Houston car wreck claims
Your Houston car wreck claim, step by step.
Five of the seven LAWBOSS attorneys once worked for insurance companies. Our Houston office walks your claim through each stage and tells you where it stands.
- Free claim review
- Phones answered 24/7
- No Fees or Costs Unless We Win
- Former insurance insiders
The Houston office of LAWBOSS – Harris, Nelsen & Uvalle, PLLC. Attorney responsible: Jonathan Harris.
Start your free claim review
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Google rating for our Houston office, from 1,728 reviews (November 2026)
5 of 7
LAWBOSS attorneys who came from the insurance side
1998
The year Jonathan Harris was licensed in Texas
24/7
Open 24 hours, and a person picks up
7 stages
Each one explained to you before it starts
The claim map
The seven stages of a Houston car wreck claim
Car wreck claims in Houston tend to move through the same seven stages. Tap a stage to read what happens in it and what we do there.
- 1
Report
The officer’s CR-3 crash report reaches TxDOT.
- 2
Coverage
Every policy that could pay is found.
- 3
Records
Treatment, bills and car damage are documented.
- 4
Demand
The insurer gets the claim in writing.
- 5
Negotiation
Offers and answers go back and forth.
- 6
Lawsuit
If needed, suit in Harris County.
- 7
Release
The claim closes and the money is paid out.
Claim guides
Read the guide for the stage you are in
Each guide covers one part of a Houston claim, with the Texas law that applies to it.
Car accident claim lawyer
What a claim lawyer does at each of the seven stages.
Car accident injury claim
Treatment, records, PIP and the fault rule.
Car wreck settlement process
How an offer is made, answered and closed.
Car accident claims attorney
When a claim turns into a Harris County suit.
Diminished value claim
The value a car loses even after a good repair.
How to file a claim
The first calls, forms and papers, in order.
Other wrecks we take on
- Rear-end crashes
- Uninsured drivers
- Rideshare crashes
- Hit and run
- Pedestrian crashes
- Truck crashes
Stage 1The crash reportIt starts with the CR-3 crash report
A crash with an injury, a death or a car that cannot be driven has to be reported to the police right away (Transportation Code section 550.026). When an officer investigates a crash with injury, death or apparent damage of $1,000 or more, the officer files the Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report, form CR-3, with TxDOT within 10 days (section 550.062).
The people in the crash, their representatives, the owners of the cars and the insurers involved may get the full report (section 550.065). Copies are sold through TxDOT’s Crash Report Online Purchase System for a small fee.
We order the report for you and check the officer’s diagram and contributing factors first.
Stage 2Whose policy paysFind every policy that can pay
A Houston wreck can involve the other driver’s liability policy, your own personal injury protection and your uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. Not every policy is plain to see on day one, so we ask each insurer for its coverage in writing.
Liability: 30/60/25
Texas requires at least $30,000 for one person’s injury, $60,000 for two or more and $25,000 for property damage (Transportation Code 601.072).
Personal injury protection
Part of every Texas auto policy unless rejected in writing. It pays without regard to fault, within 30 days of proof (Insurance Code 1952.152 to 1952.156).
Uninsured and underinsured
UM/UIM coverage is in every Texas policy unless a named insured turned it down in writing (Insurance Code 1952.101).
Stage 3Records and propertyBuild the file the adjuster will read
An insurer pays on what it can see in the file. While you get treatment, we collect the records and bills from each provider, the photos of the cars and the repair papers, so the claim shows what the wreck cost you.
Your car is part of the claim too. Besides the repair, a car with a crash history can be worth less than it was before, and that loss is its own item on a property claim.
Read about a diminished value claim in Texas
Your claim checklist
- Medical records from every visit, from the ER to therapy
- Every bill and receipt, kept in one place
- Photos of both cars before the repair
- The repair estimate and the lost value of your car
- Notes on missed work and daily limits
- Names and numbers of anyone who saw the wreck
Stage 4The demandWhat the adjuster looks for in your demand
When your treatment is far enough along that its cost is known, we send the insurer a written demand: how the wreck happened, why its driver is at fault, and each loss with the proof attached.
Several of our attorneys used to sit on the other side of that letter. The adjuster reads the demand with Texas fault law in mind: a recovery is cut by your own percentage of fault, and it is barred if your share is more than 50 percent (Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.001 and 33.012). That is why insurers try to push blame onto you, and why the file has to answer that push before it starts.
Stage 5 to 7Negotiation, suit and releaseHow a Houston settlement is reached
After the demand, the insurer answers with an offer or a refusal, and the negotiation begins. We tell you what each offer means for you, and the decision to accept or refuse is always yours.
If the insurer will not deal fairly, the claim can become a lawsuit, filed in a Harris County civil district court at the Civil Courthouse, 201 Caroline, before the two-year deadline (Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003). When a claim settles, you sign a release that ends it, and any bills owed out of the recovery are paid before the rest comes to you.
We never quote a number before we know your case.
The car wreck settlement process in Houston
If the claim becomes a Harris County lawsuit
- Petition filed with the court
- The other side’s answer
- Discovery: papers and questions
- Depositions under oath
- Retained witnesses and their reports
- Mediation
- Trial
City and county vehiclesHit by a city or county vehicle?
A crash with a city bus, a county truck or a police car follows stricter rules. The government unit has to receive written notice that describes the injury and the time, place and incident, and a city charter can set a shorter period than the state law does.
When a claim needs a car accident claims attorney in Houston
Six months for written notice
Civil Practice and Remedies Code 101.101. Actual notice to the government unit can excuse the written one.
Limits set by statute
For a city: $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death (CPRC 101.023). Other local units have lower limits.
