What to Do After a Wreck with a Minor in Texas: Legal Guide

Navigating a Car Accident with a Minor: Your Immediate Legal Roadmap

You’ve just been in a collision. The shock is setting in. Your car is damaged, your body is starting to ache, and then you realize the other driver is just a kid—someone under 18. Your mind races with a flood of questions and anxieties. “I’ve been hit by this kid. They don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know how to drive. My car’s all messed up, and now I’ve got to deal with some kid.” These are the exact fears we hear from clients across Houston, Austin, and Beaumont every single day. At Attorney911, The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC, we are your Legal Emergency Lawyers™. With over 25 years of experience handling thousands of Texas personal injury cases, managing partner Ralph Manginello and our team understand the unique complications that arise when a minor is involved. This comprehensive guide will walk you through every critical step, from the moment of impact to securing the compensation you deserve, armed with the insider knowledge that only a firm with our background can provide.

Texas Insurance Law 101: The Mandatory Minimum and Why It Matters

As Attorney Ralph Manginello emphasizes in our podcast, “Well, in Texas, everyone’s required to have a lawyer. They’re required to have car insurance.” This is the foundational principle. Texas operates under a “fault” car insurance system, meaning the driver who causes the accident is financially responsible for the resulting damages. To ensure victims have a potential source of recovery, Texas law mandates that all drivers carry minimum liability insurance. Specifically, the Texas Transportation Code § 601.051 requires the following minimum coverage, often called 30/60/25:

• $30,000 for bodily injury per person
• $60,000 for bodily injury per accident
• $25,000 for property damage per accident

This means if a minor crashes into you, their insurance policy must have at least these limits. However, this is merely the legal floor. In our decades of practice throughout Texas, we’ve seen that $30,000 can vanish shockingly fast with just a single emergency room visit for moderate injuries. For catastrophic injuries like those we’ve handled—brain injuries, spinal cord damage, or amputations—these minimums are a drop in the bucket. This is where our experience in multi-million dollar litigation becomes critical. We don’t just look at the minimum policy; we conduct thorough investigations to identify all potential sources of recovery, including the parents’ assets, umbrella policies, or even the minor’s own assets in rare cases. The insurance company will start from a position of minimizing payout. Our job, leveraging former insurance defense attorney Lupe Peña’s insider knowledge, is to build a case that justifies maximum compensation, whether through aggressive negotiation or, if necessary, preparation for trial in Texas courts.

The Reality of Underinsured Minors and Parental Liability

While insurance is mandatory, not everyone complies. You may discover the minor driver has no insurance or is driving a car not listed on a parent’s policy. Texas law provides mechanisms for recovery. Under the legal doctrine of “negligent entrustment,” parents can be held liable if they knowingly allowed their child—a minor with little driving experience—to operate a vehicle unsafely. Furthermore, the “family purpose doctrine” can sometimes apply, holding the head of household liable for accidents caused by family members using the car for family purposes. These are complex legal arguments that require precise investigation and legal skill. At Attorney911, our investigation begins immediately. We subpoena phone records, interview witnesses, and examine the vehicle’s history to build a case for parental liability when appropriate, ensuring you aren’t left holding the bill for an uninsured teen’s mistake.

The Attorney911 Scene Protocol: Evidence Preservation is Everything

Ralph Manginello’s advice is direct and practical: “So just like in any other car collision, you’re going to get their information, take a picture of their driver’s license, take a picture of their insurance, take a picture of all your property damage, take a picture of the inside of your car.” This is your first line of defense. In the digital age, your smartphone is your most powerful tool. We instruct our clients to methodically document the following:

• License and Insurance: Clear photos of the minor’s driver’s license and insurance card. Note the policy number and the named insured (often a parent).
• Vehicle and Damage: Photos from multiple angles showing the position of both vehicles, license plates, VIN numbers, and all damage. Get wide shots of the entire scene, including traffic signs, skid marks, and road conditions.
• Interior of Your Car: Photograph deployed airbags, cracked dashboards, or any interior damage that demonstrates force of impact.
• Your Injuries: Visible cuts, bruises, or swelling. Continue to photograph these injuries over the following days as they may evolve.

Why is this so critical? Evidence deteriorates rapidly. Surveillance footage from nearby businesses is typically erased after 7 to 30 days. Witness memories fade. The insurance company for the minor will begin its own investigation within hours, often sending an adjuster to photograph the scene and the vehicles from angles that minimize the apparent damage. By having your own comprehensive photo and video record, you preserve the truth. This is a fundamental difference between our firm and settlement mills that may process claims without such rigorous attention to detail. As we demonstrated in our maritime back injury case, where investigation revealed the employer’s failure to provide assistance, a thorough evidence-gathering protocol can make or break a claim.

