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November 1, 2024
- Blog
- By Cesar Ornelas
If you’ve been injured in a accident here in Texas, it’s important to know that there is a time limit for filing a personal injury claim. It’s important to contact an El Paso personal injury attorney as quickly as possible to get started, as time can run out before you know it.
How Long Do You Have to File a Personal Injury Claim in Texas?
General Two-Year Rule
For most personal injury cases, you have two years from the time of the incident in order to file a lawsuit in court. There are a few circumstances where you will have a little more time than two years or where the clock may start running from a different date than the date you were actually injured. But in general, this two-year rule applies to all personal injury claims that arise from car accidents, intentional torts (which are injuries caused by assault or battery or false imprisonment), animal bites, product liability issues, or premises liability lawsuits. Wrongful death also has a two-year time limit.
Odd-Men Out
There are a handful of claims that have a different limitation period. For example, if you were to bring an action for defamation, you would have just one year to sue for libel or slander. (Defamation is when someone makes a false statement about you that is harmful to your reputation and this causes you damage).
There are also different rules for medical malpractice. If you are injured by medical malpractice, you have two years to bring a suit from the later of either the date the malpractice took place or the date that the course of treatment that included the malpractice is finished.
In other words, say you were misdiagnosed with IBS when you actually had stomach cancer, and the misdiagnosis was not a true mistake but happened because the doctor was negligent. Rather than the clock starting on the date you were diagnosed with IBS (and malpractice was committed against you), the date begins from the time your IBS treatment is completed (and presumably has been useless and you start looking for other answers). If the patient in a medical malpractice case is a child under 18, the deadline will not begin running until they reach 18. More on that below as we consider exceptions to this rule.
Exceptions to the Statute of Limitations
Discovery
The first exception occurs when you don’t discover the negligence right away. Most of the time, it’s clear when negligence has taken place and you’ve been injured. For example, if you slip and fall and break your arm in a store, there would not normally be any delay in the two-year statute of limitations. However, there are some situations where a person doesn’t discover the injury right away or doesn’t understand immediately that the injury was caused by someone’s negligence. For example, if it turns out that a kitchen cooking product is releasing carcinogens when it should not, you may not discover this for some time. Or, for example, you may be injured by medical malpractice but not understand that it was malpractice until you get a second or even third opinion.
In these cases, the statute of limitations is paused until you discover that you were injured or what caused your injury, or until you should reasonably be expected to have discovered it. It’s important to understand that in Texas this exception is quite rare, and the court is inclined not to grant exceptions. You will need your El Paso personal injury attorney’s help to prove definitively to the court that you are entitled to an exception on the basis of discovery.
Finally, another law, called the “statute of repose,” puts an ultimate time limit on personal injury cases. You can never sue for medical malpractice, for example, beyond 10 years from the date that it took place.
Age or Disability
If a person is underage or is legally disabled, Texas law allows them to pause the statute of limitation until they either reach 18 or their disability ends. When it comes to age, in some cases parents or legal guardians may choose to bring a case on behalf of a minor. But if they don’t, that minor then has two years from the time they turn 18 to bring a case for themselves.
Absent From the State
Another exception to this rule applies if the defendant you are bringing a claim against is not living in the state of Texas, but this only applies if their absence from Texas actually keeps you from being able to sue them. In some cases, it’s perfectly possible to bring a lawsuit, even if the defendant is in another state. Be sure to ask your lawyer to find out if this might apply to you.
Consequences of Missing the Deadline
If you’re worried about missing the deadline, you should be. Once you’ve missed that deadline, your right to sue is gone. It may be possible to file for an extension in extraordinary circumstances, but as stated, the courts prefer not to give exceptions. If they don’t choose to grant you an exception, there is absolutely nothing you can do. If you try to file anyway, the defendant will simply ask the court to dismiss the case. No matter how terrible what was done to you may have been, at that point the law demands that the court dismiss that case.
Furthermore, if you let the statute of limitations expire, you will find it much harder to negotiate any kind of settlement with an insurance company. At that point, all the power is with them. They know that you cannot bring a lawsuit and that they can basically write a check for whatever number they feel is appropriate: or for no number at all. Even with a great lawyer on your side, without the leverage of being able to bring a lawsuit, you may not be able to do.
Get an El Paso Personal Injury Attorney As Soon as Possible
It’s always a good idea to hire a personal injury attorney as soon as possible after you’ve been hurt. You wouldn’t believe how quickly those two years can pass by, and especially if you are busy trying to recover from an injury and get back to life. But if you’re starting to get close to the two-year time limit, it’s even more essential that you contact a lawyer quickly.
A lawyer will be able to move fast in gathering evidence, putting it together to tell a cohesive story, and getting through all the paperwork to get your claim started in the courts. A lawyer can also tell you whether there’s any chance that you will qualify for an exception. And, even if you’re hoping not to have to bring a lawsuit, remember that having a lawyer on your side signals that you’re serious to the insurance companies and often makes them come to the table in good faith and negotiate for a fairer settlement.
If you’ve been injured in an accident or by the negligence of someone else, in Texas you normally have two years to bring your lawsuit. Don’t let the time get away from you: contact Cesar Ornelas Injury Law for a free consultation in El Paso and throughout Texas and New Mexico.
