Truck crash claim: what can I do?

Venue & Jurisdiction: Truck accident lawsuits in Texas are filed in the district court of the county where the accident occurred or where the defendant resides or has its principal place of business. Texas district courts hear civil cases with no dollar ceiling. Harris County (Houston), Dallas County, Bexar County (San Antonio), and Tarrant County (Fort Worth) courts handle the greatest volume of commercial trucking cases.

Statute of Limitations: Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 16.003 imposes a two-year statute of limitations for personal injury and wrongful death claims from truck accidents. The limitations period begins on the date of injury or death. Texas applies a modified comparative fault rule (51% bar): a plaintiff bearing more than 50% of fault recovers nothing. FMCSA requires retention of electronic logging device (ELD) data and black-box (ECM) evidence for only six months.

FMCSA & Texas Regulations: All commercial motor vehicles operating in Texas must comply with FMCSA regulations (49 C.F.R. Parts 350–399), including hours-of-service limits, mandatory ELDs for most carriers, and CDL standards. The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) and Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS) enforce state trucking rules, including Texas-specific oversize/overweight permit requirements for loads traversing state highways. Texas also requires motor carriers operating intrastate to register and maintain minimum liability insurance with TxDMV.

High-Accident Corridors: Texas has the nation's highest volume of fatal large-truck crashes. The most dangerous corridors include Interstate 35 (the NAFTA superhighway from Laredo through San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas–Fort Worth), Interstate 10 (El Paso to Houston), U.S. 83 (South Texas), and Interstate 20 (Fort Worth to Odessa through the Permian Basin). The Permian Basin energy corridor sees heavy oilfield truck traffic on FM roads not designed for commercial loads, producing disproportionate casualties.