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If you are reading this, you may be sore, sidelined from work, and buried in calls from an adjuster you never asked to hear from. Somewhere in that fog, a nagging question surfaced: how much time do I have?
It is a smart question, and asking it early puts you ahead.
In Texas, most motorcycle accident injury claims must be filed in court within two years of the date of the crash. This deadline is called the statute of limitations, and it comes from Chapter 16 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
A few things about that two-year window are worth knowing:
Two years sounds generous. But motorcycle injuries tend to be serious, recovery is slow, and the months disappear into surgeries, physical therapy, and paperwork. That is why we encourage riders to treat the deadline as the outer edge, not a target.
This is where good riders get hurt a second time. Some situations carry much tighter deadlines.
Suppose a city truck pulled out in front of you, or a poorly maintained road surface sent your front tire sideways. Claims against government entities in Texas are governed by the Texas Tort Claims Act, which generally requires formal written notice within six months. Some city charters set even shorter windows. Missing that notice can jeopardize the whole claim, even though the lawsuit deadline is still two years out.
If the at-fault driver was uninsured or underinsured, you may need to make a claim on your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Policies often contain their own notice requirements, and those are separate from the court deadline. Reading your policy early matters.
Wrongful death claims after a fatal motorcycle crash generally also carry a two-year deadline, but who can file, and when, has its own rules. If you are grieving a family member, please know that no one expects you to sort this out alone.
Texas law does pause or extend the deadline in limited situations. For example:
These exceptions are narrow and fact-specific. Please do not build your plan around one of them. If you think an exception applies to you, have an attorney confirm it in writing.
Even if the courthouse door is open for two years, your evidence is not sitting still. Here is what can quietly slip away in the weeks after a crash on I-10, the Grand Parkway, or a busy stretch of Westheimer Parkway:
Insurance companies know this. They also know that motorcyclists face an uphill battle with bias, since some adjusters and jurors quietly assume riders are reckless. Prompt documentation is one of the best ways to push back against that.
You do not need to do everything at once. Think of it the way an endurance athlete thinks about a long race: steady, prepared, one stage at a time.
Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule. In short, if a jury finds you 51 percent or more responsible for the crash, you cannot recover damages, and anything less reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault. Insurers lean on this rule hard in motorcycle cases, which is another reason early evidence gathering is so valuable.
When the stakes include your health, your income, and your future, experience matters. Scott Callahan is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a distinction held by fewer than 10 percent of Texas attorneys. Insurance companies pay attention to whether a firm is truly prepared to take a case before a jury, and that preparation, including Scott’s training at the Trial Lawyers College, often shapes how seriously the other side negotiates.
Just as important, you should be able to talk with the attorney who is actually handling your case. At Scott Callahan & Associates, we believe an injured neighbor deserves a real relationship with a veteran lawyer, not a hand-off to whoever is available. You can learn more about how we approach these cases on our personal injury page.
The deadline question is stressful, but it is also very answerable. Once someone reviews the date of your crash, who was involved, and what insurance is in play, you will know which clock you are on and how much time is left.
If you would like clear answers, we invite you to a complimentary, no-pressure conversation with our Katy, TX motorcycle accident lawyer. Bring your questions, your paperwork if you have it, and as much or as little of your story as you are comfortable sharing. There is no obligation, and you will leave knowing where you stand.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines and legal rules vary based on the facts of each case and may change over time. Please contact Scott Callahan & Associates about your specific situation.
Finding out the driver who hit you doesn’t have insurance can feel like a second blow, right on top of the crash itself. You’re already dealing with pain, medical bills, and a damaged bike. Now you’re wondering who is supposed to pay for any of it. If you’re feeling angry, anxious, or just plain stuck, that reaction makes complete sense. At Scott Callahan & Associates, our Katy, TX motorcycle accident attorneys have sat across the table from enough Katy families in this exact situation to know it’s more common than most riders realize, and more survivable than it feels right now.
Texas has one of the highest rates of uninsured drivers in the country. According to the Insurance Information Institute, roughly one in five Texas drivers is on the road without any liability coverage at all. On corridors like I-10, the Grand Parkway, and Westheimer Parkway, where traffic moves fast and merges are tight, motorcyclists are especially vulnerable to getting hit by someone who simply never bought a policy, or let one lapse.
It isn’t fair, and it isn’t your fault. But it does change the roadmap for how you recover compensation.
Most riders assume that if the at-fault driver has no insurance, there’s nothing to do. That’s rarely true. Texas law requires insurers to offer Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) coverage on auto policies, and many riders have it without realizing it, sometimes as an add-on to a separate vehicle policy or a standalone motorcycle policy.
We always start by pulling every policy a client has, home, auto, umbrella, and motorcycle-specific, because coverage sometimes hides in places people forget to check.
The steps you take early on can make a real difference later, especially if there’s any dispute about what happened.
This is where things get harder, but not hopeless. Options can include:
These paths take real investigative work. It’s the kind of digging we do as a matter of habit, not as a last resort, because riders deserve every avenue explored before anyone tells them there’s nothing left to try.
Texas follows a modified comparative negligence rule. Under the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, you can still recover damages as long as you’re found less than 51% responsible for the crash, though your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault.
