After an Insurer Accepts Full Fault for Your Crash

Attorney Answer

Accepting liability answers who caused the crash. It says nothing about what the crash cost you, and that second question is the whole rest of the claim. It is good news — it removes the argument that usually eats the most time — but the number is still yours to prove, and the insurer's next job is to keep it small.

What you are proving is loss: the reasonable expenses of medical care, earnings you lost, physical pain and suffering, the damage to the vehicle, and being without it. Every one of those is established by records rather than by assertion. Treatment that is documented counts; treatment that was needed but skipped is invisible in the file. Gaps between visits get read as recovery. None of that is fair, exactly, but it is how the file is evaluated, and knowing it early is worth more than any argument later.

Two limits are worth naming now. The first is money. Under Tex. Transp. Code § 601.072(a-1) the minimum liability coverage in Texas is $30,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person in one collision, $60,000 for two or more persons, and $25,000 for property damage in one collision. An accepted claim is only as good as the policy behind it, and serious injuries can pass those minimums. That is what underinsured motorist coverage is for: Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.101 provides that an insurer may not issue an automobile liability policy in this state unless it provides uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage in or supplemental to the policy, and that the requirement does not apply if a named insured rejected it in writing. Find out early whether you have it, because it is often the difference between a capped claim and a covered one. Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.152 and § 1952.155(a) do the same work for medical bills: personal injury protection must be offered unless rejected in writing, and it pays without regard to fault or to any collateral source.

The second limit is leverage. If the carrier accepts liability and then goes quiet, the settlement-practice provisions are not the lever you would expect. Tex. Ins. Code § 541.060(a) lists unfair settlement practices, but § 541.060(b) says: "Subsection (a) does not provide a cause of action to a third party asserting one or more claims against an insured covered under a liability insurance policy." Pressure comes from the claim against the driver, and ultimately from suit.

And an acceptance is a claims decision, not a judgment. If the case is litigated, responsibility is decided under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.003(a), which has the trier of fact assign whole-number percentages to each claimant, defendant, settling person, and designated responsible third party. It is unlikely to be revisited on a clear rear-end collision, but do not treat the letter as a final ruling.

What you can do

1. Keep treating until you are released, and keep every bill, record, and discharge instruction in one place.

2. Document lost income with something from your employer rather than an estimate.

3. Ask the insurer, in writing, to confirm the acceptance of liability and to state the applicable policy limits.

4. Call your own insurer and ask whether your policy carries personal injury protection and underinsured motorist coverage, and how to open each.

5. Photograph the vehicle damage and your injuries as they heal, and keep repair estimates and receipts for a rental or other transportation.

6. Do not sign a release while you are still treating, or before a doctor has told you what comes next. A release ends the claim, including for what develops later.

7. Ask a Texas attorney to look at the file before you accept any figure, particularly if injuries are ongoing or the limits look tight.

8. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) requires a personal injury suit to be brought not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues, and an insurer's acceptance of liability does not extend it. A claim on your own underinsured motorist coverage runs under different rules and may carry its own, earlier requirements. When each clock started depends on your facts — have a Texas attorney confirm the dates rather than counting from the day of the crash.