2-Year Limitations Period on Auto Injury Claims in Texas

As a general rule in Texas, a claim for injuries resulting from an auto accident must be filed within two (2) years of the anniversary date of the date of the accident. The two-year anniversary of the collision is significant; after then, this kind of tort claim would be barred under Texas's two-year statute of limitations. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 16.003(a) (Vernon Supp. 2007).

Tolling Exception to the Rule

Although recovery on most tort actions would be barred after the expiration of two years, an exception to that rule provides that a tolling of the statute of limitations takes place if a party has filed a previous suit in a different court and that action was dismissed because of lack of jurisdiction, provided that the party refiled the suit in a court of proper jurisdiction within sixty days after such dismissal. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 16.064 (Vernon 1997); Clary Corp. v. Smith, 949 S.W.2d 452, 461 (Tex. App.--Fort Worth 1997, writ denied). The cases also note that the statute is to be liberally construed to effectuate its objective.

The Exception to the Exception

However, the tolling provision of Section 16.064 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code does not apply if the initial filing was done with intentional disregard of proper jurisdiction. Parker v. Cumming, 216 S.W.3d 905, 909-10 (Tex. App.--Eastland 2007, pet. denied). Under that exception, if the record establishes intentional disregard and that jurisdiction did not lie in the tribunal in which the proceeding was originally filed, the original lawsuit did not, as a matter of law, serve to toll limitations.