The Texas tort reform laws cap what injured people can collect in most personal injury and medical malpractice cases, raise the proof standard for punitive awards, bar recovery entirely when a plaintiff is more than half at fault, and impose procedural deadlines that can end a case before trial. Most of the framework comes from House Bill 4, which the Legislature passed in 2003, along with Proposition 12, a constitutional amendment voters approved that same year to authorize dollar limits on noneconomic damages in healthcare cases. The rules below apply whether your claim is worth thousands or millions.
The Two-Year Deadline to File
You have two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit in Texas. The deadline covers most tort claims, including car accidents, slip-and-fall injuries, wrongful death, and property damage. Miss it and the court will almost certainly dismiss the case no matter how strong the underlying facts are.1State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003 – Two-Year Limitations Period
For wrongful death, the two-year clock starts on the date of death rather than the date of the original injury. A few narrow exceptions can extend or pause the deadline, but relying on one is risky. Treat two years as a hard cutoff.
Caps on Pain and Suffering in Medical Malpractice Cases
Chapter 74 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code caps what you can recover for noneconomic damages in healthcare liability claims. Noneconomic damages cover subjective losses: physical pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of companionship. Economic damages like medical bills and lost wages are not capped.
The cap runs in layers:
- Against all physicians and non-institutional providers combined: $250,000 per claimant, regardless of how many individual doctors are named.
- Against a single healthcare institution such as a hospital or nursing home: $250,000 per claimant.
- Against multiple healthcare institutions: $250,000 per institution, with a combined ceiling of $500,000 for all institutions together.
In the worst-case scenario involving both physicians and multiple hospitals, the absolute maximum noneconomic recovery is $750,000, $250,000 from the physicians plus $500,000 from the institutions.2State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.301
A jury can award more, but the judge must reduce the noneconomic portion to fit within the statute. A catastrophic birth injury case with a $5 million pain-and-suffering verdict still gets cut to $750,000 at most on that component.
The 120-Day Expert Report Requirement
This provision quietly ends more malpractice cases than the damage caps do. Within 120 days after each defendant files an original answer, you must serve an expert report on every healthcare provider you are suing. The report has to come from a qualified expert and lay out three things: the applicable standard of care, how the provider fell short of it, and how that failure caused your injury.3State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.351 – Expert Report
Miss the deadline and the consequences are harsh. The court must dismiss the claim with prejudice, meaning you cannot refile. It must also award the defendant’s reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs. If the report is served on time but has specific deficiencies, the court can grant one 30-day extension to fix it, but that grace period is discretionary.
The requirement forces plaintiffs to invest in expensive expert review before knowing whether the case will survive. Many potential claims are never filed because the cost of obtaining a qualifying report exceeds what the capped damages would justify.
How Fault Sharing Cuts or Kills Your Recovery
Texas uses a modified comparative fault system. Under Section 33.001, you recover nothing if your share of fault exceeds 50 percent.4State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.001 – Proportionate Responsibility
If your fault is 50 percent or less, the court still reduces your award by your percentage of responsibility. A jury finding you 30 percent at fault on a $100,000 verdict leaves you $70,000.5State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.012 – Amount of Recovery
Who Pays When Multiple Defendants Share Fault
Under Section 33.013, a defendant is jointly and severally liable for the full judgment only when that defendant’s share of responsibility exceeds 50 percent. Below that threshold, each defendant generally pays only the portion matching their percentage of fault.6State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.013
An exception applies to defendants who acted with specific intent to cause harm through certain serious crimes, including murder, aggravated assault, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Those defendants face joint and several liability regardless of their percentage of fault.
The practical effect shifts real risk onto plaintiffs. If one defendant is 40 percent at fault but broke or uninsured, you cannot force a wealthier co-defendant who was 20 percent responsible to cover the shortfall.
Limits on Punitive Damages
Texas calls them exemplary damages. To get them, you must prove by clear and convincing evidence that your harm resulted from fraud, malice, or gross negligence. Ordinary carelessness is not enough, and the jury’s decision to award them must be unanimous.7State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 41.003 – Standards for Recovery of Exemplary Damages
Even when a jury does award them, the statute caps the amount at the greater of:
- $200,000, or
- Twice the economic damages plus any noneconomic damages found by the jury, up to $750,000.
On a verdict with $100,000 in economic damages and $300,000 in noneconomic damages, the punitive cap works out to $500,000, which is twice $100,000 plus $300,000. If both damage figures are small, the $200,000 floor applies instead.8State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 41.008 – Limitation on Amount of Recovery
The cap does not apply when the defendant’s conduct constitutes certain felonies, including murder, aggravated assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, human trafficking, and intoxication manslaughter. For most of those offenses, the conduct must have been committed knowingly or intentionally. Intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter are included whether or not the defendant acted knowingly.8State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 41.008 – Limitation on Amount of Recovery
The Paid-or-Incurred Rule for Medical Bills
Section 41.0105 limits what you can recover for medical costs to the amount actually paid or incurred on your behalf. You cannot recover the full amount originally billed if the provider accepted a lower negotiated rate from an insurer as payment.9State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 41.0105 – Evidence Relating to Amount of Economic Damages
Hospital bills often start at several times what insurers actually pay. A $50,000 hospital bill negotiated down to $12,000 means you can only present $12,000 as your medical expense at trial. That reduction shrinks the economic damages component of the case, which in turn shrinks the punitive damages cap because that cap is partially tied to economic damages.
Suing a Government Entity
Claims against Texas government entities carry their own caps, separate from the medical liability limits. The Texas Tort Claims Act partially waives sovereign immunity for injuries caused by government employees, but only in narrow categories: motor vehicle accidents, injuries caused by the condition or use of government property, and certain premises defects.
The dollar limits depend on which entity you are suing:
- State government: $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death; $100,000 per occurrence for property damage.
- Municipalities: the same limits as the state, $250,000 per person, $500,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death, and $100,000 for property damage.
- Other local governments such as counties and school districts: $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence for bodily injury or death; $100,000 for property damage.
The caps apply per occurrence, so a multi-vehicle pileup caused by a county employee is still limited to $300,000 total for all injury claims arising from that single event.10State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 101.023
Trucking Cases and Bifurcated Trials
Commercial vehicle lawsuits were a specific target of more recent reform. House Bill 19, now in Chapter 72 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, allows any defendant in a commercial vehicle case to request a bifurcated trial that splits the proceedings into two phases.11Texas Legislature Online. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code – Liability of Motor Vehicle Owner or Operator
In the first phase, the jury considers only the driver’s negligence and the amount of compensatory damages. Evidence about the trucking company’s broader safety record, corporate policies, or internal compliance failures generally stays out. If the jury finds the driver liable, the case moves to a second phase where the employer’s negligence and any punitive damages come into play. Only then can the plaintiff introduce evidence about hiring practices, training failures, or safety culture.
Where the Reforms Came From
Nearly every major provision above traces back to House Bill 4 in 2003. To insulate the medical liability caps from constitutional challenge, voters approved Proposition 12 in September 2003, adding Article III, Section 66 to the Texas Constitution and expressly authorizing the Legislature to set dollar limits on noneconomic damages in healthcare cases. Earlier attempts at damage caps in Texas had been struck down as unconstitutional, and the amendment removed that obstacle. After the reforms took effect, malpractice filings dropped and liability insurance premiums declined for doctors and hospitals.