Car accident claim lawyer in Houston: your claim from the crash report to the release

A car accident claim lawyer in Houston runs your claim through seven stages, and the first one begins with a document most drivers never read closely: the crash report. Below is the work our Houston office does at every stage, from that report to the signed release, with the Texas rules that set the pace.

This page is published by LAWBOSS – Harris, Nelsen & Uvalle, PLLC, the firm behind Car Wreck Claims Houston. People often ask what a car accident claim lawyer in Houston really does once they sign on. Our answer: we run a file through seven stages, named Report, Coverage, Records, Demand, Negotiation, Lawsuit and Release, and each one has its own paperwork, its own Texas rules and its own places where an insurer can stall. The attorney responsible for this site is Jonathan Harris, whose primary practice location is our Houston office at 5300 Memorial Dr Ste 810.

What a car accident claim lawyer in Houston handles for you

A claim is not one phone call to an adjuster. It is a record that grows for months: the officer’s report, policy details, medical records and bills, repair estimates, letters, offers and sometimes court papers. Our work is to assemble that record in the order an insurer reads it, fill its gaps before the other side finds them, and keep anything in it from being turned against you.

Five of our firm’s seven attorneys came from the insurance side: Michael Uvalle, Ian Nelsen, Jonathan Harris, Joseph Massey and Howard Hill. Jonathan Harris worked more than a decade as a senior trial attorney for a major auto insurer, joined us in 2017 and now leads our litigation. Ian Nelsen was an adjuster and then an insurance defense attorney. Howard Hill, practicing since 1998, spent over 20 years with two of the largest auto and commercial insurers. We used to sit on the adjuster’s side of the desk, so we know which pages of a claim file get read first.

Every claim is judged on its record, and the record opens with the crash report.

The seven stages at a glance

Stage	What happens	Texas law that shapes it
1. Report	The officer’s CR-3 crash report and the evidence you saved	Transportation Code 550.062, 550.065
2. Coverage	Finding each policy that could respond	Transportation Code 601.072; Insurance Code 1952.101, 1952.152
3. Records	Medical records and bills, vehicle damage, diminished value	Insurance Code 1952.155, 1952.156 (PIP)
4. Demand	A written demand and the insurer’s review of it	Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.001, 33.012 (fault)
5. Negotiation	Offers, replies and counteroffers	The two-year filing deadline keeps running (CPRC 16.003)
6. Lawsuit	A Harris County suit when talks stall	CPRC 16.003; 33.004 (responsible third party)
7. Release	The signed release, then liens and closing	The terms of the release itself

Stage 1, Report: the CR-3 and why we read it first

Texas law sets the first paperwork. A crash that injures or kills someone, or leaves a vehicle unable to be driven, must be reported at once to the local police in a city or to the sheriff (Transportation Code 550.026). Drivers must trade names, addresses, registration numbers and the names of their liability insurers, show a license when asked, and give reasonable help to anyone hurt (Transportation Code 550.023).

When an officer investigates a crash with injury, death or apparent property damage of $1,000 or more, the officer must file a written report, the Texas Peace Officer’s Crash Report known as form CR-3, electronically with TxDOT within 10 days (Transportation Code 550.062). The full report is available to the people involved, their authorized representatives, vehicle owners, the insurers involved and others directly concerned (Transportation Code 550.065(c)(4)). A copy costs a small fee on TxDOT’s Crash Report Online Purchase System, cris.txdot.gov.

The adjuster on the other side pulls that same report, often before you have finished your first doctor’s visit. So we read it line by line as soon as it posts: the names, the vehicles, the insurer each driver listed, and the officer’s account of what happened. When something is wrong or missing, we would rather know in week two than in month eight.

The report is only part of stage one. What you collect in the first days often fills in what the officer could not see:

• Photos of every vehicle, the road, signals and anything blocking a view.
• The other driver’s details, including the insurer named at the scene.
• Witness names and a way to reach them, since people are hard to find later.
• Your own notes, written while the details are fresh: the lane, the light, what was said.
• Tow, storage and repair papers, which also feed the property side of the claim.

