The 90-Day Deadline Most San Antonio Accident Victims Never See Coming

PERSONAL INJURY LAW

By Steven A. Lopez | Personal Injury Attorney, San Antonio, Texas

Everyone knows about the two-year deadline. Ask any San Antonio resident how long they have to file a personal injury lawsuit, and most will tell you two years. That's correct, most of the time.

But there's a second deadline that gets almost no attention, and it's the one that actually kills more cases than the two-year statute of limitations ever does.

If a government entity was involved in your accident, you may have as little as 90 days, not two years, to protect your claim. Miss it, and your case can be over before you ever set foot in a courtroom.

What Counts as a Government Entity in a Texas Accident

This isn't a rare situation. Government involvement shows up more often than people expect.

• A VIA Metropolitan Transit bus
• A City of San Antonio vehicle, including police cars, fire trucks, and public works trucks
• A Bexar County vehicle
• A San Antonio Independent School District bus or a bus from any other local district
• A dangerous condition on city property, like a broken sidewalk near Loop 410 or a pothole on a city-maintained street

If any of these are involved, you're not dealing with an ordinary insurance claim anymore. You're dealing with the Texas Tort Claims Act, and it plays by a different clock.

Why the Government Gets a Shorter Clock

Texas cities and counties are generally protected from lawsuits by a legal principle called governmental immunity. The Texas Tort Claims Act waives part of that immunity, but only if you follow its rules exactly.

One of those rules is notice. Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 101.101, you must give the government written notice of your claim before you can sue. The state default is six months from the date of the incident.

Here's what most people don't know. Home rule cities, including San Antonio, are allowed to shorten that window through their own city charter. Texas law only requires that a city's notice period not fall below 30 days. San Antonio has used that authority to set its own deadline at 90 days.

San Antonio's 90-Day Rule, in Plain Language

San Antonio City Charter Section 150 requires that anyone injured by the city give written notice to the City Manager or the City Clerk within 90 days of the date the injury happened.

Ninety days. Not from when you finish treatment. Not from when you realize how serious your injury is. From the date it happened.

The Texas Supreme Court has already tested this rule and upheld it. In City of San Antonio v. Tenorio, decided in 2018, the court ruled that San Antonio's 90-day notice requirement is enforceable and that courts have no authority to hear a case if that notice wasn't given on time.

That last part matters more than people realize. Courts treat this deadline as jurisdictional. That's a legal way of saying the court doesn't have the power to hear your case at all if notice was late, no matter how strong your evidence is or how clearly the government was at fault.

Why Ignorance Doesn't Buy You an Extension

I hear a version of the same question often. "I didn't know about the 90-day rule. Doesn't that count for something?"

It doesn't. Courts have consistently held that not knowing about the notice requirement is not a legal excuse for missing it. The clock starts on the date of the incident, whether or not you ever heard of the Texas Tort Claims Act.

There is a narrow exception called actual notice. If the government already knew about the injury, who was involved, and its own fault within that same window, a court may excuse missed written notice. In practice, this exception is applied rarely, and the burden of proving it falls on you. A police report showing the government's vehicle was involved is not, by itself, enough to satisfy this exception.

What This Means If You Were Hurt in Bexar County

If your accident happened anywhere in the Medical Center, along Loop 410, downtown, or elsewhere in Bexar County, and a government vehicle or government property was involved, the calendar matters more than almost anything else in your case.

Waiting to see how your injuries heal before contacting a lawyer is a common instinct after any accident. With a government defendant, that instinct can cost you the entire case. Ninety days moves faster than most people expect, especially while you're dealing with medical appointments, missed work, and recovery.

This is also why the first thing I ask a new client is whether a government vehicle or government property was involved. It changes the entire timeline of the case from day one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the 90-day rule apply to every accident in San Antonio?

No. It applies specifically when a government entity, such as the City of San Antonio, VIA, Bexar County, or a public school district, is involved in the accident. Accidents between private individuals still follow the standard two-year statute of limitations, without the added notice requirement.

What happens if I miss the 90-day notice deadline?

In most cases, your claim is barred permanently. Because Texas courts treat this deadline as jurisdictional, missing it typically means the court has no legal authority to hear your case at all, even if you're still within the two-year statute of limitations to file a lawsuit.

Is San Antonio's deadline the same as other Texas cities?

No. Notice deadlines vary by city charter. Houston also uses a 90-day notice period. Austin's deadline is shorter, at 45 days. Dallas follows the state default of six months. Always confirm the specific deadline for the exact government entity involved in your accident.

Does filing a police report satisfy the notice requirement?

Not on its own. A police report may support your case, but it does not automatically meet the Texas Tort Claims Act's written notice requirement. Courts have made clear that actual notice requires the government to understand its own fault, not just that an incident occurred.

What should I do if I think a government vehicle or government property was involved in my accident?

Contact an attorney as soon as possible. Because the notice window can be as short as 90 days, and because the requirement is strictly enforced, early legal guidance is often the difference between a case that moves forward and one that never gets the chance to.

The Bottom Line

The two-year statute of limitations still matters. But if a government vehicle or government property caused your injury, it is not the deadline that decides whether your case survives. The notice deadline is, and in San Antonio, that number is 90 days.

If you were hurt in an accident involving a City of San Antonio vehicle, VIA bus, Bexar County vehicle, or a public school, don't wait to find out how much time you actually have left. Call my office today for a free case review, and let's make sure your claim doesn't get lost to a deadline you never knew existed.

 

By Steven A. Lopez | Personal Injury Attorney, San Antonio, Texas