Texas Personal Injury Intake: Deadlines and Fault Rules

This guide is for law firms. If you were injured, contact a licensed Texas attorney.

Does Texas use comparative or contributory negligence?

Texas uses modified comparative responsibility: a claimant recovers nothing if their percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent. The rule sits in Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001. A claimant found 50 percent responsible can still recover, reduced by that share. At 51 percent the claim is gone.

For intake, the bar means the caller’s own account of the crash matters from the first sentence. A Texas intake specialist should capture where each vehicle was, who had the light, what the police officer wrote and whether anyone was cited. The caller should not be asked to assign blame or speculate about speed. Those answers belong to the attorney’s review, not to a late-night phone call that may end up quoted back at the client in a deposition.

Source: Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001, Texas.Public.Law

Is Texas a no-fault state?

Texas is not a no-fault state, but every Texas auto liability policy must include personal injury protection unless the named insured rejects it in writing. Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.152 bars an insurer from issuing an auto liability policy in Texas without PIP coverage, and lets any named insured reject that coverage in writing. A rejection carries over to renewals unless the insured asks for PIP back in writing.

That makes the PIP question a factual one for Texas intake. The caller may have PIP, may have rejected it, or may not know. Intake should record the caller’s own carrier and policy details where they have them, plus the other driver’s carrier, because the at-fault driver’s liability coverage remains the main source of recovery. The Insurance Information Institute does not list Texas among the twelve no-fault states.

Sources: Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.152, Texas.Public.Law; Background on: No-fault auto insurance, Insurance Information Institute

Which Texas deadlines can run out before the statute of limitations?

A Texas claim against a governmental unit needs written notice no later than six months after the incident, under the Texas Tort Claims Act. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101 requires the notice to describe the injury, the time and place of the incident, and the incident itself. A city charter can set its own notice period where the statute permits it, so the city matters as much as the fact of government involvement.

This is why a Texas intake call should ask whether the other vehicle was a city bus, a county truck, a school vehicle or a state agency car, and whether the fall happened on public property. Six months passes quickly when the caller first phones the firm two or three months after the crash. The dossier should carry the incident date and the government entity named by the caller so the attorney can check the notice period that morning.

Source: Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.101, Texas.Public.Law

Does Texas cap personal injury damages?

Texas caps exemplary (punitive) damages and non-economic damages in health care liability claims, but not compensatory damages in an ordinary negligence case. Under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.008, exemplary damages may not exceed the greater of two times economic damages plus non-economic damages up to $750,000, or $200,000. The cap does not apply where the conduct is one of the listed felonies, which include intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter.

In health care liability claims, § 74.301 limits non-economic damages against physicians and other providers to $250,000 per claimant, with separate limits for health care institutions. For intake, the practical point is the felony exception: a caller who says the other driver was drunk, arrested or charged is giving the attorney a fact that can change the value of the case.

Sources: Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.008, Texas.Public.Law; Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 74.301, Texas.Public.Law

What does Texas guidance say about lawyers using AI?

Yes. The Texas Professional Ethics Committee issued Opinion 705 in February 2025 on lawyers’ use of generative AI. Opinion 705 asks what ethical issues the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct raise when a lawyer uses generative AI in practice. Its confidentiality analysis turns on Rule 1.05, which covers privileged information and all other information relating to a client. The opinion says how far Rule 1.05 is implicated depends on how a given program works and how the lawyer uses it.

For a firm putting an AI intake specialist on its phones, that means knowing what happens to caller information, who can hear the recordings and how long the firm keeps them. It also means reviewing the work, which is why every Della dossier carries the recording and transcript next to the summary. Our guide to ABA Formal Opinion 512 covers the national rule.

Source: Professional Ethics Committee Opinion 705, Texas Center for Legal Ethics (2025)

Do Texas intake calls need recording consent?

Texas is a one-party consent state for recording phone calls, under Tex. Penal Code § 16.02. Texas firms still take calls from people in all-party states, so a recording notice at the start of every call is the safer default. Every Call Della plan includes a recording disclosure set for the firm’s state, and Della plays it before the caller describes their matter. Our call recording consent by state table covers all 50 states and DC.

Source: Reporter’s Recording Guide: Texas, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

What should a Texas intake call capture?

A Texas intake call should capture the facts that decide the deadline, the fault rule and the coverage, in the caller’s own words. The checklist below is the minimum for a Texas auto or premises matter. It is a list of facts to record, not questions to argue with the caller.

1. Incident date and time, and the city and county where it happened
2. Whether a police report was made, the agency, and any citation issued
3. Whether the other vehicle belonged to a city, county, school district or state agency
4. Whether the other vehicle was a commercial truck, with the company name or USDOT number if seen
5. Injuries, where the caller was treated, and whether they were admitted
6. The other driver’s insurer, and the caller’s own carrier and PIP status if known
7. Any sign the other driver was intoxicated, arrested or charged
8. Whether the caller has spoken to another lawyer or signed anything with an insurer

How does Della handle Texas intake after hours?

Della, Call Della’s intake specialist, answers a Texas firm’s line in the firm’s name nights, weekends and holidays. She takes the facts above in a calm order, never gives legal advice, and tells callers she is an AI if they ask. Each call becomes a dossier with a summary, urgency score, recording and transcript. A call she scores as urgent sends an email alert to the attorney on call, on every plan, and the rest are in the 7am morning brief.

Firms lose callers in the gap between the call and the reply. According to Lawyers Mutual NC (2019), reporting an ABA Law Practice Division secret-shopper study, lawyers took three or more days to reply to voicemails and online requests 42 percent of the time. See how Della runs after-hours personal injury intake, or compare Texas with other states in our personal injury rules by state table.