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Get the exam first. It is free, it does not require a police report, and for an adult it is available within 120 hours. The Houston hospitals that perform it are listed on our Houston SANE exam locations page.
If you are able to, report to the police now. You are not required to, but the same early evidence that builds a prosecution builds a civil claim.
Then call 713-521-0059, or message us, and say it happened this week. We will tell you what your case needs and get it started, beginning with written notice to whoever holds the video and records so it is kept. There is no guaranteed response time, but we typically respond within 12 to 24 hours of a call or message.
Go to a hospital that performs forensic exams now, and tell the examiner you believe you were drugged. Testing for those substances is time-sensitive, and the sooner you arrive the more the examiner can do. The exam is free, and it does not require a police report. The Houston hospitals are on our Houston SANE exam locations page.
The second time-sensitive item is the video from the bar, the hotel, the party venue or the rideshare. Call 713-521-0059. We will tell you what your case needs and get it started, beginning with written notice to whoever holds the video and records so it is kept.
No. A civil claim is built from evidence, and in a drugging case much of that evidence is not your memory. It is the toxicology, the video of who you were with and where you went, the drink receipts, the keycard log, the rideshare trip, the texts and the people who saw you before and after. Gaps in memory are common in these cases, and they do not end the claim.
Everything you do remember, including what you drank, when you began to feel wrong, the last clear memory you have and the first one after. Ask whether a urine or blood sample can be collected for drug testing, and ask that it be documented. The examiner decides what to collect.
You do not have to report to get the exam. Article 56A.303(c) of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that you may not be required to participate in an investigation as a condition of the exam. If you are able to report now, do. In a drugging case the police can secure the bar’s video and the drink records faster than anyone else, and that is the evidence a civil claim is built on.
Your phone as it is: location history, messages, photos, the rideshare trip, the bar tab, the payment record. The clothes you were wearing, unwashed, in a paper bag. The names of anyone you were with. Any cup or container you still have, in a bag, untouched.
Sometimes. A bar, club, hotel or venue that knew about drink tampering and did nothing, or that let a person it had been warned about stay, may face a civil claim. Whether it does depends on what it knew and what it did, which is why the business’s own records come first. See hotel and motel assault and the attacker was never identified.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
If you remember nothing else from this page, remember these.
When you call, we listen first. Then we do what your case needs. That usually begins with written notice to the hotel, apartment complex, bar, rideshare company or anyone else holding video and records, so the evidence is kept.
Where the case calls for it, we bring in the right experts and, where it serves you, co-counsel with the resources a case like this demands. That decision is made in writing, with your consent, and it does not increase your total fee.
We tell you plainly whether a civil claim may exist and what it would take. Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston firm and has handled injury cases in Harris County for 50 plus years. There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Written by Jacob Schiffer, Attorney, Schiffer Law Firm. State Bar of Texas No. 24105175.
Call 713-521-0059.
Go now to a hospital that performs forensic exams and tell the examiner you believe you were drugged, so testing can be considered while it is still possible. The exam is free and does not require a police report.
Yes. These cases are built from toxicology, video, receipts, logs and witnesses, not only memory.
Ask the examiner. Testing is time-sensitive and depends on the substance, and the examiner will tell you what can still be collected.
Sometimes, depending on what it knew and what it did. Its video and records answer that, which is why written notice to keep them is the first step.