Texas Legal Glossary · Personal Injury

Negligence

Written and reviewed by Shane M. Boasberg, founder of SMB Law, PC · Licensed in Texas since 2003 · Updated October 2026

Definition: Negligence is the failure to use ordinary care, meaning the care a person of ordinary prudence would use under the same or similar circumstances. A Texas negligence claim requires a duty, a breach of that duty, proximate cause, and damages.

Also called: ordinary negligence, carelessness

What negligence means in Texas

Negligence is the legal theory behind most Texas injury cases. The Texas Pattern Jury Charges define it as the failure to use ordinary care, which is the degree of care a person of ordinary prudence would use under the same or similar circumstances. It is not about bad intent. A driver who glances at a phone and rear-ends the car ahead is negligent even though nobody meant any harm.

To win, the injured person must prove four elements: a duty of care, a breach of that duty, proximate cause, and actual damages. Miss any one and the claim fails.

How it works in practice

Most negligence cases begin as insurance claims and only become lawsuits when the insurer refuses to pay a fair amount. If a suit is filed, the jury decides whether each party was negligent and, under Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, assigns a percentage of responsibility to everyone involved. A plaintiff found more than 50 percent responsible recovers nothing. Below that line, the award is reduced by the plaintiff’s own percentage.

The deadline matters. Under CPRC § 16.003, a negligence suit for personal injury must be filed within two years of the injury. Claims against a city or state agency carry much shorter notice requirements.

Why it matters in your case

Negligence is a standard, not a checklist, so the same facts can look very different depending on how they are presented. Skid marks, dash camera footage, phone records, and witness statements all go to the question of what a prudent person would have done. We build injury cases around that evidence from the first week, because it disappears quickly. The statute of limitations does not pause while an insurer evaluates a claim.

Example

Marcus is stopped at a red light on South Lamar when Dana, scrolling through a text message, hits him from behind at 30 miles per hour. Dana owed every other driver a duty to keep a proper lookout. Reading a text breached that duty. The breach caused the collision, and Marcus has a herniated disc and $40,000 in medical bills. All four elements are present, so Marcus has a negligence claim against Dana.

This entry explains Texas law in general terms and is not legal advice for any specific situation. Statutes and case law change; the date above reflects the last review.