the last treatment date.
The kicker is the ten-year statute of repose in section 74.251(b): no malpractice claim may be commenced more than 10 years from the act or omission, regardless of when the injury was discovered. The repose is the absolute cap and overrides the discovery rule.
CPRC section 74.051 requires a 60-day pre-suit notice of claim. The notice does not extend the SOL but is a procedural prerequisite. CPRC section 74.351 requires an expert report within 120 days of the defendant's answer; failure to serve the report is grounds for dismissal with prejudice and recovery of attorneys' fees by the defendant.
Exception three: minors and the discovery rule
Texas tolls the SOL for minors until age 18 under CPRC section 16.001, with the case clock then running for two years. A child injured at age 10 has until age 20 to file. The minor-tolling rule does NOT toll the six-month TTCA notice deadline against a government entity, however; that runs from accrual regardless of the claimant's age.
The Texas discovery rule applies in narrow categories. Where it does apply, the clock starts when the injury was or reasonably should have been discovered.
What Texas's modified 51% comparative-fault rule means
Texas follows a modified comparative-fault rule with a 51% bar under CPRC section 33.001. If the plaintiff is 50% or less at fault, recovery is reduced by the plaintiff's percentage. If the plaintiff is 51% or more at fault, recovery is barred entirely.
That 51% threshold is where Texas PI defense lawyers focus their energy. Pushing a plaintiff's fault percentage from 49% to 51% is the difference between a partial recovery and zero recovery. Document the scene, the conditions, the other party's conduct, and your own conduct as cleanly as possible from day one.
A common Texas fact pattern that ends cases early
Here is one we see often. A pedestrian is struck by a city bus. The pedestrian is treated and released from the ER, calls the bus operator's insurance line, gets a polite "we will be in touch," and assumes the case is being handled. Seven months later, no settlement has materialized; the pedestrian retains an attorney; the attorney discovers the city was never given the six-month TTCA notice. The case is dismissed for lack of notice. The two-year general SOL was never the live deadline; the six-month TTCA notice was.
The takeaway: if any government entity is potentially involved in your injury (state, city, county, school district, transit authority, public hospital), treat the six-month TTCA notice as the operative deadline and act inside that window, not the two-year general SOL.
Other Texas-specific PI rules worth knowing
Dog bites. Texas follows the one-bite rule under Marshall v. Ranne, 511 S.W.2d 255 (Tex. 1974). Owner liability attaches when the owner knew or should have known the dog had dangerous propensities (prior bite, attempts to bite, habitual aggressive behavior). Negligence is also an alternative theory if the owner failed to use reasonable care to prevent harm. Criminal liability under Lillian's Law (Texas Health and Safety Code chapter 822) is also possible for severe attacks. The two-year SOL under CPRC 16.003 applies.
Wrongful death. Two-year SOL under CPRC 16.003, running from the date of death. The surviving spouse, children, and parents have standing under CPRC section 71.004.
Premises liability. Two-year SOL. Plaintiff must prove the owner knew or should have known of the dangerous condition; comparative-fault analysis runs under the 51% bar.
How the LawSensai Personal Injury Recovery Center helps with Texas matters
We built the Recovery Center to handle the day-one organizational work in a Texas PI case so that nothing falls through the cracks during the two-year window. We document the incident through a calm, save-and-resume intake, build a medical-and-evidence timeline, and surface every applicable deadline, including the six-month Texas Tort Claims Act notice when a government entity is involved, the 60-day pre-suit medmal notice, the 10-year medmal repose, and the underlying CPRC 16.003 two-year window. When the matter is well-documented and ready, we route it to a verified personal-injury attorney licensed in Texas. Start your Texas intake here.
We are not a law firm and we do not give legal advice. We are the file-organization and deadline-surfacing layer that sits in front of a real attorney.
Personal injury statute of limitations in other states
Each state has its own SOL window, government-notice deadline, comparative-fault regime, and case-type quirks. The deep-dive posts here cover the ten highest-volume jurisdictions. The full LawSensai PI Recovery Center routes 50-state coverage at /personal-injury.
- California (CCP 335.1, MICRA, pure comparative)
- Florida (HB 837 2-year SOL, no-fault PIP)
- New York (CPLR 214(5), 90-day GML notice, serious-injury threshold)
- Illinois (1-year SOL for local public entities under the Tort Immunity Act)
- Pennsylvania (MVFRL limited tort, MCARE 7-year repose)
- Ohio (1-year medmal SOL, 180-day letter)
- Georgia (Tiered ante-litem notice, 50% comparative-fault bar)
- North Carolina (Pure contributory negligence)
- Michigan (No-fault threshold, 1-year PIP)
Informational only
LawSensai is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. The information in this post is general and does not account for your specific facts. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this post or by using the Personal Injury Recovery Center. Deadlines, exceptions, and procedural rules vary by case type and by the parties involved; verify your specific situation with a licensed attorney in Texas before relying on any window described here.
Last verified: 2026-06-03.