Austin Car Accident Lawyer

One moment you are driving down MoPac or I-35, and the next you are dealing with a damaged car, a sore neck, and a call from an adjuster you did not expect. An Austin car accident lawyer can explain the three Texas rules that shape a car accident claim: the filing deadline, the 50% fault bar, and the limit on medical bills a claimant can recover.

O’Connell West, PLLC represents people hurt in car crashes, and we handle personal injury cases on contingency, so you owe nothing in attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation for you. Call 512-547-7265 or reach out to talk through your situation.

Why Austin Drivers Choose O’Connell West, PLLC After a Crash

You can meet your Austin personal injury lawyer face to face at our downtown office on West 12th Street, which helps in a claim built on paperwork. A car crash usually produces two sets of records, one for your injuries and one for your vehicle: medical bills, insurance statements, repair estimates, and adjuster letters.

Spread across a table, that stack can be gone through together instead of scanned and emailed one page at a time, and a missing bill or a payment that does not match is easier to catch.

Crashes on Travis County Roads

Crashes are part of daily life on Austin-area roads. The Texas Department of Transportation’s 2024 county crash report counted 15,872 reportable crashes in Travis County that year, with 155 people killed and 610 suspected serious injuries. Behind each of those numbers is someone facing medical care, time off work, and an insurance claim.

What to Do After a Car Accident in Austin

Texas law sets one duty right away. Under Section 550.021 of the Texas Transportation Code, the operator of a vehicle in a collision that injures or kills someone, or is reasonably likely to, must stop at the scene or as close to it as possible, without blocking traffic more than necessary.

Beyond that legal duty, a few steps can make a later claim easier to prove:

• Medical care: A doctor’s visit soon after the crash, even for neck or back pain that seems minor or shows up a day later, creates a record linking the injury to the collision.
• Photos: Pictures of the vehicles, the road, and visible injuries capture details that disappear once cars are towed and repaired.
• Contact information: Names and phone numbers of the other driver, passengers, and witnesses help when accounts differ later.

Will the At-Fault Driver’s Insurer Pay My Full Medical Bills?

Not always the full billed amount. Under Section 41.0105 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, recovery of medical or health care expenses is limited to the amount actually paid or incurred by or on behalf of the claimant, in addition to any other limit under law.

Imagine a hospital bills $12,000. The injured person’s health insurer pays $5,000 at its negotiated rate, and the hospital writes off the rest. The medical expense claim is then generally measured by the $5,000 paid plus anything the patient still owes, not the $12,000 on the original bill.

That is why insurance payment statements, often called explanations of benefits, matter as much as the bills themselves.

How Long Do I Have to File a Car Accident Lawsuit in Texas?

In Texas, a personal injury lawsuit after a car accident generally must be filed within two years after the day the cause of action accrues. Section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code sets that deadline, called a statute of limitations, and lists a few exceptions.

Texas’s two-year deadline also covers a lawsuit over damage to the car itself, so the vehicle claim and the injury claim generally run on the same clock. Texas courts treat a claim as accruing when the wrongful act causes an injury, and for a car crash that is usually the day of the collision. A narrow exception, the discovery rule, reaches only injuries that by their nature are unlikely to be discovered in time.

Austin Car Accident FAQs

Is Texas an At-Fault State for Car Accidents?

Yes. Texas follows a fault-based system, so the at-fault driver’s insurer generally pays for the losses. Under Texas’s financial responsibility law, liability coverage must be at least $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per crash for injuries, and $25,000 for property damage, and a driver’s own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage can help when the at-fault driver has no insurance or too little.

What If the Other Driver’s Insurer Says I Was Partly at Fault?

An insurer may argue shared fault in a rear-end collision after a sudden stop or a left turn across traffic. In cases covered by Texas’s proportionate responsibility chapter, Section 33.001 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code bars recovery above 50% responsibility, and the reduction rule cuts damages by the claimant’s share, so a driver found 30% responsible for a $50,000 loss would recover $35,000.

What If I Was a Passenger in the Car?

A passenger who did nothing to cause the crash usually carries no share of fault. The claim can run against either driver, including the one the passenger rode with, and responsibility can be split when both contributed.

Speak With an Austin Car Accident Lawyer

A crash can leave you juggling repairs, appointments, and lost time at work all at once. At O’Connell West, PLLC, you can sit down with your attorney in person, and no attorney’s fees are owed unless we recover compensation for you. Call 512-547-7265 or contact us today to get answers from an Austin car accident lawyer.