How long an injury case takes in Texas, from the crash to the check

No honest lawyer can give you a date, but the sequence is predictable

How long a personal injury case takes in Texas depends mostly on three things: how long your medical treatment lasts, whether the insurer makes a fair offer without a lawsuit, and, if suit is filed, the court's schedule. A straightforward claim may resolve fairly soon after treatment ends. A case with serious injuries, disputed fault or a lawsuit takes considerably longer. Any lawyer who promises you a settlement date on the first call is guessing.

I am a founding partner at Garcia, Garcia & Mullen, and personal injury is my practice. Waiting is one of the hardest parts of a case for my clients, especially when they are out of work. Knowing what is happening at each stage, and why, makes the waiting easier to bear. This guide walks through those stages. It is general information, not legal advice; for advice about your own case, talk to a licensed Texas attorney.

Stage one: getting treated and building the file

The first stage is usually the longest, and it is driven by your recovery, not by the lawyers. A claim cannot be valued responsibly until your doctors know what is wrong, what treatment you need, and whether you will fully recover or have lasting limitations. Settling before that point means guessing at future medical costs, and the guess almost always favors the insurer.

While you treat, we build the file. At our firm that means obtaining the police report, photographs, witness statements and medical records, identifying every party who may be responsible, and sending preservation requests for evidence that could disappear. It also means taking over every call and letter from the insurers, so the case keeps moving without you having to manage it. Your job during this stage is simple to describe and hard to do: keep every appointment, follow the treatment plan, and tell us when something changes.

• Police and crash reports, scene photos and witness information.
• Medical records and itemized bills from every provider.
• Proof of lost income from your employer or business records.
• Insurance information for every party and every policy that might apply.
• In truck cases, requests to preserve logs, inspection records and vehicle data.

Stage two: the demand and the negotiation

Once your treatment is complete, or your doctors can describe your future care with confidence, we assemble a demand package. It documents how the crash happened and why the other party is responsible, every medical bill and record, your lost income, and how the injury has changed your daily life. The insurer reviews it, often asks for more records, and responds with an offer.

Negotiation usually takes several rounds. First offers are rarely final offers. How long this stage takes depends on the insurer, the size of the claim and how clearly liability and damages are documented. If you are dealing with your own insurer on a PIP or uninsured motorist claim, the Texas Department of Insurance explains that insurers must generally acknowledge a claim within 15 days and accept or reject it within 15 business days after receiving everything they need, or up to 45 days if they explain the delay. Those prompt-payment deadlines do not apply to the other driver's insurer, which TDI says must still act in good faith and settle fairly and quickly.

Stage three: filing suit when the offer is not fair

If negotiation does not produce a fair offer, we file a lawsuit. Filing suit does not mean the case will go to trial; settlements happen at every point in litigation, and often the insurer's position changes once it sees a case being prepared for trial. But litigation adds steps, and each step takes time.

After suit is filed, both sides exchange information and documents, take depositions of the parties, witnesses and sometimes doctors, and may retain experts. Courts often require the parties to try mediation before trial. Then the court sets a trial date, which depends on that court's docket. It is the longest path, and it is the one that gives the claim its full weight. You decide, with your lawyer's advice, whether to accept an offer at any stage.

If you are trying to decide whether to keep negotiating or move forward, that is exactly the kind of conversation the free consultation is for.

Your filing deadline and your case timeline are two different clocks

People sometimes confuse the deadline for filing suit with how long a case takes. Under the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, most personal injury suits must be filed within two years after the cause of action accrues, and for a claim arising from a death, the two years run from the date of death. That deadline is about when a lawsuit must be on file, not when the case must be finished.

The deadline still shapes the timeline. If your treatment is long, we may need to file suit to protect the claim before negotiations are complete. Some claims have much shorter notice requirements, especially when a city, county or other government body is involved, and other exceptions can shorten or extend the period. That is why I tell people not to wait until month twenty to call a lawyer: by then, the options have narrowed.

What tends to slow a case down

Some delays are unavoidable, and some are not. In my experience, these are the most common reasons a case takes longer than a client hoped.

• Ongoing treatment, or a surgery recommendation that comes months after the crash.
• Disputed fault, especially with conflicting witness accounts.
• Several defendants, such as a driver, a trucking company and a maintenance contractor, each with its own insurer.
• Medical records and bills that take providers weeks to produce.
• Prior injuries to the same part of the body that the insurer wants to explore.
• A lawsuit, and the court's schedule once one is filed.

Getting through the wait when the bills will not

The months of a case are hardest when income has stopped and bills keep arriving. It helps to know that the at-fault driver's insurer usually pays once, at the end, so the bills in the meantime are handled by other coverage. Your own personal injury protection, if it is on your policy, pays medical bills and some lost income regardless of who caused the crash. Medical payments coverage and your health insurance can fill gaps. I explain the order in my guide on whose insurance pays medical bills after a Texas crash.

Tell your providers that your bills relate to an accident claim and ask them to hold collection while the case is open; some will work with you once they know a claim is pending and who represents you. Keep every statement and letter. And do not let financial pressure push you into accepting an offer you would not otherwise take. If money is tight, say so to your lawyer; it is part of the picture, and a good lawyer will help you think through the options instead of rushing you.

What genuinely helps a case move

You cannot make a court move faster, but you can avoid the delays that come from gaps in the file. Consistent treatment with no unexplained breaks makes the medical story clear. Prompt responses when we ask for a document keep the demand from sitting. Keeping a simple record of your pain, limitations and missed work makes the damages easier to prove. And telling us early about any prior injuries or claims lets us address them on our terms instead of the insurer's.

Early action matters most in truck and commercial vehicle cases, where key records may be kept for only a limited time. I explain that in detail in my guide on what to do after an 18-wheeler accident in Dallas–Fort Worth. And if the insurer is pressing you for a statement before you have even started treatment, read what to do when the adjuster calls after a Dallas car accident.

Between the agreement and the check

Agreeing on a number is not quite the end. The insurer sends a release for you to review and sign, and then issues payment. Before money is distributed to you, medical bills and liens connected to the accident must be resolved. That may include hospitals, treating providers and health plans that paid for your care. If Medicare paid any accident-related bills, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says those conditional payments must be repaid when a settlement is made, and it has its own process for calculating the final amount.

This step can take weeks, and it is worth doing carefully, because confirming what is actually owed and negotiating reductions where possible affects what you take home. At the end, Texas rules require your lawyer to give you a written statement showing the outcome and how your share was calculated. I walk through the full breakdown in what an injury lawyer costs and what you take home.

Where your case would start with us

It starts with a free, confidential consultation, in person or by phone. We listen to what happened, review what you have, and tell you honestly whether we think you have a case and what the road ahead is likely to look like. Our phone line is answered around the clock.

If you retain us, the insurers hear from us that week, the calls stop coming to you, and we start building the file while you focus on treatment. We keep you updated at every stage and explain each decision in plain language. For personal injury claims, there is no attorney fee unless we recover compensation. We represent injured people throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth area and Kaufman County.

Questions people ask me