After a car wreck in Houston, the other driver’s insurance company starts working on your claim the same day, and it isn’t working for you. The adjuster’s job is to pay as little as possible, and the easiest ways to do that are to get you to accept part of the blame or to settle before anyone knows how bad the injury is. Texas law gives them a lot to work with. If you’re found more than 50 percent at fault, you recover nothing. And the other driver may only carry $30,000 in coverage when your medical bills are already past that. We handle car wreck cases the way the insurance company does: from the first day, with the evidence locked down before it disappears.
Call (713) 664-4000. Don’t give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer, and don’t sign anything they send you, before you talk to us.
What decides how much your case is worth
Fault. Texas uses proportionate responsibility. If a jury finds you 20 percent at fault, your damages are cut by 20 percent, and if it finds you more than 50 percent at fault, you get nothing (Civil Practice and Remedies Code §§ 33.001, 33.012). That’s why the adjuster’s friendly questions, like whether you saw the other car coming or how fast you were going, matter so much. We answer the fault question with evidence, not with your memory of a few seconds: the crash report, the vehicles’ event data recorders, nearby business and traffic cameras, and the witnesses.
The insurance available. Texas only requires drivers to carry $30,000 in liability coverage for injuries per person and $60,000 per crash (Transportation Code § 601.072). A serious injury blows through that. So the real work is finding every policy that applies. That can include the owner’s policy if the driver was in someone else’s car, the driver’s employer if they were working, a rideshare company’s policy, and your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (Insurance Code § 1952.101). Your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage pays medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the crash (Insurance Code § 1952.155). Texas insurers have to put it in every auto policy unless someone named on the policy turned it down in writing (§ 1952.152). The standard amount is $2,500 per person, and plenty of policies carry more. A lot of people have coverage on their own policy they don’t know about.
The injury itself. A sprained neck and a head injury are very different cases. Concussions and disc injuries often don’t show up until days after the crash, and the insurer will argue anything diagnosed later came from somewhere else. Getting seen early, and by the right doctor, protects the claim.
The medical records. The injury has to be proven, and the insurer reads every gap in treatment as proof you weren’t really hurt. Texas also limits recovery of medical expenses to what was actually paid or is actually owed, not the full amount billed (Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 41.0105), so how your bills get paid, whether through health insurance, Medicare, PIP or a letter of protection, changes the numbers. We plan that from the beginning. And if you were admitted to a hospital within 72 hours of the crash, the hospital can file a lien on your recovery, and it has to be resolved before a settlement is final (Property Code §§ 55.002, 55.007).
What we do in the first weeks
We get the crash report and send preservation letters for the vehicles’ data and any video. A lot of business cameras along Westheimer or the feeder roads record over themselves within days or weeks. We identify every insurance policy and put each carrier on notice. We take over all contact with the insurers, so you’re not the one fielding calls from an adjuster while you’re trying to get better. And we track your treatment and your bills so that when it’s time to make a demand, it’s backed by the records and a real number, not a guess.
If the other driver was drunk or high, the criminal case matters to yours. Jay Blass Cohen is a certified Drug Recognition Expert and an ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist who spends the other half of his practice on DWI cases, so he knows how to read the blood test and the arrest records and use them. A driver’s intoxication can also support punitive damages, and the usual cap on them doesn’t apply when the driver’s conduct amounts to intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter (Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 41.008(c)). See our page on drunk driving accidents.
Deadlines
You generally have two years from the crash to file a lawsuit (Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003). Miss it, and the claim is gone. The notice deadline is much shorter when a government vehicle was involved, like a Metro bus, a city truck, a county vehicle or a police car. The Texas Tort Claims Act requires notice of the claim within six months of the crash (Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 101.101), and if a City of Houston vehicle hit you, the city charter requires sworn written notice within 90 days. Those claims also have damage caps (Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 101.023).
Results
We recovered $100,000 for a client hit by a driver who ran a red light, and $70,150 for a client hit in an intersection by another red-light runner. We recovered the full $30,000 policy limits for a client whose car was hit by a driver who failed to yield. We also recovered a $2.95 million settlement for a client rear-ended by a commercial truck driver who was following too closely. See our settlements and verdicts. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
If your crash involved an 18-wheeler or a rideshare driver, see our pages on truck accidents and Uber and Lyft accidents. If you’re still in the first few days, our guide on what to do after a car accident in Houston covers the scene and the first calls.
Hurt in a car accident in Houston? Call Blass Law
Jay Blass Cohen was born and raised in Houston and has practiced here since 2009. We take on the insurance company from the first day, and we prepare every case as if it’s going to trial, because that’s what gets an insurer to pay what a case is worth.
Call (713) 664-4000. If you were hurt this week, call now, while the video and the vehicle data still exist.
Real Results for Our Clients
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. See all case results →
A filed collision case lands in one of the civil district courts at 201 Caroline. Our Harris County civil court directory gives you the judge, the floor, and the phone number for each one.
Related Personal Injury Practice Areas
- Houston Personal Injury Lawyer (Overview)
- Truck Accident Lawyer
- Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer
- Rideshare, Lyft & Uber Accident Lawyer
- Maritime & Admiralty Accident Lawyer
- Premises Liability Lawyer
- Wrongful Death Lawyer
- Medical Malpractice Lawyer
- Product Liability Lawyer
- Bicycle Accident Lawyer
- Catastrophic Injury Lawyer
- Burn Injury Lawyer
- Construction and Workplace Injury Lawyer
- Settlements & Verdicts
Frequently Asked Questions
- What Are the Main Causes of Car Accidents?
- Do I Need a Lawyer After an Accident?
- Can You Settle a Car Accident Without a Lawyer?
Where and when Houston crashes actually happen
We pulled five years of Texas crash records for Harris County and mapped them, because the pattern is more useful than the platitudes. Certain corridors and certain hours account for a wildly disproportionate share of the serious wrecks, and knowing which ones changes how you drive and, if you have already been hit, how your case gets investigated. The full breakdown is in our study of Houston’s most dangerous roads and times.
Related resource: our original Houston drunk-driving crash report, an analysis of five years of Harris County crash data showing where and when impaired-driving wrecks happen.
Reviewed by Jay Blass Cohen, founder of Blass Law PLLC, ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist, certified Drug Recognition Expert, and SFST instructor, serving Houston since 2009. This article is general information, not legal advice for your situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.