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A health care liability claim in Texas is governed by Chapter 74 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, which imposes requirements no ordinary negligence case has.
Call 713-521-0059.
Section 74.351 requires the claimant to serve an expert report on each party not later than the 120th day after the date each defendant’s original answer is filed. Subsection (b) provides that on the motion of an affected physician or health care provider, the court shall award that provider reasonable attorney’s fees and costs and shall dismiss the claim against it with prejudice.
That is why these cases cannot be evaluated slowly. A qualified expert has to review the records and produce a compliant report inside a fixed window that starts running once an answer is filed.
Candidly: Chapter 74 makes medical malpractice a specialist practice with substantial expert cost incurred before any recovery. We evaluate these claims and, where the case warrants it, place it with associated counsel who try them regularly, under a written consent to refer.
Say so at the outset rather than discovering it late. What matters most for you right now is getting the records requested and the timeline preserved while the deadline is still ahead of you.
Chapter 74 claims carry both the expert report deadline above and their own limitations provisions, which differ from the ordinary personal injury period and are applied strictly by the Texas courts. Do not assume you have two years.
