How Fault Is Divided When a Passenger Is Hurt at an Intersection

Attorney Answer

As a passenger who did nothing to cause the crash, you do not have to figure out which driver was more at fault before you make a claim. You can pursue both. What Texas law changes is collection: each driver generally pays only his own share.

Texas divides responsibility by percentage. The trier of fact assigns a whole-number percentage of responsibility to each claimant, each defendant, each settling person and each designated responsible third party (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.003). A claimant more than 50 percent responsible recovers nothing (§ 33.001), and otherwise the recovery is reduced by the claimant's own percentage (§ 33.012(a)). A passenger normally has no percentage at all, so neither of those cuts against you.

The rule that does affect you is § 33.013. Under subsection (a), a liable defendant is liable only for the percentage of damages equal to that defendant's own percentage of responsibility. Subsection (b) is the exception: a defendant found more than 50 percent responsible, or one who acted in concert with another in certain intentional criminal conduct, is jointly and severally liable for the whole recoverable amount. So if the two drivers split fault 60/40, the 60 percent driver can be pursued for all of it; if it is 50/50, each owes its own half and you would look to two policies rather than one.

On the intersection itself, Tex. Transp. Code § 545.151(a) requires drivers to obey traffic-control devices and to proceed only when the intersection can be safely entered. Section 545.153 sets the stop-sign and yield-sign duties: a driver who has stopped must yield to vehicles already in the intersection or close enough to be a hazard, and a driver approaching a yield sign must slow to a reasonable speed and yield. Section 545.153(d) adds a rule worth knowing — if a driver passes a yield sign without stopping and a collision follows, that is prima facie evidence that the driver failed to yield the right-of-way. Section 545.351(a) separately forbids driving faster than is reasonable and prudent under the circumstances.

What you can do

1. Get follow-up care for the back and shoulder and keep going as directed. Soft tissue injuries that go untreated for weeks are the ones insurers discount hardest.

2. Request the crash report from the agency that responded, and keep the ambulance and hospital records.

3. Notify both drivers' insurers in writing that you are making a passenger injury claim, and ask each to confirm its liability limits in writing.

4. Ask the insurer for the car you were riding in whether the policy includes personal injury protection, which pays medical bills without regard to who was at fault.

5. Keep a simple record of missed work, out-of-pocket costs and what you cannot do that you used to do.

6. Do not give either insurer a recorded statement about how the crash happened before talking to a lawyer. You were a passenger; you are not the one who has to settle the fault dispute.

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 within two years after the day the cause of action accrues. Where that deadline falls for you depends on your facts, and a fault dispute between the drivers does not pause it, so have a Texas attorney review the dates.