How long do you have to file a birth injury case in Texas?

When a baby is hurt during pregnancy, labor or delivery, parents are not thinking about court deadlines. They are thinking about the NICU and the next appointment. But Texas sets firm time limits on medical malpractice cases, and they are stricter than many families expect.

This page explains the deadlines that matter most in a Texas birth-injury case: the two-year rule in Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 74.251, the special rule for a child and the 10-year statute of repose, the six-month notice for public hospitals under the Texas Tort Claims Act, the 60-day notice required before any lawsuit, and the expert report due 120 days after each defendant answers.

The general rule: two years

Texas calls a medical malpractice case a health care liability claim. Under Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 74.251(a), it must be filed “within two years from the occurrence of the breach or tort or from the date the medical or health care treatment that is the subject of the claim or the hospitalization for which the claim is made is completed.” The statute applies “notwithstanding any other law” and, except for the rule for young children explained below, “to all persons regardless of minority or other legal disability.”

Unlike the rules in some states, the Texas statute does not start the clock on the day the patient discovers the injury. The Texas Supreme Court has explained that the open courts guarantee in the Texas Constitution gives people only “a reasonable time to discover their injuries and file suit,” and that anyone who relies on it must show they acted with due diligence. It is a narrow safety valve, not a second deadline.

This matters because parents often have claims of their own, such as a mother injured by a delayed C-section or an untreated hemorrhage. Those adult claims follow the two-year rule, which can run out long before the child’s deadline.

The rule for a child’s case, and the 10-year wall

The same subsection gives young children more time: “minors under the age of 12 years shall have until their 14th birthday in which to file, or have filed on their behalf, the claim.” A baby injured at birth is, by definition, under 12, so on its face the statute points to the 14th birthday.

But § 74.251(b) adds a second, absolute limit: “A claimant must bring a health care liability claim not later than 10 years after the date of the act or omission that gives rise to the claim. This subsection is intended as a statute of repose so that all claims must be brought within 10 years or they are time barred.” For a birth injury, 10 years after the delivery comes before the 14th birthday. In practice, the 10-year mark is the latest possible date to file, and waiting that long is dangerous.

The Texas Supreme Court has enforced this wall against a child. In a 2014 decision, a baby had been injured at birth in 1996; the family’s lawyer sent the required pre-suit notice in 2004, but the lawsuit was not filed until 2011, after the repose period had run. In 1983 and 1995 the Court had struck down earlier laws that required minors to bring malpractice suits by a certain age. This time it ruled against the child: the mother, acting for her child, had not been diligent, and the Court held that her delay counted against the child’s claim.

• Child under 12 at the time of the act: file by the 14th birthday, but never later than 10 years after the act.
• Baby injured during labor or delivery: the 10-year repose arrives first, so the outer limit is 10 years after the birth.
• Child 12 or older at the time of the act: the two-year rule applies.
• Public hospital: notice to the public entity within 6 months comes first, no matter the child’s age.

When the hospital is public: the 6-month notice

Many Texas babies are born at hospitals run by public hospital districts, such as Harris Health’s Ben Taub and Lyndon B. Johnson hospitals in Houston, Parkland Health in Dallas, University Health in San Antonio and JPS Health Network in Fort Worth, or at hospitals run by state universities. Claims against a government-run hospital fall under the Texas Tort Claims Act, Chapter 101 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code.

Under § 101.101(a), the governmental unit is entitled to receive notice of the claim not later than six months after the day of the incident. The notice must reasonably describe the injury, the time and place, and what happened. Under § 101.101(b), a city’s charter may set its own, shorter notice period. The formal notice is excused only if the governmental unit already had actual notice of the injury, and families should not count on that exception. Government Code § 311.034 makes statutory notice a jurisdictional requirement in every suit against a governmental entity: if it is missed, the court may have no power to hear the case.

Section 101.101 contains no exception for minors, so the child’s longer deadline under § 74.251 does not excuse the six-month notice. The Act also waives immunity only in limited situations, including personal injury caused by a condition or use of tangible personal or real property (§ 101.021), and it caps what a public entity can pay. Under § 101.023, liability is limited to $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence for the state government, $100,000 per person and $300,000 per occurrence for a unit of local government, and $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence for a city.

