State Rules

Texas: Accident, Insurance & Workers' Comp Rules

Texas bars recovery once you are 51% at fault, gives you two years to sue, keeps 30/60/25 auto minimums — and is the only large state where many employers can skip workers' comp entirely.

Direct answer

Texas applies modified comparative fault with a 51 percent bar, so a claimant more than half responsible recovers nothing. The filing deadline is two years, minimum auto liability is 30/60/25, and Texas remains the only large state where employers may opt out of workers' compensation, leaving many workplace injuries to be pursued as ordinary negligence claims.

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ClaimLedge publishes educational information for general purposes only. Nothing on this page is legal, financial, medical, or insurance advice; it does not create an attorney–client relationship and cannot predict the outcome of any claim. Laws and insurance rules vary by state and change over time — verify the rules that apply to you and consult a licensed professional before acting on any estimate.

Key Texas rules at a glance

TopicTexas
Fault ruleModified comparative negligence, 51% bar — recovery reduced by your fault share, barred at 51% or more (Civil Practice & Remedies Code ch. 33).
Injury lawsuit deadline2 years from the date of injury for most personal-injury suits (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §16.003).
Minimum auto liability30/60/25 — $30,000 per person / $60,000 per accident bodily injury, $25,000 property damage.
Auto insurance systemAt-fault (tort). Insurers must offer personal injury protection unless you reject it in writing.
Workers' compensationMost private employers may opt out (non-subscribers). Covered workers receive temporary income benefits around 70% of lost wages, capped at an annually adjusted maximum.

Fault and liability

Texas uses modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar (Civil Practice & Remedies Code ch. 33): your recovery is reduced by your percentage of responsibility, and at 51% or more you recover nothing. The line matters. At 50% fault you keep half your damages; one percentage point higher and the claim is worth zero. Expect the fault fight to be the whole negotiation in close cases — background in how comparative negligence works.

Filing deadlines

Texas gives injured people two years from the date of injury to file most personal-injury lawsuits (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §16.003). The same two-year clock covers car accidents, most wrongful-death claims, and premises cases. Claims against government units require formal notice on much shorter timelines set by the Texas Tort Claims Act and local charters — some as short as a few months. Two years is the ceiling, not the strategy.

Auto insurance minimums

Texas requires 30/60/25: $30,000 bodily injury per person, $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage — the highest property-damage minimum among the four states ClaimLedge covers so far, and still easily exhausted by a modern vehicle. Texas is an at-fault state. One wrinkle: insurers must include personal injury protection (PIP) in every auto policy unless you reject it in writing — many Texans carry $2,500 in PIP without realizing it, and it pays regardless of fault.

Workers' compensation notes

Texas is the outlier: it is the only large state where most private employers can decline workers' compensation coverage ("non-subscribers"). If your employer subscribes, temporary income benefits pay around 70% of the difference between your pre-injury average weekly wage and what you can earn after — capped at a statewide maximum the Division of Workers' Compensation adjusts annually. If your employer is a non-subscriber, there are no comp benefits, but you keep the right to sue for negligence — and non-subscribers lose key defenses, including the right to blame your own carelessness. Confirm coverage status with the Texas Department of Insurance before assuming which system applies.

Using ClaimLedge for a Texas claim

Texas has no cap on pain-and-suffering damages in ordinary auto claims, so the Car Accident Settlement Estimator applies directly — but set the fault slider honestly, because the 51% bar turns an optimistic fault estimate into a cliff. For workplace injuries, first confirm your employer actually subscribes to workers' comp; the Workers Comp Settlement Calculator models the subscriber system only.