Disputed Crash Report and an Insurer's Demand Letter

Attorney Answer

A crash report is not the last word on fault in Texas, but a demand letter is a legal document with consequences, and it is not something to answer on your own.

Take the report first. In Texas the crash report is the investigating officer's document, and it records what that officer concluded from what was available at the scene. There is no driver-filed Texas crash report to correct — the old driver's report was repealed, and officer reports govern. The practical route when a report is wrong is to ask the law enforcement agency that produced it whether it accepts a supplement or an amended report, and agencies differ on what they will do. Treat this as a request, not a right.

The more important point is that the report does not decide your case. Civil fault in Texas is decided under Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Under § 33.003 the trier of fact — not the officer — assigns a whole-number percentage of responsibility to each claimant, defendant, settling person and designated responsible third party. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001 then bars a claimant who is more than 50 percent responsible from recovering at all; § 33.012(a) reduces a surviving claimant's damages by that claimant's own percentage; and § 33.013(a) leaves each liable defendant owing only its own percentage unless § 33.013(b) applies. Photographs, damage patterns, vehicle data, medical records and witnesses can all move those percentages regardless of what a report says.

The demand letter is where the risk sits. A demand letter is a settlement request, usually with a deadline the sender chose. It carries no court authority by itself, but what you write back can be used later, and an unconsidered reply can concede fault, misstate coverage, or waive something you did not know you had. Responding is a legal choice, not a form to fill out.

What you can do

1. Send the demand letter and its enclosures to your auto insurer today, by a method that leaves a record, and ask it in writing whether it is handling the response. If the claim is covered, that response is your insurer's job, not yours.

2. Preserve everything that already exists: the report, photographs, dashcam or doorbell footage, repair estimates, medical records, texts and the contact details of anyone who saw the crash. Do not alter or delete anything.

3. Ask the law enforcement agency that issued the report what its process is for a supplemental or corrected report, and put your request in writing. Keep a copy.

4. Do not send a written or recorded account of the crash to the other side, and do not sign anything the letter encloses, before a lawyer has read it.

5. Note the deadline the letter states and treat it as the sender's preference rather than a legal deadline, but do not let it pass in silence — tell your insurer or a lawyer about it before it expires.

6. Ask a Texas attorney to review the letter and your evidence and to answer it for you.

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) generally requires suit for personal injury or for injury to property to be brought not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues, and that is the clock behind most demand letters after a crash. Which date starts it, and how it interacts with your own potential claim, depends on your facts. Have a Texas attorney check the dates rather than relying on the date printed in the letter.