Farmers Branch recorded 794 crashes in 2024, and 177 of them involved a reported injury or death. Those 177 crashes hurt or killed 244 people. Those figures come from the Texas Department of Transportation’s Crashes and Injuries by Cities and Towns table for 2024. Farmers Branch sits on the Interstate 35E and Interstate 635 corridor, which gives it a freeway-and-arterial crash profile.
If you are the person behind one of those numbers, the questions in front of you are practical. How long do you have to act? Where a lawsuit would be filed, given that no Dallas County court sits in Farmers Branch? What happens if the insurance adjuster tells you the crash was partly your fault? What you can recover if the driver who hit you carried only the coverage Texas requires and nothing more? How to get a copy of the crash report when the full version is not a public document?
This page answers those questions using Texas statutes and official crash data, with each source linked so you can read it yourself. It does not tell you what your claim is worth, because no honest page can. What it can do is show you the rules the insurer is already working from, so the next conversation is not one you walk into blind. If you want to talk it through, AMS Law Group offers a free consultation, and you can reach us at (888) 960-8363.
How Many Crashes Happen in Farmers Branch Each Year?
In 2024, Farmers Branch recorded 794 total crashes. Of those, 177 involved a reported injury or death: one fatal crash, 10 involving a suspected serious injury, 80 involving a suspected minor injury, and 86 involving a possible injury. Counted by people rather than by crashes, 244 people were hurt or killed — one fatality, 13 suspected serious injuries, 106 suspected minor injuries, and 124 possible injuries.
The two numbers measure different things, and the distinction is worth holding onto because a single collision on a freeway can injure several people at once. That is the pattern the city’s geography produces. Interstate 35E and Interstate 635 both run through Farmers Branch, the Dallas North Tollway serves it, and arterials like Josey Lane and Valley View Lane carry the traffic that feeds them.
For scale, Dallas County as a whole recorded 46,257 crashes in 2024, with 305 fatal crashes and 331 people killed, according to TxDOT’s county-level crash table.
Crash volume does not decide any individual case. What it does explain is why insurers handling collisions in this part of Dallas County see a high proportion of freeway-speed impacts. Our Dallas car accident practice deals with those same corridors.
Where Would a Farmers Branch Injury Claim Actually Be Heard?
In Dallas County, not in Farmers Branch. No Dallas County court sits in the city. The county’s civil district courts sit at the George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Building in downtown Dallas, as the Dallas County District Clerk publishes.
That surprises people who assume a local crash produces a local lawsuit. It does not change anything about your claim; it only changes where the paperwork goes and where you would appear if the case ever reached a courtroom. As a general matter of practice, many claims resolve before that point, through negotiation with the insurer rather than through trial.
There is a second split worth understanding. If a police officer issued a traffic citation after the crash — to the other driver or to you — that citation is a city municipal court matter, handled at the Farmers Branch Municipal Court on Valley View Lane. Your injury claim is not. It belongs in the Dallas County courts, and the two proceedings run on separate tracks with separate rules and separate outcomes.
Smaller disputes have their own venue. Justice courts hear civil actions of not more than $20,000, per the Texas Judicial Branch’s Court Structure of Texas chart published in December 2025. If you are weighing whether your matter belongs in a justice court or the Dallas County district courts, our Richardson personal injury team page covers the same venue questions for the nearest office city.
How Long Do You Have to File a Texas Injury Claim?
Two years, as a working rule. Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003, Texas gives you two years from the day your claim accrues to file a personal injury lawsuit. A few specific kinds of claim have their own deadlines under other sections of the same chapter. Some of those are longer than two years. Treat two years as the working deadline, and ask a lawyer about the dates in your own case rather than assuming you are either in or out of time.
Where someone died, the timing works differently at the start. A wrongful death claim carries the same two years, but the statute sets its own starting point: the clock runs from the date of death, not the date of the injury that caused it.
Two years sounds generous. In practice it is not, because the work that supports a claim happens long before a filing date. Medical records have to be gathered. Witnesses have to be located while they still remember the vehicles and the light. Physical evidence from a freeway collision — skid marks, debris, damaged signage — can disappear quickly. As a general matter of practice, an insurer that knows your deadline is approaching has less reason to negotiate seriously than one facing a claim that is fully documented with time to spare.
Texas does pause the clock in narrow circumstances: if the person entitled to sue was under 18 at the time the claim accrued — and the statute says that holds whether or not they were married — or was of unsound mind, the time that disability lasts is not counted toward the deadline. Two limits are written into the statute: one disability cannot be added to another to stretch the period out, and a disability that begins after the clock has already started does not stop it. (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.001) Outside those narrow exceptions, missing the deadline generally ends the matter regardless of how strong the underlying facts were.
What Happens if the Insurer Says You Were Partly at Fault?
Being partly at fault does not automatically end your claim in Texas. Under Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Texas splits responsibility between the people who caused an injury. In a claim where those rules apply, being partly at fault does not end your case: you are barred only if your own share of responsibility is greater than 50 percent. Because responsibility is assigned in whole numbers, that means 51 percent or more bars the claim, while a claimant found exactly 50 percent responsible can still recover.
Where you are not barred, the percentage still costs you money. Section 33.012(a) provides that if you are not barred, the court reduces the damages you recover by a percentage equal to your own share of responsibility.
