The one thing your employer is hoping you never find out: a one-week delay usually does not kill a Texas injury claim, but the wrong moves during that week can destroy its value.

Most people assume the deadline is "right away" or they lose the case. That is not how Texas usually works. For most Fort Worth crash injuries, the statute of limitations is 2 years from the wreck date under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003.

But Texas has a second deadline people miss: if a government vehicle, city crew, county truck, or a public agency caused the crash, you may have to give formal notice within 6 months under the Texas Tort Claims Act. Cities can impose shorter notice rules by charter. In Fort Worth, that matters if the wreck involved a city work truck, a road crew, or unsafe temporary traffic control in a municipal work zone.

The practical difference is this: you probably still have time to file, but you may already be losing proof. In the first 48 hours, the biggest value-killers are:

• Not getting medical care promptly, which lets the insurer argue you were not hurt
• Giving a recorded statement before you know the full injury pattern
• Posting photos or videos showing lifting, working, or "looking fine" on Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram
• Letting your truck get repaired or totaled before photos, downloads, or inspections
• Failing to report a road-work hazard to police, TxDOT, or the property owner

That matters even more in Fort Worth construction season, where lane shifts, flaggers, dump trucks, and heavy equipment change by the hour. Skid marks disappear. Cones move. Camera footage from nearby businesses can be overwritten in days.

If this was a chain-reaction crash on I-35W, Loop 820, or I-30, or involved a rural high-speed corridor where traffic can be 80 mph or more in Texas, delay makes fault reconstruction much harder. A week is not automatically fatal. Silence, bad statements, and missing evidence are what usually wreck the claim.