How long do I have to file an injury lawsuit in Texas after an accident in Center?

Texas gives injured people two years to file a personal injury lawsuit under [CPRC Section 16.003](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.16.htm). The clock starts on the date of injury. For wrongful death cases, the two-year period begins on the date of death under Section 16.003(b). Minors have until age 20 to file (two years after turning 18). Do not rely on insurance negotiations to stop this clock. The deadline applies regardless of whether a claim is still open.

What is proportionate responsibility and how does it affect my Texas injury case?

Proportionate responsibility under CPRC Chapter 33 allocates fault between all parties. Your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are assigned 30% fault, you recover 70% of your damages. If you are assigned 51% or more fault, you recover nothing. This is the 51% bar. Insurance adjusters often work to push the claimant's fault percentage above 50%, which eliminates their obligation to pay. Evidence that establishes what each party did, or failed to do, is the response to this strategy.

Does Texas require drivers to carry insurance, and what happens if the other driver was uninsured?

Texas requires auto liability insurance with minimum limits of 30/60/25 under [Tex. Transp. Code Section 601.072](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.601.htm): $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. If the at-fault driver has no insurance or insufficient coverage, your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) policy may cover the gap. Under Tex. Ins. Code Chapter 1952, insurers must offer UM/UIM with every auto policy. If you rejected it in writing, it is not available. If you did not reject it, the coverage defaults to your liability limits.

Can I still recover if my employer doesn't carry workers' compensation in Texas?

Yes. Texas is the only state where private employers can opt out of workers' compensation under Tex. Labor Code Section 406.002. Employers who opt out are called non-subscribers. When your employer is a non-subscriber, you can file a direct negligence lawsuit instead of going through the workers' comp system. Non-subscribers lose three key defenses: contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and the fellow servant doctrine. The practical effect is a lower burden of proof for injured workers. Confirm your employer's subscriber status before accepting any settlement.

What is the difference between exemplary damages and regular damages in a Texas case?

Regular damages include economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, future earnings) and noneconomic damages (pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement). Exemplary damages, Texas's term for punitive damages, are available under [CPRC Section 41.008](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.41.htm) only when the defendant acted with fraud, malice, or gross negligence. The evidence standard is clear and convincing, which is higher than the preponderance standard for liability. The cap is the greater of two times economic damages plus noneconomic damages up to $750,000, or $200,000. Exemplary damages are not available in every case. They apply when a defendant's conduct was egregious, not simply negligent.

How does Morris & Dewett handle injury cases in Center, TX from their Louisiana offices?

Morris & Dewett is licensed to practice in Texas. The firm handles Texas cases from its offices in Shreveport, Louisiana, which is approximately 80 miles east of Center. Case investigations, evidence collection, and court appearances in Shelby County and the Eastern District of Texas are handled directly. Clients in Center communicate with the firm by phone and through the firm's contact portal. There are no additional fees for East Texas cases. View the [attorney profiles](/attorneys/) to see which attorneys handle Texas matters.

What evidence should I collect after a car accident on US-96 near Center, Texas?

Collect the other driver's name, license, and insurance information at the scene. Photograph vehicle damage, skid marks, road conditions, traffic signals, and any visible injuries. Identify and get contact information for any witnesses. Request the police report from the Shelby County Sheriff's Office or Center Police Department. If there is dashcam footage in your vehicle or nearby business surveillance, preserve it immediately. Your attorney should send a preservation demand to the other party's insurer and any commercial carrier involved. ECM data from commercial trucks can be overwritten within 30 days without a formal preservation demand.

Which court would hear my personal injury case in Shelby County?

Most personal injury cases in Shelby County are filed in the Shelby County District Court at 200 San Augustine Street, Center, TX 75935, which sits in the 273rd Judicial District. Cases involving a federal question or parties from different states may be filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Lufkin Division. The choice of venue depends on the nature of the claims and the parties involved. If your case involves a defendant from outside Texas and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, the defendant may attempt to remove the case to federal court. Your attorney should anticipate that possibility and explain which forum is more favorable for your claim.

Personal Injury Lawyers Serving Center, TX

There are qualified injury attorneys in East Texas. You're doing your research, which tells us something happened. Something serious enough to require legal counsel. No one reads lawyer websites until they need one.

This page explains how Texas personal injury law works, what deadlines apply in Shelby County, and what Morris & Dewett offers clients in Center and the surrounding area. Read it. Compare us to others. Make the decision that's right for your situation.