Choosing whom to sue matters too. Under § 101.106, filing suit against the governmental unit bars a later suit against its individual employees over the same subject matter, and suing an employee can bar a suit against the unit unless it consents. The Chapter 74 rules, including the 60-day notice and the expert report, still apply, because Chapter 74 defines a hospital to include licensed public institutions.

The 60-day notice and the medical authorization

Texas requires a warning before any malpractice lawsuit. Under Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 74.051(a), the family must give written notice of the claim, by certified mail with return receipt requested, to each physician or health care provider involved, at least 60 days before filing suit. The notice must be accompanied by the medical authorization form set out word for word in § 74.052, which lets the defendants obtain the patient’s records from other providers.

The authorization is not a formality. Under § 74.052(a), if it is missing, all further proceedings against that provider are abated until 60 days after the form is received. Under § 74.051(c), notice given as the chapter requires tolls the statute of limitations for 75 days, for all parties and potential parties. The Texas Supreme Court held in 2011 that notice sent without the authorization does not trigger the 75-day tolling, and in 2024 that an imperfect but genuine authorization form still does.

Section 74.051(d) also entitles every party to complete and unaltered copies of the patient’s medical records from any other party within 45 days of a written request. In a birth-injury case the notice usually goes to everyone who may share responsibility: the obstetrician, the hospital, the nurses’ employer, the anesthesiologist and the neonatologist. Identifying all of them takes the complete medical record, another reason to begin early.

The expert report due 120 days after each answer

Texas adds a hurdle many states do not have. Under § 74.351(a), the family must serve on each defendant, not later than the 120th day after that defendant’s original answer is filed, one or more expert reports with a curriculum vitae of each expert. The report must give a fair summary of the expert’s opinions on the standard of care, how the care fell short, and how that failure caused the injury (§ 74.351(r)(6)). An opinion on whether a physician departed from accepted standards must come from a physician who meets the qualifications in § 74.401, and causation opinions must come from a qualified physician.

The consequences are severe. If a report is not served on time, § 74.351(b) requires the court, on the defendant’s motion, to dismiss the claim against that defendant with prejudice and award the defendant its attorney’s fees and court costs. If a timely report is found deficient, § 74.351(c) allows one 30-day extension to cure it. Until the report is served, most discovery is stayed, except for obtaining the patient’s medical records and similar documents (§ 74.351(s)).

The Texas Supreme Court has refused to excuse a missed expert-report deadline in a child’s case where the parent had not acted diligently. In practice, the medical review should be well underway before the lawsuit is filed, which is why a Texas birth-injury case needs the records and the experts early.

Why acting early protects the evidence

Deadlines are only part of the reason to move quickly. Birth-injury cases are won or lost on evidence that fades.

There is also a practical reason. Children with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, cerebral palsy or Erb’s palsy often need therapy, equipment and specialized care right away, and a case that starts early can be resolved while that care makes the biggest difference.

• Fetal heart monitoring strips and electronic records can be overwritten, archived or lost as hospital systems change.
• Nurses and residents rotate, move to other hospitals or leave medicine; memories of one delivery blur after a year.
• Placental pathology, cord blood gases and newborn imaging are easiest to obtain and interpret when requested soon after birth.
• Early expert review tells a family whether a case exists at all, so no one waits years for an answer.

How Beverly Law helps

Beverly Law is a Los Angeles personal injury firm. In Texas, we take birth-injury cases through licensed local counsel, and our team talks with families in English and Spanish. The first step is a free consultation: we listen to what happened, identify who provided care, and flag every deadline that may apply, including the six-month notice if the hospital is public. Then we request the complete medical records, including the fetal monitoring strips, and have them reviewed by qualified medical experts.

If a case exists, the 60-day notice with the medical authorization, any Tort Claims Act notice, the lawsuit and the 120-day expert report are handled with licensed local counsel. You pay no fee unless we win, and Texas law requires a contingency fee contract to be in writing and signed by the lawyer and the client (Government Code § 82.065). Call 1 (877) 427-2752 to talk with our team today.

Questions parents ask

Related pages

Cerebral Palsy · Erb’s Palsy / Brachial Plexus Injury · HIE / Oxygen Deprivation at Birth · Texas Damage Caps · Texas birth injury lawyers

Important: This page is general information about birth injuries and Texas law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Beverly Law. Every case is different — talk to a lawyer about your own situation. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. No fee unless we win. Last reviewed: 2026-09-30.