Motorcyclists often face an unfair, built-in bias here. Adjusters and even juries sometimes assume a rider was speeding or lane-splitting before they know a single fact. Countering that bias takes more than a claim form. It takes accident reconstruction, witness statements, and sometimes expert testimony showing exactly how the crash unfolded.
When there’s no other driver’s insurance company to negotiate with, your own insurer becomes the party you’re up against in a UM/UIM claim. And insurance companies, including your own, pay closer attention when they know a firm won’t simply accept a lowball offer.
Scott is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a credential held by fewer than 10% of Texas attorneys, and trained at the Trial Lawyers College to prepare every case as if it’s headed for a jury. That reputation tends to change how quickly and how fairly a claim gets resolved, because insurers know the difference between a firm that settles fast and one that’s genuinely prepared to go the distance in a West Houston or Fort Bend County courtroom.
Just as importantly, you won’t be handed off to a rotating cast of case managers. You’ll work directly with the attorney handling your case from day one.
An uninsured driver doesn’t have to mean an uncompensated recovery. It usually means the path just looks a little different, and it helps to have someone who has walked it before mapping it out with you.
If you’re a rider in Katy, Cinco Ranch, Fulshear, or anywhere along the I-10 corridor dealing with this exact situation, we’d welcome the chance to talk it through with you. A complimentary conversation with our office costs you nothing and comes with no pressure, just honest answers about what your specific policies and circumstances mean for your claim.
This blog post is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every accident and insurance policy is different, and reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship with Scott Callahan & Associates. For advice specific to your situation, please consult a licensed Texas attorney.
If you’ve just heard those words from an adjuster, take a breath. It is one of the most common phrases in motorcycle claims, and it rarely means what it sounds like. In Texas, being partly at fault does not automatically end your case. It usually just changes the math.
At Scott Callahan & Associates, we’ve sat across the table from these conversations more times than we can count, from riders hit on I-10 near the Grand Parkway to bikers clipped while merging off Westheimer Parkway. The good news is that Texas law was built with exactly this situation in mind.
Texas uses a system called modified comparative negligence, sometimes called proportionate responsibility. Under this rule, you can still recover damages as long as you are found less than 51% responsible for the crash.
Here is how it actually works:
This standard comes directly from the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Chapter 33, which governs how fault percentages are calculated and applied in personal injury claims across the state, including here in Harris and Fort Bend Counties.
So when an adjuster says “you were partly at fault,” the real question is not whether you get paid. It’s what percentage they’re trying to pin on you, because every point they add to your side is a point they subtract from your check.
We need to be honest about something the insurance industry rarely says out loud: motorcyclists face built-in bias. Adjusters, juries, and sometimes even responding officers can carry assumptions that a rider was speeding, lane-splitting, or “asking for it” simply because they were on two wheels instead of four.
Research backs up how disproportionately motorcyclists are blamed and injured in multi-vehicle crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has repeatedly found that most car-versus-motorcycle collisions happen because the driver of the car failed to see the rider, not the other way around. Yet adjusters routinely lead with fault language aimed at the motorcyclist because they know the bias exists and they know it saves their company money.
None of these are legal findings. They are negotiating positions, and they need to be treated that way.
Because Texas fault is a percentage, not a verdict of guilt or innocence, the goal after a crash is to build a record that accurately reflects what happened, not what the other driver’s insurer assumes happened.
Helpful evidence often includes:
This is where trial-ready preparation actually matters to your bottom line. Attorney Scott Callahan is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a credential held by fewer than 10% of attorneys in the state. That certification exists specifically because these cases require someone who understands how to dissect a fault argument the way a jury eventually would, not just accept the first percentage an adjuster offers.
Let’s make this concrete. Say your damages, medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, total $200,000.
That fifty thousand dollar swing rarely comes from arguing harder. It comes from evidence, timing, and knowing which facts actually move a fault percentage under Texas law versus which ones just sound persuasive on a phone call.
Comparative fault language often shows up in the very first conversation, sometimes before you’ve even seen a doctor for a full evaluation. That timing is not an accident. An early, unrepresented fault admission is far easier for an insurance company to lock in than one made after you’ve had time to review the crash report, the footage, and the physical evidence.
This is part of why we believe riders deserve to work directly with a veteran trial attorney from the start, not get shuffled through a call center or handed off to a rotating cast of case managers. A rushed statement made under stress can shape your percentage for the rest of the claim.
Hearing “you were partly at fault” can feel like the door is closing. In reality, it is usually just the opening move of a negotiation, one that Texas law gives you real tools to push back on.
If you’re recovering from a motorcycle crash anywhere from the Katy Freeway corridor to Fulshear or Cinco Ranch, and an adjuster has already started talking percentages, it’s worth having someone review the details before you say anything else. At Scott Callahan & Associates, our Katy, TX motorcycle accident lawyers offer a complimentary, no-pressure conversation to walk through what happened, explain where you likely stand under Texas’s fault rules, and answer your questions honestly, whether or not you ever hire a lawyer at all.
This blog post is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship with Scott Callahan & Associates. Every case is different, and outcomes depend on the specific facts involved. If you have been injured in a motorcycle accident, please consult a licensed Texas attorney to discuss the details of your situation.
