Car Accident Lawyer in Dallas: How Fault Is Decided Under Texas Law

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Almost every disputed car accident claim in Dallas comes down to one question: who caused the wreck, and by how much. In Texas the answer is not a simple yes or no. Responsibility is split between everyone who caused a collision, in percentages, and those percentages decide whether you recover anything and how much. This page is our explanation, as a Dallas car accident law firm whose attorneys largely came from the insurance side, of how fault is argued and how we answer the arguments.

Proportionate responsibility, in plain terms

Texas calls its fault system proportionate responsibility, and it lives in Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. If a case goes to trial, the jury gives a percentage of responsibility to each person who caused or contributed to the harm. If it settles, the same percentages are what both sides argue about, because they predict what a jury would do.

Section	What it does	What it means for you
33.001	A claimant may not recover if his percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent	At 50 percent you still recover. Above 50 percent you recover nothing
33.012(a)	Damages are reduced by the claimant’s own percentage	Found 20 percent responsible, you receive 80 percent of your damages
33.013(b)(1)	A defendant more than 50 percent responsible is jointly and severally liable	That defendant can be made to pay all recoverable damages
33.004(a)	A defendant may ask to designate a responsible third party, generally at least 60 days before trial	The other side can point at someone else to lower its own share

Because the cut-off sits at 50 percent, an insurer gains a great deal from moving even ten points of blame onto you. A claim argued at 80 to 20 in your favor is very different from one argued at 45 to 55. A large part of a car accident lawyer’s work in Dallas goes into those percentages, and into the evidence that fixes them.

How insurers move blame, and how we answer

Our founder, Michael Uvalle, worked for several of the largest insurance companies in Texas before he became a lawyer. Five of our seven attorneys came from the insurance side. We have seen the same arguments made in file after file, and we prepare for them from the first day.

• You were going too fast. We look for the physical evidence of speed: the damage pattern, where the cars came to rest, video and, where the case calls for it, data the vehicles themselves record.
• You could have avoided it. We reconstruct timing and distance, so the question becomes what a careful driver could actually have done in that moment.
• You were distracted. Texting while driving is an offense in Texas under Transportation Code 545.4251. If the other driver was on a phone, records can show it, and if you were not, we can show that too.
• Someone else caused it. A defendant may try to designate a third driver or another party as responsible. We identify every party early so a late designation does not catch your claim off guard.
• Your injuries came from something else. Gaps in treatment and old injuries are used to argue that the wreck did not cause your pain. A clear, prompt medical record is the answer.

Common Dallas wrecks and how fault is argued

Every wreck is different, but a few patterns come up again and again on Dallas roads. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute ranks Woodall Rodgers Freeway, R.L. Thornton Freeway (I-30), Stemmons Freeway (I-35E), LBJ Freeway (I-635) and Central Expressway (US 75) among the most congested road segments in Texas. Congestion is not a measure of danger, but heavy, stop-and-go traffic is where many of the collisions below begin.

Rear-end collisions

In slow traffic on Central Expressway or LBJ, a rear-end wreck usually points to the following driver, and insurers know it. Their arguments tend to be about the front car instead: brake lights that did not work, a sudden lane change in front of the following car, or a stop for no reason. Photographs of your rear lights and the damage, and any video from nearby businesses or other drivers, answer most of those arguments.

T-bone and left-turn wrecks

Intersection crashes are where both drivers most often blame each other. The questions are about the light, the right of way, speed and attention. A driver turning left across traffic usually carries much of the responsibility, but an oncoming driver who was speeding, ran a red light or was looking at a phone can carry part of it. Witnesses matter here more than anywhere, and so does early video, which may not be kept for long.

Lane changes and merges

On the Dallas freeways, side-swipes and merge crashes often happen where lanes drop or ramps join, such as the busy stretches of Stemmons and I-30 near downtown. These cases turn on who was where, and when. Damage location on each car tells much of the story: a scrape along a door says something different from a strike to a rear quarter panel.

Chain-reaction wrecks

When three or more cars are involved, each insurer tries to push responsibility onto the others, and the person in the middle can be blamed from both ends. Proportionate responsibility lets a jury divide fault among all of them, which is why we identify every driver and every insurer early.

The evidence that fixes fault

Fault is decided on evidence, and much of the strongest evidence disappears quickly. These are the pieces we gather first.

1. The Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report (form CR-3), which an investigating officer must file with TxDOT within 10 days of a crash with injury, death or significant damage (Transportation Code 550.062).
2. Photographs and video: your own, other drivers’, and video from businesses, buses and traffic cameras.
3. Names and statements of witnesses, taken while memories are fresh.
4. The vehicles themselves, before they are repaired or scrapped.
5. Phone records, where distraction is in question.
6. Your medical records, from the first visit on.

A crash report is important, but it is not the last word. Officers often arrive after the cars have moved and the drivers have started telling different stories. When a report gets the facts wrong, other evidence can correct the picture.

How a Dallas car accident claim moves forward

Most claims begin with the at-fault driver’s insurer. We report the claim, gather the evidence and medical records, and present a demand when the extent of your injuries is clear. If the insurer will not resolve the claim fairly, we can file suit. A Dallas County case is usually filed in the civil district courts at the George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Building, 600 Commerce Street. The deadline to file is generally two years from the day of the wreck under Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003, so we keep it in view from the start.

You may also have claims under your own policy. Texas auto policies include personal injury protection (PIP) and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless a named insured rejected them in writing. PIP is paid without regard to fault. Our page on auto accident insurance in Texas explains each one, and our page on working with a car accident attorney walks through each stage of the claim.

Our fee

No Fees or Costs Unless We Win. We handle car accident cases on a contingency fee. The firm advances case costs, and you owe no attorney’s fee and no case costs unless money is recovered for you. Your written fee agreement sets out the terms before we begin. The case review is free, and the line to our Dallas office is answered 24 hours a day.

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