Claim Deadlines When a Crash Injury Is Found Late

Attorney Answer

You may still be inside the deadline, but that is the whole issue in your case, and it is the reason to speak with a Texas lawyer now rather than after you feel better.

Texas gives you two years. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) requires a person to bring suit for personal injury not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues. The word doing the work there is accrues. In an ordinary crash case, the claim accrues on the day of the collision — not on the day a doctor finally names the injury. Texas courts recognize a narrow court-made exception for injuries that could not reasonably have been discovered, but it is applied strictly and it is fact-specific. I am not able to tell you from general principles whether it would apply to a neck fracture from a crash you already knew you were hurt in, and you should not plan around it. Plan around the crash date.

That matters because you say the crash was over a year ago. If the two-year clock runs from the collision, you have time left, but not much, and the work a lawyer has to do — records, imaging, an opinion connecting the fracture to the crash, notice to the insurers — takes weeks, not days.

A second issue is hiding in your description. You were released within hours with no imaging follow-up and no brace, and a fracture was there the whole time. That raises a possible claim against the hospital or the treating providers, and Texas puts health care claims on a different and harsher track. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 74.251(a) requires a health care liability claim to be filed within two years from the occurrence of the breach or tort, or from the date the treatment or the hospitalization at issue was completed, and § 74.251(b) adds an outer ten-year limit. On top of that, § 74.351(a) requires the claimant to serve an expert report on each defendant not later than the 120th day after that defendant's original answer is filed. Missing that report brings dismissal and fees under § 74.351(b). No one can build that on short notice, which is another reason not to wait.

Fault has not been described in your message. If any share of the crash is attributed to you, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001 bars recovery entirely where a claimant is more than 50 percent responsible, and § 33.012(a) reduces the damages by the claimant's percentage below that line.

What you can do

1. Ask the hospital's medical records department, in writing, for the complete record of the original emergency visit and of the recent visit, including all imaging and radiology reports. Keep a copy of the request.

2. Ask the doctor who diagnosed the fracture to record in your chart when the fracture is believed to have occurred and what it is attributed to. That is a medical note, not a legal opinion, and it belongs in the record.

3. Gather what already exists from the crash itself: the crash report number, photographs, repair estimates, and the insurance correspondence you received.

4. Do not give any insurer a recorded statement about the newly found injury before a lawyer has looked at your file.

5. Call a Texas personal injury lawyer this week and say on the first call that the crash was more than a year ago and that a hospital visit is part of the story. Both facts change how fast the case has to move.

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) sets the two-year period for personal injury, and a claim against a health care provider runs on Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 74.251 and 74.351 instead. Which date starts your clock depends on your facts, and I will not calculate one for you. Have a Texas attorney fix the dates from your records right away.