Texas treats roughly 30,000 burn admissions per year across its burn centers, anchored by the Parkland Memorial Hospital Regional Burn Center in Dallas (one of the largest in the United States), the Timothy J. Harnar Burn Center at UMC in Lubbock, and the Brooke Army Medical Center Burn Center in San Antonio. Survivors typically face skin-graft surgeries, infection-control admissions, pressure-garment therapy, and long-tail reconstructive work that drives lifetime medical costs into seven figures in severe cases.
Severe burns in Texas reflect the state's industrial mix: refinery and petrochemical incidents along the Gulf Coast (Beaumont–Port Arthur, Pasadena, Houston Ship Channel), oilfield flash fires in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford, residential and apartment-complex fires, electrical arc-flash injuries on construction sites, and motor-vehicle collisions involving fuel ignition. Texas civil statutes, not editorial commentary, govern how long an injured party has to file and how fault is allocated.
Texas's two-year statute of limitations
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003(a) states: "Except as provided by Sections 16.010, 16.0031, and 16.0045, a person must bring suit for trespass for injury to the estate or to the property of another, conversion of personal property, taking or detaining the personal property of another, personal injury, forcible entry and detainer, and forcible detainer not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues." Source: Texas Constitution and Statutes, Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ch. 16.
We compile this for reference. Accrual rules, the discovery rule, tolling for minors, and special timelines for governmental defendants (Texas Tort Claims Act notice provisions) can change the practical deadline. For advice on your specific case, consult a licensed Texas attorney.
Texas's 51% bar (proportionate responsibility)
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 33.001 states: "In an action to which this chapter applies, a claimant may not recover damages if his percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent." Source: Texas Constitution and Statutes, Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ch. 33.
Under Texas's modified comparative-responsibility regime, a claimant whose percentage of responsibility is 50% or less recovers damages reduced by that percentage; at 51% or more, the claim is barred. How responsibility is apportioned among parties (and submitted as designated responsible third parties) is governed by the rest of Chapter 33. For advice on your specific case, consult a licensed Texas attorney.
Where Texas burn cases are typically filed
Civil personal-injury actions in Texas are generally filed in the District Court of the county where the incident occurred or where the defendant resides. Texas District Courts have general jurisdiction over tort claims; County Courts at Law handle some lower-value matters depending on the county. The Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, and Travis County district courts handle the majority of the state's burn-injury caseload by volume.
This page lists Texas attorneys whose website disclosures indicate burn-injury or catastrophic-injury practice. Listing facts come from firm websites or from the firms themselves; nothing on this page should be read as legal advice or as an endorsement of any individual attorney. For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed Texas attorney directly.