Personal Injury Law in Texas: What Center Residents Need to Know

Texas personal injury law operates under the CPRC (Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code). The foundational rules are consistent statewide, but the practical reality of your case depends on where it happened and who was at fault.

The statute of limitations in Texas is two years from the date of injury under CPRC Section 16.003. That deadline is firm. Courts do not grant extensions based on insurance negotiations or medical treatment status. If you are still treating and your second anniversary is approaching, speak to an attorney before that date passes.

Texas is a fault-based state, not a no-fault state. To recover, you must establish that another party was negligent and that their negligence caused your injury. The state's auto insurance minimums are 30/60/25: $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage under Tex. Transp. Code Section 601.072. These minimums are frequently insufficient for serious injuries. Ask any attorney you consult whether they examine all available insurance coverage, including your own underinsured motorist policy.

Texas does not allow direct action against an insurer. You file suit against the at-fault party, not their insurance company. After a judgment or settlement, the insurer pays. The Stowers doctrine creates a separate duty: if an insurer refuses a reasonable settlement demand within policy limits and a larger verdict results, the insurer can be held responsible for the entire excess judgment. This is a common law rule established in G.A. Stowers Furniture Co. v. American Indemnity Co. (Tex. Comm. App. 1929), not codified by statute.

Types of Injury Cases We Handle in Center, TX

Morris & Dewett handles personal injury cases in Center and throughout Shelby County, including car accidents, commercial truck crashes, workplace injuries, and wrongful death claims. Center sits at the intersection of US-96 and SH-96, roughly 45 miles south of Nacogdoches. The highway network through Shelby County includes US-96, SH-87, and SH-7. Rural two-lane corridors, logging trucks, and commercial freight movement on US-96 make traffic accident risk a daily reality here.

Morris & Dewett handles the full range of personal injury matters in Shelby County:

Car and Truck Accidents

Car accidents on rural Texas highways often involve higher speeds and greater injury severity than urban collisions. Commercial truck accidents present additional complexity. Center is in a timber and commercial freight corridor. Logging trucks operate under federal and state weight and safety requirements. When a commercial carrier is involved, there are multiple potential defendants: the driver, the company, the vehicle owner, and sometimes the shipper.

Ask any attorney handling your truck accident claim whether they send a preservation letter immediately. Spoliation of electronic logging data is a real risk. The truck's ECM can be overwritten within 30 days. A preservation demand must go out before that window closes.

Workplace Injuries

Timber, logging, and agriculture are significant industries in Shelby County. Texas is the only state where private employers can opt out of workers' compensation under Tex. Labor Code Section 406.002. Employers who carry workers' compensation are subscribers. Employers who do not are non-subscribers.

Non-subscriber status matters for workplace injury claims. When your employer is a non-subscriber, you can file a negligence lawsuit directly rather than navigating the workers' comp system. Non-subscribers lose three defenses: contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and the fellow servant doctrine. You only need to prove your employer was negligent. Before you accept any settlement after a workplace injury in Shelby County, confirm whether your employer is a subscriber or non-subscriber. The answer changes your legal options significantly.

Premises Liability and Wrongful Death

Slip and fall and other premises liability claims require establishing the property owner's duty based on your status. Texas uses a three-category system: invitees (customers, business visitors), licensees (social guests), and trespassers. Invitees receive the highest duty of care, including a duty to inspect for and correct dangerous conditions.

Wrongful death claims in Texas are governed by CPRC Chapter 71. Only the surviving spouse, children, or parents may file. Siblings cannot. The deadline is two years from the date of death. If no eligible beneficiary files within three months, the executor or administrator must bring the action. Ask any attorney whether the proper beneficiaries are identified before a suit is filed.

How Proportionate Responsibility Affects Your Case

Proportionate responsibility is one of the most important rules in Texas injury law. It determines whether you recover anything at all.

At 50% fault or less, you can recover. Your damages are reduced by your fault percentage. At 51% or more, you receive nothing. This is a hard cutoff, not a sliding scale. Insurance adjusters know this threshold precisely. Their claims strategy often centers on pushing the claimant's fault percentage above 50%.

Under CPRC Section 33.004, defendants can designate responsible third parties who are not named in the lawsuit. This maneuver allocates fault to parties outside the case. When a third party is designated, you have 60 days to add them as a defendant. If that deadline passes, the fault allocation sticks.

