Proving Crash Fault When the Other Side Misstates Facts

Attorney Answer

A false account given to an insurer does not decide anything. Insurance adjusters are not judges, and what the other side says is one piece of evidence weighed against the physical damage, the officer's report and any independent witness. Your bigger problems are the two-year deadline and proving that the seizures came from the crash, and both of those are worked on now, not later.

Start with the clock, because a worsening condition tempts people to wait. 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, subject to the narrow exceptions the section itself names. The period does not restart because symptoms get worse, and it does not pause while an insurer investigates.

Fault in Texas is not all-or-nothing, which is why a competing story does not end a claim. Under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.003, 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. Section 33.001 provides that "in an action to which this chapter applies, a claimant may not recover damages if his percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent." Under § 33.012(a), if you are not barred, the court reduces your damages by a percentage equal to your own percentage of responsibility. So the question is not whose version the insurer believed first; it is what percentage the evidence supports.

Do not expect statutory leverage against his insurer. The prompt-payment rules in chapter 542 of the Insurance Code apply to first-party claims, and chapter 541's settlement-practice duties run to insureds and beneficiaries. As someone claiming against another person's carrier, you have no private action under them.

Your own policy may matter more than his. Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.101 requires an insurer to provide uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage in or supplemental to an auto liability policy, and that coverage applies unless a named insured rejected it in writing. Section 1952.152 requires personal injury protection on the same terms, and § 1952.155(a) makes those benefits payable without regard to the fault or nonfault of the named insured in causing or contributing to the collision and without regard to any collateral source. If you have PIP, it can pay for neurological workups while the fault fight is still open.

Giving a knowingly false statement to an insurer can carry its own consequences in Texas, but that is a separate matter handled by the carrier and by prosecutors, and it is not a claim you bring yourself. A lawyer can tell you what, if anything, is worth reporting.

What you can do

1. Get seen by a doctor and, if you have not already, by a neurologist. Ask that the records state when the seizures began in relation to the crash. That timing is the single most contested fact in a claim like this.

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

3. Request the officer's crash report from the agency that investigated. It is the neutral record made closest to the event.

4. Collect what already exists rather than creating something new: photographs of both vehicles, repair estimates, the tow record, and any messages sent in the days afterward.

5. Give his insurer the names and numbers of anyone who saw the crash or arrived right after. Independent witnesses are what a competing account cannot survive.

6. Do not give a recorded statement to his insurer, and do not sign a blanket medical authorization, until a lawyer has reviewed the request.

7. 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) allows two years from the day the cause of action accrues for a personal injury claim. Whether your period has begun to run from the crash date or from something else, and how a progressive condition affects it, depends on facts a page cannot see. Have a Texas attorney review your dates now rather than after the medical picture settles.