That arithmetic is exactly why an adjuster raises fault early. Every percentage point assigned to you reduces what the insurer pays. The cheapest way to get those points is a recorded statement taken from an injured person who has not yet seen the crash report or spoken to a lawyer.
Disputed liability is where trial credibility matters. Partner Hazim Mandavia is a personal injury attorney with trial experience who graduated with honors from Texas A&M School of Law (2016). Our published case results include a $15 million motor vehicle accident recovery.
What if the Driver Who Hit You Carried Only Minimum Coverage?
Then your own policy may be the source that matters. Under Texas Transportation Code § 601.072, the minimum liability limits Texas sets for establishing financial responsibility through insurance are $30,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person in one collision, $60,000 where two or more people are injured or killed in one collision (with no more than $30,000 of that going to any one person), and $25,000 for damage to or destruction of the property of others. Those are floors, not a description of any particular policy — a driver may carry more. Where the at-fault driver bought only the minimum, their bodily-injury limit may not cover a serious injury, which is where your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage matters.
That coverage is easy to overlook. Under Texas Insurance Code § 1952.101, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is built by law into a Texas auto liability policy — an insurer cannot issue one without it, and a named insured can only remove it by rejecting it in writing. A verbal decline is not enough. The coverage the statute defines protects you for at least the limits Chapter 601 of the Transportation Code prescribes. It is your own policy that pays where the driver who hit you was uninsured or underinsured — provided you would have been legally entitled to recover from them.
So check your declarations page before you accept that nothing more is available. Lauren Shipp, J.D., is an experienced personal injury and auto accident attorney; you can read Lauren Shipp’s background or our page on claims involving an uninsured driver.
What to Do in the First Days After a Farmers Branch Crash
The first days shape what evidence still exists later. Four steps carry the most weight.
- Get the crash report. Under Texas Transportation Code § 550.065, the full written crash report is not a public document — it is confidential, and the law lists who can obtain the unredacted version on written request and payment of any required fee, including anyone involved in the crash and the authorized representative of a person involved in the crash. A redacted version, with the items of information the statute requires to be withheld removed, must be created, and any person may request it. TxDOT sells copies through its CRIS portal at cris.txdot.gov/public/Purchase: $6 for an uncertified copy, described as being used for personal records or unofficial business, and $8 for a certified copy, which is usually required for legal proceedings and employment verification. Card payments carry a Texas.gov processing fee; electronic-check payments do not, but they hold the report for ten days.
- Photograph everything while it is still there. Vehicle damage, the roadway, signage, and any visible injuries. Freeway debris fields can be cleared quickly.
- Write down what you remember. Time, weather, lane position, what each driver said. Memory of a sudden event fades faster than people expect.
- Be careful with the recorded statement. The adjuster calling you works for the counterpart in your claim, not for you, and the questions about fault come early for a reason.
Farmers Branch Personal Injury FAQs
Do I have to file suit in Farmers Branch?
No. Any lawsuit goes to the Dallas County civil district courts at the George L. Allen, Sr. Courts Building downtown, or, for disputes of $20,000 or less, to a justice court. Where a case is filed does not change the law that applies to it.
How much does the crash report cost?
TxDOT’s CRIS portal charges $6 for an uncertified copy and $8 for a certified copy. Certified reports are usually required for legal proceedings and employment verification. Paying by card adds a Texas.gov processing fee. Paying by electronic check avoids that fee but holds the report for ten days.
Can I still recover if I was partly to blame?
Often, yes. In a claim where those rules apply, being partly at fault does not end your case: you are barred only if your own share of responsibility is greater than 50 percent, and because responsibility is assigned in whole numbers, that means 51 percent or more bars the claim, while a claimant found exactly 50 percent responsible can still recover. Where you are not barred, the court reduces your damages by a percentage equal to your share. An adjuster’s opinion about your percentage is not the final word.
What if the other driver had no insurance at all?
Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is built by law into a Texas auto liability policy, and a named insured can remove it only by rejecting it in writing. Check your own declarations page rather than assuming you declined it.
Does a traffic ticket decide who was at fault?
No. The municipal court that hears a citation does not decide, or even consider, who owes you money for an injury. That question is decided separately, under the proportionate responsibility rules described above, regardless of how the ticket comes out.
What does hiring a lawyer cost up front?
We work on a contingency fee basis. You won’t pay anything upfront, and we only get paid attorney’s fees if we win your case. The initial consultation is free, with no obligation, so you can understand your position before deciding anything.
How soon should I talk to someone?
Sooner helps. Texas generally allows two years from the day a claim accrues to file suit, but evidence from a freeway collision can disappear quickly, and witnesses become harder to locate. Early documentation is what gives a claim its strength long before any filing deadline arrives.
Speak With a Farmers Branch Personal Injury Lawyer
You can talk through what happened before you commit to anything. AMS Law Group offers a free consultation — no obligation — and we work on a contingency fee basis, so you won’t pay anything upfront, and we only get paid attorney’s fees if we win your case.
A crash on the I-35E/I-635 corridor, a dispute over fault, or a question about coverage limits all raise the same practical issues this page has walked through: the filing deadline, the court where a claim belongs, and what your own policy may add. Talking to a lawyer early gives you time to gather the records that support a claim, while that evidence still exists.
Call (888) 960-8363 or contact us to arrange it. You can also see the other communities on our areas served page.