Can you file an injury claim without legal status?
An injury claim turns on whether someone else was careless, whether that carelessness hurt you, and what the harm cost you. A driver who ran a red light on Business 83 owes the same duty to every person in the crosswalk, with or without papers, and the same deadline applies to all of them: two years from the day of the injury to file a lawsuit.
Texas's 51% fault rule works the same way whether you're a citizen, a green card holder or undocumented. What you'll need is what anyone needs: medical records, photos, the crash or incident report, and the names of witnesses. A McAllen personal injury lawyer can tell you early whether the facts support a claim.
What may come up about your status
In TXI Transportation Co. v. Hughes, decided in March 2010, the Texas Supreme Court sent a truck crash case back for a new trial because the jury had heard about the truck driver's immigration status. The court said his status had nothing to do with the claims in the case and noted that courts have kept such evidence out because its unfair prejudice outweighs any value it has. That case involved the defendant's driver, so it doesn't settle every question about an injured person's status.
That doesn't mean the question never comes up. During a lawsuit, each side can ask the other for information. If the other side asks about your status, your lawyer can object, and Texas's rules of civil procedure let a party ask the court for a protective order limiting questions that would invade personal or constitutional rights.
An injury case is a civil lawsuit in a Texas court between you and the people who caused the harm. It doesn't decide anyone's immigration status; that happens in immigration court or with USCIS. Nobody can promise the question will never be asked, so before anything is filed we go over what you're likely to be asked and how we would respond.
Lost wages and work status
Medical bills, pain, and the damage to your car are tied to the accident itself. Lost wages are where status is most likely to come up, because the other side may argue about what you would have earned in the future and where. How a court handles that depends on the facts of your work and your case, so it's one of the first things we look at with you.
If you were hurt on the job, the rules are different again, because Texas has separate systems for workers' compensation and for employers without it. We explain those in our article for workers who were hurt at work without legal status.
Why one team for both
When the same person needs an injury lawyer and an immigration lawyer, a decision in one case can affect the other. Alex Martinez Law handles both kinds of cases, at the McAllen office on West Houston Avenue and the Brownsville office in Olmito, so one meeting can cover a pending green card application, a DACA renewal or an old removal order alongside the accident.
That matters most at a few points: before you give a sworn statement, before you sign a settlement, and before you travel while a case is pending. If an immigration question needs its own attention, a McAllen immigration lawyer on our team can take it from there.
What to do first
Get medical care and keep every record. If police came to the scene, ask how to get the report. Don't sign anything an insurance company sends you, and don't give a recorded statement to the other side's insurer before you've talked to a lawyer.
Then write down what happened while you still remember it, and gather your immigration papers too: your A-number if you have one, receipt notices, and any court documents. The two-year deadline for the injury claim runs whatever is happening in the immigration case.
Keep reading
This article is general information. It is not medical or legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Read our disclaimer.
J.D., Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Licensed in Texas, admitted to the Southern District of Texas. Handles personal injury and immigration cases at Alex Martinez Law.
