Yes! The State of Texas allows you to recover for claims related to negligence arising from the operation of a motor vehicle, including a car accident. This means you have the legal option to claim damages if you are involved in a car accident caused by another’s negligence.
Wait, what do you mean “the State of Texas ALLOWS”—aren’t they responsible for the harms they cause? While that seems logical since that’s how tort liability is applied to other individuals and business entities, the government enjoys something called sovereign immunity. Sovereign immunity is a legal doctrine that protects a sovereign state or government from being sued without its consent. This means that governments cannot be held liable in court for their actions unless they explicitly agree to it or there are specific laws allowing such suits. Thus, “allows” is the perfect word here.
Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code chapter 101, the Texas Tort Claims Act, has all the details you could ever want regarding when the government allows you to sue them. If your car accident involved a government entity, understanding this act is crucial. The federal government and every state has some form of a tort claims act that limits their liability and someone’s ability to recover for the government’s bad acts. Most people recoil when they learn this, and the reaction seems warranted until you consider the policy behind what started out as crown immunity in England. The sovereign is generally the wealthiest individual, in the case of a monarch, or wealthiest entity, in a republic like the United States of America, and can be viewed as a “deep pocket” to extract funds from in a civil matter. If citizens were allowed to sue the government for everything and anything, the government would grind to a halt due to all the litigation it would be handling and would not be able to do the job of the government. Also, the only way the government makes money is through taxation; therefore, any damages paid out are coming from someone else’s pocket. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want all the taxes I pay to being going toward paying legal defense fees and potential judgments—it just seems like even more of a waste of our tax dollars than we are already experiencing.
In Texas, you are allowed to recover from the government if they are liable for property damage, personal injury, or death as the result of the use or operation of a motor vehicle. This can include buses, trains, cars, trucks, or any kind of equipment that is “motor-driven.” Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.021. Now, while you may be able to file a lawsuit to recover damages from a car wreck with a vehicle owned by the government and driven by a government employee, the question becomes, “how much can you recover?” Unfortunately, it isn’t very much. The state government has a maximum pay out of $250,000 per individual and $500,000 per occurrence. A local government is on the hook for a maximum of $100,000 per individual and $300,000 per occurrence. Most of the cases I’ve seen involve local governments—think school bus, light rail train, metro bus, etc.—so the limit to their liability is $100,000/$300,000. If you get run over by the Metro train in downtown Houston and lose a foot, the most you’ll be able to recover is $100,000. If you’re on a city bus and the bus driver falls asleep and takes a nosedive off an overpass resulting in 25 passenger deaths, the most the city will have to pay out across all 25 victims is $300,000. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.023. If involved in a car accident with a government vehicle, these limitations are crucial to understand.
So there has to be a balance between the government spending all our tax money on litigation and damages, and the ability of truly injured people to recover for harms and losses that were thrust into their life through no fault of their own. Do we have that now in Texas? Probably not. The limitations on the amount of governmental liability hasn’t been updated since 1997—almost 30 years ago. Prices for medical care have sky rocketed since then, not to mention the cost of everything else. I think it’s time to increase the limits to at least $500,000 per individual and $1,000,000 per occurrence to more accurately reflect the damages suffered in some of these accidents. Just imagine being the bread winner for your family of 5, being involved in bus crash because the bus driver comes to work intoxicated from the night before, and you are injured to the point where you are unable to work and provide for your family—how much money would it take to sustain you and your loved ones for the next 10 or 20 years? Probably significantly more than the current $100,000 cap on damages.
James Trial Law Firm’s personal injury attorneys have handled many cases involving injuries suffered in car wrecks. These types of cases require experienced lawyers willing to fight to hold those responsible accountable—call us now at 281.339.7349 to schedule a free case evaluation. Whether it’s a straightforward car accident or a more complex situation involving government vehicles, our team is prepared to help.