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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.
Get medical care first, and get it from a hospital that performs forensic exams. The exam is free, it does not require a police report, and for an adult it is available by law within 120 hours of the assault. If you are able to, report to the police now as well.
A civil case is won on evidence, and the strongest evidence is collected in the first hours. That means the forensic exam, any drug testing, a police report that dates your account, and the video that is still on the business’s system. The same evidence that builds a criminal prosecution builds a civil claim. In both, now is better than later.
The step that cannot wait after the exam is the video. If the assault happened at a hotel, an apartment, a bar, a parking lot or in a rideshare, the cameras and access logs that show what happened are being recorded over right now. A lawyer’s letter is what stops that. 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.
You go to a hospital emergency room that is set up for sexual assault exams. The Houston Police Department publishes a list of these hospitals, and we keep a copy on our Houston SANE exam locations page. Ben Taub, Lyndon B. Johnson, Memorial Hermann and Houston Methodist hospitals across the city are on it.
Under Article 56A.303 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a hospital must perform the exam for an adult who arrives within 120 hours of the assault and consents to it. After 120 hours, the exam is still required if the police refer you or if a doctor or sexual assault nurse examiner evaluates you and decides an exam should be done. For a child, there is no time limit.
You do not have to decide about reporting before the exam; the exam preserves the evidence either way. If you can report tonight, do.
Technically, no. Article 56A.303(c) provides that you “may not be required to participate in the investigation or prosecution of an offense as a condition of receiving a forensic medical examination”. You can report later, or never. But a prompt report is usually the best thing you can do for a civil case. It dates your account, lets the police secure the business’s video with authority a private letter lacks, and opens the kit to a DNA comparison. Our page on reporting and the exam explains it.
You do not pay for the forensic part of the exam or the kit. Article 56A.304(f) says a victim “may not be required to pay for” either one. Treatment you receive that night may be billed separately, and Texas crime victims compensation can cover much of it. See who pays for the exam.
Keep what you were wearing, unwashed, in a paper bag. Keep your phone as it is: the messages, the rideshare trip, the location history, the photos. Write down the time, the place, the names you know and the people who saw you before and after.
Do not sign anything a hotel, apartment manager or company puts in front of you, and do not accept a refund or a comped stay before you talk to a lawyer. Some of those documents contain a release. See the manager wants me to sign something.
A civil claim does not depend on the attacker being caught. Many of these cases are brought against the business or property whose failures made the assault possible, and that business can be identified even when the attacker cannot. See the attacker was never identified.
Go to the hospital now and tell the examiner you believe you were drugged. Testing for those substances is time-sensitive, and the examiner decides what to collect. Not remembering does not end a civil claim. See drugged and do not remember.
Longer than the first week, so do not let a deadline push you tonight. For an adult, Section 16.0045(b) of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code generally gives five years for a claim arising from sexual assault. A claim against a business or property owner may be governed by a shorter two-year period under Section 16.003. The deadlines have exceptions in both directions, and the right one depends on who the defendant is. See how long you have.
The reason to call early is not the lawsuit deadline. It is the video.
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.
Call 713-521-0059.
Go to a hospital that performs forensic exams; the Houston Police Department publishes the list. The exam is free and does not require a police report. Then call a lawyer so whoever holds the video can be put on notice to keep it.
No. Under Article 56A.303 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a hospital must perform the exam for an adult who arrives within 120 hours, which is five days. After that, an exam may still be done on a referral from the police or an examiner.
No. The statute says you may not be required to participate in an investigation or prosecution as a condition of the exam. Reporting promptly is still usually best for any later civil case, because the same early evidence builds both.
You may not be required to pay for the forensic portion of the exam or the kit. Other treatment that night may be billed, and crime victims compensation may cover it.
A civil claim is often brought against the business or property whose failures made the assault possible, not only the attacker. Those claims do not depend on an arrest.
Not before you talk to a lawyer. The paperwork that comes with a refund or a comped stay sometimes contains a release of claims.