Evidence preservation is the response to this risk. Police reports, witness statements, traffic camera footage, and accident reconstruction begin immediately in a well-run case. Ask any attorney you are considering whether they retain an accident reconstructionist early and how they address third-party designations when defendants use them.

What Can You Recover in a Texas Personal Injury Claim?

Texas distinguishes between economic damages, noneconomic damages, and exemplary damages.

Economic damages cover medical expenses, lost wages, and future earning capacity. Texas limits medical expense recovery to amounts actually paid or incurred under CPRC Section 41.0105. The Haygood v. De Escabedo rule means you cannot recover the full billed amount if your insurance negotiated a lower rate. Your recovery is limited to what was actually paid, not the original bill.

Noneconomic damages cover pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical impairment, and disfigurement. There are no caps on noneconomic damages in standard personal injury cases. Medical malpractice cases have separate caps under CPRC Chapter 74.

Loss of Earning Capacity requires expert testimony. Settling before you have vocational and economic analysis in hand means settling before you know the full value of your claim.

MMI timing matters. Insurance companies often push for settlement before you reach MMI. The final value of your claim depends on the permanent nature of your injuries, which cannot be fully assessed until treatment stabilizes. Ask any attorney you consult when they typically recommend settling relative to MMI status.

For cases involving catastrophic injuries or brain injuries, the damages calculation is substantially more complex. These cases require multiple experts and a longer pre-settlement evaluation period.

What to Do After an Injury in Center, TX

Call 911, document the scene, seek medical treatment, and do not give recorded statements to an insurance adjuster before consulting an attorney. The steps you take in the hours and days after an accident in Shelby County affect your case directly.

Call 911. Get a police report. The Shelby County Sheriff's Office handles incidents in unincorporated areas. The Center Police Department responds within city limits. A police report creates an official record of the incident, parties involved, and initial observations. Without it, liability disputes become harder to resolve.

Seek medical treatment. Nacogdoches Medical Center, approximately 32 miles from Center, provides emergency services for Shelby County. For major trauma, Christus Trinity Mother Frances in Tyler, approximately 80 miles away, is the regional resource. Document your treatment from the first visit. Gaps in medical care give adjusters grounds to dispute injury severity.

Do not give recorded statements to an insurance adjuster before consulting an attorney. Adjusters are trained to gather information that limits the company's exposure. Your recorded words become part of the claim file.

Send a preservation demand to any responsible party as soon as possible. Commercial vehicles have ECM and ELD (electronic logging device) data that can be overwritten within 30 days. A formal demand requiring preservation stops that retention cycle.

Ask any attorney you consult what steps they take in the first 24 to 48 hours after being retained. An attorney who does not describe specific evidence-preservation actions in that window has no early-case protocol.

Hospitals and Courts Serving Center, TX

The nearest emergency medical facility to Center is Nacogdoches Medical Center (approximately 32 miles away). Civil injury lawsuits in Shelby County are filed in the Shelby County District Court in the 273rd Judicial District.

For medical care, Nacogdoches Medical Center is the nearest hospital with emergency services for most Shelby County residents. Christus Trinity Mother Frances in Tyler serves as the regional Level II trauma center for major trauma cases requiring specialized surgical care.

Civil injury lawsuits filed in Shelby County are heard in the Shelby County District Court at 200 San Augustine Street, Center, TX 75935. The 273rd Judicial District Court serves Shelby and San Augustine counties. Cases involving federal claims or parties from different states may be filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Lufkin Division. Understanding venue matters because court procedures, local rules, and jury composition vary between state and federal court.

Ask any attorney you consult whether your case is more likely to stay in state court or potentially be removed to federal court, and why. The answer depends on the nature of your claims and the citizenship of the defendants.

Why Morris & Dewett Handles Texas Cases

Morris & Dewett is licensed and admitted to practice in Texas. The firm has handled cases across East Texas and is familiar with the Shelby County legal market and the regional federal court in Lufkin.

Center is approximately 45 miles south of Nacogdoches and within the East Texas litigation corridor. The firm's attorneys hold AV Preeminent ratings from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest peer review rating in the legal industry. Morris & Dewett attorneys are members of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, a peer-recognized designation for attorneys who have obtained significant case results.

The firm has earned 2,300+ five-star Google reviews across all office locations. You can read what clients say at morrisdewett.com/client-testimonials. Representation is on a contingency fee basis. There are no upfront fees and no attorney fees unless there is a recovery.