Why our side of the table is different
We used to process these claims for insurers
For more than ten years, Jonathan Harris was a senior trial attorney for a major automobile insurance company. Ian Nelsen handled claims as an adjuster before he defended them as an insurance defense attorney. Howard Hill spent over 20 years with two of the largest auto and commercial insurance carriers in the country.
LAWBOSS was started by Michael Uvalle, who first worked for several of the largest insurance companies in Texas. Five of our seven attorneys share that background.
- 01
We know why an early recorded statement is requested, and we handle those calls for you.
- 02
We know how an adjuster scores fault, so the file answers the fault question first.
- 03
We know which gaps in treatment records an insurer points to, and we close them while you recover.
- 04
We know when a file is ready for a demand and when the deadline calls for a lawsuit instead.
Your Houston attorneys
The attorneys at 5300 Memorial Drive
Our Houston office sits on Memorial Drive by Memorial Park, west of downtown. These three attorneys work Houston car wreck claims.
Jonathan Harris
Partner and managing attorney of litigation
Licensed in Texas in 1998. A senior trial attorney for a major auto insurer for more than ten years before he joined LAWBOSS in 2017.
Ian Nelsen
Partner attorney
Worked claims as an adjuster and later defended them as an insurance defense attorney.
Howard Hill
Litigation attorney
More than 20 years with two of the country’s largest auto and commercial insurers.
Jonathan Harris is the attorney responsible for Car Wreck Claims Houston. His primary practice location is the firm’s Houston office, 5300 Memorial Dr Ste 810, Houston, TX 77007.
Reviews
Houston clients rate us on Google
4.8Houston office, 1,728 Google reviews, November 2026
This is the rating Google showed for our Houston office in November 2026. Clients write and post the reviews on Google, and we have no say in which ones appear. A review describes one client’s experience, not a forecast for your claim.
Harris County
Houston facts that shape a claim
Public numbers and places that come up in Houston car wreck claims, each from its source.
115,173 crashes in 2024
TxDOT’s 2024 county table lists 546 fatal crashes and 579 people killed on Harris County roads that year.
Congested freeways
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute ranks the West Loop (I-610) first and the Eastex Freeway second among the most congested roads in Texas.
Level I trauma care
Texas DSHS lists Ben Taub Hospital and Memorial Hermann in the Texas Medical Center as Level I trauma facilities.
The civil courthouse
Harris County civil district courts sit in the Civil Courthouse at 201 Caroline, downtown.
The Houston office
5300 Memorial Dr Ste 810, Houston, TX 77007
Open 24 hours, 7 days a week
The first weekWhat to do in the first week of a Houston car wreck claim
Car wreck claims in Houston are won or lost on what gets written down early. Texas law asks every driver in an injury crash to stop, check on anyone hurt and stay to share information (Transportation Code section 550.021), and to exchange names, addresses, registration numbers and the names of their liability insurers (section 550.023). After that, the claim is about records.
See a doctor soon, even if you feel more shaken than hurt, and tell the doctor about every symptom. Take photos of both cars, the road and any bruises or cuts. Keep every receipt, and note the days you cannot work.
Before you sign anything from an insurer, read our guide on how to file a car accident claim, or call our Houston office for a free claim review. A car accident claim lawyer in Houston can take the insurer calls from the first day.
The adjuster’s callWhen the other driver’s adjuster calls
The other driver’s insurer often calls within days. The adjuster may sound friendly and may ask to record your account of the crash and your injuries. You are not required to give that statement on the first call. You can take the adjuster’s name and claim number and say your attorney will be in touch.
Our attorneys who used to work for insurers know why that call comes early: what you say before your treatment is understood can be used later to argue about fault or about how badly you were hurt. After you sign with us, every call from that insurer comes to our office.
DeadlinesThe deadlines that can end a Texas claim
Most injury suits in Texas must be filed within two years of the day of the crash (Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003). For a child, the two years generally start at age 18 (section 16.001). A claim against a city or county needs written notice within six months, or sooner if a city charter says so (section 101.101).
Most claims settle without a suit, but an insurer knows when time runs out, so we track the dates from day one. If the talks stall, a car accident claims attorney in Houston can file suit in time, and our guide to the car wreck settlement process in Houston explains what happens before and after a suit.
Questions
Questions about car wreck claims in Houston
What is the deadline for a car wreck claim in Houston?
An injury suit generally has to be filed within two years of the crash (Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003). A claim against a city or county needs written notice within six months (section 101.101). Talk to us well before either date.
Can I still claim if I was partly at fault?
Yes, if your share of the fault is 50 percent or less. Texas cuts the recovery by your percentage and bars it if your share is more than 50 percent (CPRC 33.001 and 33.012).
What will LAWBOSS charge me?
The claim review is free. No Fees or Costs Unless We Win: the firm pays the case costs as the claim goes along, and you owe no attorney’s fee and no case costs unless money is recovered for you.
Will you tell me what my claim is worth?
Not at the start. A fair answer depends on your treatment, your records and the coverage, so we explain how the claim will be valued and never quote a number before we know your case.
Do I have to talk to the other driver’s insurer?
No law makes you record a statement for the other driver’s insurance company. After you hire us, that adjuster calls our office instead of you.
What happens if the driver who hit me in Houston was uninsured?
Look to your own policy first: its uninsured motorist coverage can step in. Texas puts UM/UIM coverage in every auto policy unless a named insured turned it down in writing (Insurance Code 1952.101), so we check your policy for it, along with your personal injury protection, which pays without regard to fault.
Who will work on my claim?
Attorneys from our Houston office at 5300 Memorial Drive, Suite 810. The attorney responsible for this site, Jonathan Harris, works from that office.
Not sure which stage your claim is in? Ask us.
Tell us about the wreck. A Houston attorney reviews it for free and tells you plainly where your claim stands. The phones are answered around the clock.