Clear Lake isn’t a city. Most of it, Clear Lake City and the neighborhoods around NASA, is part of the City of Houston. Around it sit Webster, Nassau Bay, Seabrook and El Lago, each with its own local police, and across the water Kemah and League City are in Galveston County. So the first questions after a Clear Lake wreck are which city you were in and which county. Most Clear Lake cases are Harris County cases, filed at the civil courthouse at 201 Caroline in downtown Houston. A Texas injury suit can also be filed where the at-fault driver lived, or where a company defendant has its main Texas office (Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 15.002), and we choose the courthouse on purpose.
Call (713) 664-4000. The consultation is free, and there’s no fee unless we recover for you. If we don’t recover, you don’t owe us for case expenses either. If an insurance adjuster calls, don’t give a recorded statement until you’ve talked to us.
Where freeway speed meets NASA Parkway traffic
I-45 carries Clear Lake to downtown and to Galveston, and the exits at Bay Area Boulevard and NASA Parkway are where freeway speed meets retail traffic. NASA Parkway and Bay Area Boulevard are lined with shopping centers and turn lanes, and SH 146 through Seabrook and Kemah fills up with beach and boardwalk traffic every weekend. Rear-end crashes on the freeway and left turns across the six-lane roads cause most of the car wrecks we see here.
Houston police work crashes in Clear Lake City, and the smaller cities around it have their own local police. The insurer reads that report before anything else, and it’s often wrong about who had the right of way. We line it up against the photos, the damage, the witnesses and the cars’ event data recorders, and we ask the businesses nearby for their video before it gets recorded over.
Boating injuries on Clear Lake and Galveston Bay
Clear Lake is packed with marinas and weekend boat traffic, and a boat crash isn’t handled like a car wreck. An injury on navigable water usually falls under federal maritime law, which gives you three years to file suit instead of two (46 U.S.C. § 30106). The boat’s owner can also ask a federal court to cap his liability at what the boat’s worth after the crash, and he has six months from your written notice of the claim to file (46 U.S.C. §§ 30523, 30529). The cap only works if the owner didn’t know about or cause the problem, which is a hard sell when he was the one driving. And since 2022, owners of most for-hire passenger boats carrying more than six people can’t use it at all (§ 30502). We know how to fight those filings. Operating a boat while intoxicated is also a crime in Texas (Penal Code § 49.06), and the blood test and the officer’s observations from a BWI arrest can be powerful evidence in the injury case.
The two trauma centers in Webster
Clear Lake has two Level II trauma centers, both in Webster: HCA Houston Healthcare Clear Lake and UTMB’s Clear Lake campus. The most serious injuries go to UTMB’s Level I trauma center in Galveston or to the Level I centers in the Texas Medical Center. Whatever gets written down at that first visit will follow your claim, so name every pain and go back when you’re told to.
Money for a Clear Lake injury claim
Your share of the fault comes off whatever you recover, and over 50 percent you get nothing (Civil Practice and Remedies Code §§ 33.001, 33.012). An adjuster’s friendly questions are usually about blame. Medical damages have their own limit: you recover what was actually paid or is still owed for your care, not the full amount billed (Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 41.0105).
The at-fault driver’s policy may be the Texas minimum, $30,000 per injured person and $60,000 per crash (Transportation Code § 601.072). So we hunt for more: the vehicle owner’s policy, the driver’s employer if he was working, a trucking company’s if a commercial vehicle hit you, and a rideshare company’s if one was involved.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy pays when the other driver has no insurance or not enough (Insurance Code § 1952.101). You have it unless someone on your policy rejected it in writing.
PIP is the other piece of your own coverage. Your personal injury protection pays medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the wreck (§ 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. If you were a passenger, the PIP on the car you were riding in covers you too (§ 1952.151).
The 90-day notice for City of Houston claims
A car wreck claim generally has to be filed within two years (Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003). If your claim is against the City of Houston, say over a crash with a city vehicle in Clear Lake City, the city charter requires sworn notice within 90 days. Claims against other government bodies need notice within six months, and a city charter can require it sooner (§ 101.101).
Some of our recoveries
Our results include a $2.95 million settlement for a client rear-ended by a commercial truck driver who was following too closely, and $100,000 for a client hit by a driver who ran a red light. See all of our settlements and verdicts. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Hurt on the road or the water near Clear Lake
Jay Blass Cohen was born and raised in Houston and has practiced here since 2009. We prepare every case as if it’s going to trial. For more on injuries on the water, see our maritime injury page. For wrecks just south of Clear Lake, see our League City car accident page.
Call (713) 664-4000. If the wreck was recent, call now. Video and witnesses are easiest to find in the first few days.
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.