Texas injury statute limitations rules give an injured person two years to act, but the calendar math hides real traps. The deadline lives in the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Missing it doesn’t just weaken a claim. It ends it completely, regardless of how clear the other side’s fault was.
Where the Texas injury statute limitations deadline comes from
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 sets the core rule. A person must bring suit for personal injury within two years after the day the claim accrues. Subsection (b) sets the same two-year window for wrongful death claims, running from the date of death rather than the date of the underlying injury. That distinction matters when someone survives an injury for months before dying from it.
When the clock actually starts running
For most car accidents, the two-year clock starts on the day of the crash. A slip and fall starts the clock on the day of the fall. Some injuries don’t announce themselves immediately, though. Texas courts apply a discovery rule in limited circumstances, allowing the clock to start when the injury was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered, rather than when it technically occurred. That exception is narrow and doesn’t apply to most straightforward accident claims.
Exceptions that pause the Texas injury statute limitations clock
Texas law tolls the two-year period for anyone under 18 at the time of injury, regardless of marital status. The clock doesn’t start running until that person turns 18. A similar tolling rule applies to someone found to be of unsound mind at the time of the injury. Both exceptions can extend a filing deadline well beyond what the basic two-year rule would suggest.
Government claims run on a much shorter clock
A claim against a Texas city, county, or state agency doesn’t get the full two years to even start the process. The Texas Tort Claims Act requires written notice to the government entity far sooner, and Dallas’s own city charter sets a notice deadline shorter than the state’s general rule. Anyone hurt by a government vehicle, a defective public road, or a city-owned facility needs to identify the applicable notice deadline immediately, since it can run out well before the two-year lawsuit deadline would.
The bottom line
The headline number in Texas injury statute limitations rules is two years, matching what many people already expect from other states. What catches people off guard are the exceptions. Minors and claimants of unsound mind get more time. Anyone with a claim against a government entity gets far less. Sorting out which category a claim falls into is worth doing early, not after the deadline has already passed.
Frequently asked questions
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 generally gives an injured person two years from the date the claim accrues to file suit.
The two-year period for a wrongful death claim runs from the date of death, not the date of the underlying injury.
Yes. Texas law tolls the two-year period for anyone under 18 at the time of injury, so the clock doesn’t start until that person turns 18.
No. Claims against a Texas city, county, or state agency require written notice much sooner than two years, and Dallas’s own city charter sets an even shorter deadline.
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Get MatchedMore Dallas-Fort Worth personal injury guides — what to do after a Dallas crash, Texas’s comparative-fault rule, freeway corridor claims, and 18-wheeler accidents — are part of this same launch and will be linked here once published.
This article provides general information about Texas law and is not legal advice. Whether a specific claim qualifies for a tolling exception or falls under a shorter government-claim deadline depends on the facts involved. Anyone considering a claim should confirm current deadlines directly.