The Texas Tort Claims Act is the narrow doorway through which you can sue a Texas state or local government for negligence. Chapter 101 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code strips away sovereign immunity in two specific situations — negligence involving government-operated motor vehicles or equipment, and injuries caused by dangerous conditions or the use of tangible government property — and leaves it in place for everything else.1State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 101 – Tort Claims Even inside those categories, the Act sets short notice deadlines, forces you to choose between suing the entity or the employee, and caps what you can recover.
The Two Situations Where You Can Sue
Section 101.021 is the entire waiver. If your claim does not fit one of its two categories, immunity holds and the case ends there regardless of how badly you were hurt.
The first category covers negligent operation of a motor-driven vehicle or motor-driven equipment by a government employee acting within the scope of employment. A city bus, a state-owned bulldozer, a county road grader — if a government worker causes property damage, injury, or death while running one of these, the governmental unit can be held liable.1State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 101 – Tort Claims
The second category covers personal injury or death caused by a dangerous condition or the use of tangible personal property or real property. Defective medical equipment at a public hospital or a broken staircase in a government building fits here. The government is held to the standard of a private person in the same situation.
Two important limits inside this second category. Premises defect claims require proof that the governmental unit had actual knowledge of the dangerous condition. Showing the hazard was obvious or had existed for a long time is not enough on its own, and this is where most premises claims against Texas governments fall apart. Tangible personal property claims require a direct connection between the property and the injury; the fact that government property was merely present when someone was hurt does not create liability.
Claims the Act Shuts Out
Several broad categories sit outside the waiver, and creative pleading cannot bring them back in.
Intentional Torts
Assault, battery, false imprisonment, and other intentional wrongdoing by a government employee are excluded.2State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 101.057 – Civil Disobedience and Certain Intentional Torts If a police officer uses excessive force or a county worker commits an assault, the governmental entity itself cannot be sued under the Act. The same exclusion covers injuries connected to civil disobedience, riots, and insurrection.
Discretionary Policy Decisions
Decisions involving governmental judgment and policymaking stay immune. A city’s choice not to install a traffic signal, a county’s selection of one road-maintenance plan over another — those are discretionary calls, protected even when they lead to harm. Ministerial tasks, meaning routine duties carried out under established procedures with no room for independent judgment, sit on the other side of the line and can fall inside the waiver. Courts sort the two case by case, and the more specific and mandatory the duty, the more likely it is ministerial.
Failure to Provide Services
You cannot sue because an ambulance was slow, a fire truck was not stationed nearby, or police protection was inadequate.3State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 101.055 – Certain Governmental Functions The obligation to provide public safety services is treated as a political question, not a source of tort liability.
Emergency Response
Section 101.055 also shields employees acting in response to an emergency call or emergency situation, as long as they followed applicable laws or ordinances governing the response. Where no such law applies, you have to show conscious indifference or reckless disregard for the safety of others, meaning the employee was actually aware of the risk and chose to ignore it. Ordinary negligence is not enough. This defense covers most police pursuits, ambulance runs, and fire responses, and it favors the government in the vast majority of cases.
No Punitive Damages, No Attorney Fees
Section 101.024 bars exemplary damages entirely, no matter how reckless the employee’s conduct.4State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 101 – Tort Claims, Section 101.024 The Act also provides no mechanism to recover attorney fees from the government. Because injury lawyers typically work on contingency, the damages caps effectively squeeze the fee out of your recovery as well.
The Six-Month Notice Deadline
Before you can file suit, you must give the governmental unit written notice within six months of the incident, describing the injury or damage, the time and place, and what happened.5State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 101 – Tort Claims, Section 101.101 Miss it and the claim is typically dead.
Many Texas cities cut the window even shorter through their charters. Section 101.101(b) ratifies charter provisions that require faster notice, and cities including Houston, San Antonio, and Austin have adopted 90-day deadlines. Check the specific charter of the city you plan to sue before assuming you have six months.
There is a narrow exception when the governmental unit already has actual notice that someone was injured, died, or suffered property damage. In practice, proving actual notice is hard: a government knowing about a road hazard is not the same as knowing you were hurt by it. Do not rely on this exception if you can help it.
The notice deadline is separate from the general two-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims under Section 16.003. You still have to file the actual lawsuit within that window; the six-month notice is an added hurdle, not a substitute.
Election of Remedies: Entity or Employee, Not Both
Section 101.106 is one of the most consequential traps in Texas tort claims practice. It forces you to choose between suing the governmental unit and suing the individual employee, and the choice is permanent.6State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 101.106 – Election of Remedies
- Filing suit against the governmental entity permanently bars any suit against its employees over the same incident.
- Filing suit against the employee permanently bars any suit against the governmental unit unless the unit consents.
- If you name both, the governmental unit can move to immediately dismiss the employee.
- Accepting a settlement from the governmental unit bars all claims against its employees over the same incident.
There is one safety valve. If you sue an employee for conduct within the general scope of employment on a claim that could have been brought under the Act against the entity, the suit is treated as filed against the employee in an official capacity only. The employee can move to dismiss, and you have 30 days to amend to substitute the governmental unit as defendant. Miss that window and the case is dismissed. Getting the election wrong at the outset is one of the fastest ways to lose an otherwise valid claim.
Individual employees can also raise official immunity as a personal defense when they were performing a discretionary duty in good faith within the scope of their authority. Good faith turns on whether a reasonably prudent employee could have believed the conduct was justified, not on the employee’s subjective belief. When the employee has a strong official immunity defense, suing the entity directly under the Act is often the better path despite the caps.
How Much You Can Recover
Section 101.023 caps compensatory damages, and the caps combine economic and non-economic losses. The numbers depend on which type of governmental unit you are suing.
For the state and municipalities:
- Bodily injury or death: $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence.7State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 101.023 – Limitation on Amount of Liability
- Property damage: $100,000 per occurrence.
For counties, school districts, and other units of local government:
- Bodily injury or death: $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence.
- Property damage: $100,000 per occurrence.
These figures have not been adjusted for inflation since they were set. In catastrophic-injury cases, the gap between actual losses and the statutory maximum can be enormous, and courts have consistently upheld the caps regardless of severity.
Who Counts as a Governmental Unit
The Act reaches nearly every layer of Texas government. State departments, boards, commissions, agencies, and courts are all included, along with political subdivisions like cities, counties, school districts, and special-purpose districts such as hospital authorities and transit agencies.1State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 101 – Tort Claims Whether immunity can be waived does not depend on which type; the practical differences show up in the damages caps above and in local charter notice deadlines.
Federal Agencies Are a Different System
The Texas Tort Claims Act does not reach federal agencies. If a federal employee or federal agency caused your injury, your claim falls under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which requires you to submit a written administrative claim to the responsible agency within two years and then file suit within six months of the agency’s denial.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 2401 – Time for Commencing Action Against United States The federal statute also excludes several categories outright, including claims tied to mail delivery, tax collection, and the detention of goods by customs or law enforcement.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S. Code 2680 – Exceptions Filing under the wrong system wastes time you may not be able to recover, so identifying the correct statute is the first move in any claim against a government defendant.