Harris County sees a great deal of this work. TxDOT’s 2024 county table lists 115,173 crashes in Harris County, with 546 fatal crashes and 2,282 crashes with a suspected serious injury. Behind each of those numbers sits a report that someone’s claim will lean on.

Stage 2, Coverage: every policy that could respond

Next we find the money that can pay a claim, which means insurance. Texas drivers must carry liability coverage of at least $30,000 for injury or death of one person, $60,000 for two or more people and $25,000 for property damage in a collision, the 30/60/25 minimum (Transportation Code 601.072(a-1)). Those are floors, and a serious injury can run past them.

That is why we also look at your own policy. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage must be part of every Texas auto policy unless a named insured turned it down in writing (Insurance Code 1952.101). Personal injury protection must be included unless rejected in writing too (Insurance Code 1952.152). If no one in your household signed a rejection, coverage you have forgotten about may be sitting in your glove box.

Stage 3, Records: treatment, bills and the car

Records are the core of any claim. On the injury side we gather treatment notes, imaging, prescriptions and bills from every provider, and we watch for gaps an insurer will point to. Our page on the car accident injury claim Houston drivers bring us explains this stage in detail, including how PIP is paid without regard to fault (Insurance Code 1952.155).

On the property side we collect estimates, repair invoices and photos, and we look at whether the car will sell for less after repair than it would have before the crash. That loss has its own page: the diminished value claim Texas drivers can raise as part of the property damage claim.

Stage 4, Demand: what the adjuster looks for

When treatment has gone far enough that its cost and its effects are understood, we send a written demand. It explains how the crash happened, why the other driver is responsible, what the injuries and losses are, and what records support each point.

Fault decides a great deal here. Under Texas proportionate responsibility you can recover if your share of responsibility is 50 percent or less (Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.001), and your recovery is reduced by your own percentage (CPRC 33.012). Adjusters know that every point of blame they can move onto you lowers what their company pays. Having done that job, our attorneys build the fault story with evidence before the adjuster builds a different one.

Stage 5, Negotiation: offers and answers

The insurer replies with an offer, a request for more paper or a denial. We tell you what we make of each reply and why, and you decide whether any offer is acceptable. Our page on the car wreck settlement Houston process walks through this stage and the release that ends it, without putting a number on anyone’s case.

Stage 6, Lawsuit: when a claim goes to court

Some insurers will not deal fairly until a suit is on file. In Texas a personal injury suit generally must be filed not later than two years after the day the claim accrues (Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003(a)). Harris County civil district court cases are filed at the Harris County Civil Courthouse, 201 Caroline, downtown. Jonathan Harris leads our litigation, and our page for the car accident claims attorney Houston drivers need once a case is filed covers petition, answer, discovery and trial.

Stage 7, Release: closing the claim

A claim ends with a release: a written agreement that, in exchange for payment, ends your claim against the people and companies it names. Before you sign, we go over who is released and what the release says. Then health plans, hospitals or other payers that covered your care may claim to be repaid out of the recovery, and those claims are worked out before the money is paid out. We explain each line of the closing statement to you before anything is final.

When to bring in a car accident claim lawyer in Houston

Earlier is easier. Stage one evidence fades fast: cars are fixed, video is recorded over and witnesses forget. A free consultation costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. Our fee terms read No Fees or Costs Unless We Win: our firm pays the case costs up front, and if no money comes in for you, you owe neither an attorney’s fee nor repayment of those costs.

1. See a doctor, and keep to the treatment plan you are given.
2. Find your crash report number or the officer’s card, if you were given one.
3. Put your photos, papers and notes in one place.
4. Hold off on recorded statements to the other driver’s insurer until you have talked with us.
5. Call the Houston office, any hour, or send the form on our contact page.

For a plain-language walk through the filing itself, read how to file a car accident claim. To learn about the attorneys and the firm, visit our about page.