Two years from the date of the crash under Texas law, and one year is already too long to wait. The reason is not the courthouse. It is the carrier. Federal rules let a trucking company legally destroy the driver’s hours of service logs and the electronic logging device backup after just six months. The deadline to sue is two years. The deadline to save the evidence that wins the case is six months.
That gap is the entire story of truck accident timing, and it is why these cases behave nothing like ordinary car crash claims. A car crash case can sit for a year without losing much. A truck case loses its best proof while the injured person is still in treatment.
If a commercial truck hurt you or someone in your family anywhere in Fort Bend County, call Lassiter Law Firm at (713) 538-2593 before the carrier’s retention clock runs out.
The Two Year Deadline That Governs Most Fort Bend Truck Claims
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.003 requires a person to bring suit for personal injury not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues. For most crashes that means two years from the collision.
Lassiter Law Firm treats that date as a backstop rather than a plan. Filing on day 729 is legal. It is also a case built on whatever evidence survived, which in a truck case is usually not much.
When the Clock Starts After a Fatal Crash
Wrongful death follows a different starting point. The same statute says a person must bring suit not later than two years after the cause of action accrues in an action for injury resulting in death, and that the cause of action accrues on the death of the injured person.
When someone survives a crash for weeks or months before dying, those two dates are different. Families sometimes calculate from the wrong one.
Why Two Years Is the Wrong Deadline to Plan Around
Federal motor carrier rules set how long a trucking company must keep the records that prove what happened. Those retention periods are short, and once they expire the destruction is lawful rather than suspicious.
This is why a demand to preserve evidence, sent early, does more for a truck case than almost anything else a lawyer does.
Driver Logs Can Be Legally Destroyed at Six Months
Electronic logging data follows the same schedule. A carrier must retain a backup copy of the electronic logging device records for six months on a device separate from where the original data is stored. Hours of service violations are the most common root cause in serious truck crashes, and the proof of them has the shortest shelf life of anything in the file.
What Else a Carrier Is Allowed to Discard
Other records last longer but still expire. Vehicle maintenance and inspection records must be kept one year, and for six months after the vehicle leaves the carrier’s control. The accident register runs three years.
The driver qualification file lasts longest. Federal rules require the carrier to maintain a qualification file for each driver it employs, retained for as long as the driver works there and for three years afterward. That file is where a negligent hiring case lives, and it is the one record that generally outlives the two year deadline.
The Six Month Deadline That Applies to Government Vehicles
If a governmental unit is involved, a much shorter clock replaces the two year one. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 101.101 entitles a governmental unit to notice of a claim not later than six months after the day the incident occurred.
Cities can make it shorter still. The same statute ratifies charter and ordinance provisions requiring notice within a shorter charter period. A home rule city in Fort Bend County can demand notice in a fraction of six months, which matters when a municipal truck, a county vehicle, or a road maintenance claim is part of your case.
What Can Change the Deadline in a Fort Bend County Truck Case
A few situations shift the math. Most do not, and understanding which is which prevents a costly assumption.
Children Injured in a Truck Crash
Practically, an injured child generally has until age 20 to sue. That extension does nothing for the six month evidence problem, so a family should still move immediately.
Why the Discovery Rule Rarely Rescues a Truck Case
Texas recognizes a narrow discovery rule that can delay accrual when an injury is inherently undiscoverable and objectively verifiable. Texas courts describe it as a very limited exception applied in few and narrowly drawn circumstances.
A truck crash injury is obvious on the day it happens. Do not plan around an exception designed for injuries nobody could have known about.
Who Investigates a Truck Crash in Fort Bend County
Which agency worked the scene tells you where the records live and how hard they are to get.
A crash on Interstate 69, the Grand Parkway, or another state highway in unincorporated county territory is typically worked by the Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol, with DPS Commercial Vehicle Enforcement handling the motor carrier safety side, including post-crash inspection and hours of service compliance. A crash on a city street inside Sugar Land, Missouri City, Richmond, Rosenberg, or Stafford belongs to that city’s police department. Fort Bend County covers 885 square miles and includes 21 unincorporated communities, so the Sheriff’s Office handles a great deal of the rest.
Where a Fort Bend Truck Case Gets Filed
Civil suits are filed with the District Clerk at the Fort Bend County Justice Center, 1422 Eugene Heimann Circle in Richmond, the county seat. The Justice Center houses the district courts, the county courts at law, and the clerks’ offices.
The county’s district courts include several that handle family matters exclusively, so a truck case lands on a general jurisdiction court’s docket. Interstate 69 and US 59 run as the primary freight corridor through Sugar Land, Stafford, Richmond, and Rosenberg, which is why so many of these cases originate along that stretch.
Common Questions About Fort Bend County Truck Accident Deadlines
These come up in nearly every truck accident call the firm takes. The answers describe Texas law generally, and your own facts can change how they apply.
Does filing an insurance claim stop the two year clock?
No. Opening a claim, sending records, and negotiating do not extend the limitations period. Only filing suit within two years preserves the right to sue.
How fast should a preservation letter go out?
Within days, not months. It puts the carrier on notice that logs, electronic logging data, maintenance records, and the driver qualification file must be held. Sending it after the six month window has passed asks a company to produce something it may already have lawfully destroyed.
What if more than one trucking company is involved?
Truck cases often include a driver, a motor carrier, a broker, a shipper, and a trailer owner. Each may hold separate records and separate insurance. Identifying all of them early is part of why these cases start faster than car crash cases.
Can I still bring a claim if I was partly at fault?
Texas allows recovery when your share of responsibility does not exceed 50%, with your damages reduced by your percentage. Because that threshold can end a case entirely, fault evidence in a truck crash is worth more than it is in most claims.
What if the crash happened outside Fort Bend County?
Texas venue rules generally allow suit where the incident occurred or where the defendant resides or does business. A crash on I-69 that begins in one county and ends in another is a venue question worth asking before anything is filed.
Talk With Lassiter Law Firm About Your Fort Bend County Truck Crash
The single most useful thing that happens in a truck case usually happens in week one. It is a letter that stops a carrier from destroying the logs, the electronic data, and the maintenance records on the ordinary federal schedule. Everything else, including the lawsuit itself, is built on whatever that letter saved.
Lassiter Law Firm has represented injured Texans for over 20 years and has recovered more than $300 million for its clients. James Lassiter is board certified in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Call (713) 538-2593 and bring the crash report number, the trucking company name from the door of the truck, photographs, and the name of the hospital that treated you. If you have none of it, call anyway, because most of it can be gathered on your behalf.
You can also reach the firm through the contact page. The two year deadline is real. The six month one is the one that decides what your case is made of.