Deciding Whether to Hire a Lawyer for a Concussion Claim

Attorney Answer

For a documented concussion, usually yes — but not for the reason people expect. A lawyer does not make an insurer generous. What a lawyer does is keep you from the specific mistakes that shrink a head-injury claim: settling before the concussion's course is known, letting treatment lapse, and missing that the at-fault driver's policy may be too small to cover it.

The first thing to know is the deadline, because it governs whether you have room to think. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) requires suit for personal injury to be brought not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues, subject to the narrow exceptions the section itself names. That is the outside boundary, not a schedule; the medical record you build in the first months is what the claim is later worth arguing about.

The second is that "the other driver is at fault" is a conclusion someone still has to reach. Under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.003 the trier of fact assigns whole-number percentages of responsibility. Section 33.001 bars recovery entirely where a claimant's own share is greater than 50 percent, and § 33.012(a) reduces the damages by the claimant's percentage where it is not. Insurers argue percentages in almost every case, including ones that look one-sided, and a small assigned share takes a real bite out of the recovery.

The third is the size of the pot. Tex. Transp. Code § 601.051 requires financial responsibility for the vehicle, and § 601.072(a-1) sets the minimum at $30,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person. A minimum-limits policy can be exhausted by an emergency department visit, imaging and a course of physical therapy. That is where your own coverage matters: Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.101 requires an insurer to provide uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage unless a named insured rejected it in writing, and § 1952.152 requires personal injury protection on the same terms. Under § 1952.155(a), PIP benefits are payable without regard to the fault or nonfault of the named insured and without regard to any collateral source. Finding out what you already own is often the highest-value hour in a claim like this.

A concussion is also the injury insurers discount hardest, because the symptoms — headache, light sensitivity, trouble concentrating, sleep disruption — do not show on an image. What replaces the image is a consistent record: examinations, follow-up, and a description of how the symptoms changed your work and daily life.

What you can do

1. Keep the medical follow-up your doctors recommend, and go back if symptoms persist. Gaps in treatment are the most common reason a real concussion claim is valued as a minor one.

2. Ask your own insurer in writing for your declarations page, and ask whether the policy carries PIP, medical payments, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, and whether any written rejection is on file.

3. Keep a short weekly note of symptoms and of specific things you could not do — shifts missed, tasks handed off, activities dropped. Dated contemporaneous notes are worth more than a recollection months later.

4. Keep every bill, explanation of benefits and out-of-pocket receipt in one place.

5. Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer, and do not sign a blanket authorization for your entire medical history, before a lawyer has looked at what is being asked.

6. Do not accept a settlement offer while you are still symptomatic. A release is final, and a concussion that is still changing cannot be valued yet.

7. Ask a lawyer how to find out the at-fault driver's policy limits and how underinsured motorist coverage would interact with a limits settlement. Both are commonly handled wrong without advice.

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. Personal injury lawyers in Texas ordinarily work on a contingency fee, so the initial conversation costs nothing.

⏱ Time limits apply. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) allows two years from the day the cause of action accrues for a personal injury claim. When your period started depends on your facts, and a page cannot date it for you. Have a Texas attorney check the timing early, while there is still room to build the record rather than to race a deadline.