Morris & Dewett represents clients across the Texas service area. View the Texas service area for other cities we serve, or see the full Texas injury lawyer overview.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to file an injury lawsuit in Texas after an accident in Center?: Texas gives injured people two years to file a personal injury lawsuit under [CPRC Section 16.003](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.16.htm). The clock starts on the date of injury. For wrongful death cases, the two-year period begins on the date of death under Section 16.003(b). Minors have until age 20 to file (two years after turning 18). Do not rely on insurance negotiations to stop this clock. The deadline applies regardless of whether a claim is still open.
What is proportionate responsibility and how does it affect my Texas injury case?: Proportionate responsibility under CPRC Chapter 33 allocates fault between all parties. Your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are assigned 30% fault, you recover 70% of your damages. If you are assigned 51% or more fault, you recover nothing. This is the 51% bar. Insurance adjusters often work to push the claimant's fault percentage above 50%, which eliminates their obligation to pay. Evidence that establishes what each party did, or failed to do, is the response to this strategy.
Does Texas require drivers to carry insurance, and what happens if the other driver was uninsured?: Texas requires auto liability insurance with minimum limits of 30/60/25 under [Tex. Transp. Code Section 601.072](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.601.htm): $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. If the at-fault driver has no insurance or insufficient coverage, your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) policy may cover the gap. Under Tex. Ins. Code Chapter 1952, insurers must offer UM/UIM with every auto policy. If you rejected it in writing, it is not available. If you did not reject it, the coverage defaults to your liability limits.
Can I still recover if my employer doesn't carry workers' compensation in Texas?: Yes. Texas is the only state where private employers can opt out of workers' compensation under Tex. Labor Code Section 406.002. Employers who opt out are called non-subscribers. When your employer is a non-subscriber, you can file a direct negligence lawsuit instead of going through the workers' comp system. Non-subscribers lose three key defenses: contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and the fellow servant doctrine. The practical effect is a lower burden of proof for injured workers. Confirm your employer's subscriber status before accepting any settlement.
What is the difference between exemplary damages and regular damages in a Texas case?: Regular damages include economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, future earnings) and noneconomic damages (pain and suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement). Exemplary damages, Texas's term for punitive damages, are available under [CPRC Section 41.008](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.41.htm) only when the defendant acted with fraud, malice, or gross negligence. The evidence standard is clear and convincing, which is higher than the preponderance standard for liability. The cap is the greater of two times economic damages plus noneconomic damages up to $750,000, or $200,000. Exemplary damages are not available in every case. They apply when a defendant's conduct was egregious, not simply negligent.
How does Morris & Dewett handle injury cases in Center, TX from their Louisiana offices?: Morris & Dewett is licensed to practice in Texas. The firm handles Texas cases from its offices in Shreveport, Louisiana, which is approximately 80 miles east of Center. Case investigations, evidence collection, and court appearances in Shelby County and the Eastern District of Texas are handled directly. Clients in Center communicate with the firm by phone and through the firm's contact portal. There are no additional fees for East Texas cases. View the [attorney profiles](/attorneys/) to see which attorneys handle Texas matters.
What evidence should I collect after a car accident on US-96 near Center, Texas?: Collect the other driver's name, license, and insurance information at the scene. Photograph vehicle damage, skid marks, road conditions, traffic signals, and any visible injuries. Identify and get contact information for any witnesses. Request the police report from the Shelby County Sheriff's Office or Center Police Department. If there is dashcam footage in your vehicle or nearby business surveillance, preserve it immediately. Your attorney should send a preservation demand to the other party's insurer and any commercial carrier involved. ECM data from commercial trucks can be overwritten within 30 days without a formal preservation demand.
Which court would hear my personal injury case in Shelby County?: Most personal injury cases in Shelby County are filed in the Shelby County District Court at 200 San Augustine Street, Center, TX 75935, which sits in the 273rd Judicial District. Cases involving a federal question or parties from different states may be filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Lufkin Division. The choice of venue depends on the nature of the claims and the parties involved. If your case involves a defendant from outside Texas and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, the defendant may attempt to remove the case to federal court. Your attorney should anticipate that possibility and explain which forum is more favorable for your claim.

These answers reflect Louisiana law as of January 2026. For case specific advice, consult with a Louisiana personal injury attorney who can evaluate your particular circumstances.