The Non-Negotiable Step: Photograph the Other Driver

Attorney Manginello provides a crucial, often overlooked piece of advice: “The other thing that we always tell people to do is take a picture of the other driver. Now, don’t get in a fight over it… we always just say do that because that way you can always match up their license if you need to, or sometimes the insurance company will ask and say, well, we have somebody that’s saying they weren’t driving.” This is especially pertinent with minors. We have handled cases, as Ralph mentions, where the teen driver “didn’t want to own up to it and tell their parents that they had been in a wreck.” Days or weeks later, a parent may call the insurance company claiming their child wasn’t driving, or that an older sibling or friend was behind the wheel. Without a photo, it becomes a “he said, she said” scenario that delays your claim and can be used to deny liability.

Our firm’s insider advantage here is stark. Lupe Peña, having worked for a national defense firm, knows exactly how insurance companies use identity disputes to delay and deny claims. He used to look for these very weaknesses in a claimant’s case. Now, we preempt them. A simple, discreet photo eliminates this tactic entirely. If you feel unsafe, do not escalate. Your safety is paramount. But if possible, this single action can save months of legal headaches. This is the kind of real-world, tactical guidance you receive from a firm that has spent decades in Texas courtrooms and insurance company boardrooms.

Initiating the Claim: Navigating the Minefield with a Minor’s Insurer

“Make a normal insurance claim like you would before,” Ralph advises. “You’re going to call their insurance, tell them what happened, what the minor did to cause the collision, process the claim that way…” This step seems straightforward, but it is where most victims make critical errors that jeopardize their recovery. The friendly adjuster who answers your call is not your advocate. They are a trained professional whose primary goal is to settle your claim for as little as possible, as quickly as possible. When a minor is involved, the insurance company may employ additional tactics, playing on assumptions that a young driver is less reliable or that juries might sympathize with a “kid.”

Here is where Lupe Peña’s background as a former insurance defense attorney becomes your greatest asset. He knows the playbook because he wrote parts of it. He understands how companies use software like Colossus to value claims, how they set “reserves” (the money earmarked for your claim), and the settlement authority structure. For instance, an initial adjuster may have authority to offer only $5,000. Our demand, backed by robust evidence and legal precedent, can force the file to be escalated to a supervisor with much higher authority. We also know the traps:

• The Recorded Statement Trap: The adjuster will politely ask for your recorded statement early on. They are trained to ask questions that elicit answers suggesting pre-existing conditions, downplaying injuries, or admitting to partial fault. We always advise clients to never give a recorded statement without an attorney present.
• The Quick Lowball Offer: Within days, you may receive a check for a few thousand dollars. They’ll present it as a gesture of goodwill to help with immediate bills. What they don’t say is that cashing it may constitute a full and final settlement of ALL claims, including future medical treatment for injuries that haven’t yet manifested.
• The “Independent” Medical Exam (IME): If you claim injury, they will eventually request you see their doctor. Lupe knows which doctors they routinely use—professionals whose reports consistently find “pre-existing conditions” or “minor soft-tissue injuries.” We prepare our clients for these exams and often engage our own medical experts to counter their findings.

Our approach at Attorney911 is to take this burden off you. When you call us at 1-888-ATTY-911, we handle all communication with the insurance company from day one. We protect you from these tactics while building an unassailable case for maximum compensation. As client Donald Wilcox shared after another firm rejected his case: “Then I got a call from Manginello…I got a call to come pick up this handsome check.”

Why Legal Representation Isn’t Optional: The Attorney911 Difference

Ralph Manginello concludes with the most important guidance: “…and always, again, call a qualified attorney. If you can’t figure out how to help yourself, we can definitely help you. Call Attorney 911 and we’ll walk you through it.” A “qualified attorney” is the key distinction. In Texas, you have exactly two years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit (Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 16.003). But the real work begins long before that deadline. A qualified attorney in this context means a firm with the experience, resources, and proven willingness to fight all the way to trial if the insurance company refuses to offer fair compensation.

Our Proven Track Record: Multi-Million Dollar Results

Attorney911 is not a settlement mill that pushes for quick, low-value closures to churn through volume. We prepare every case as if it will go to trial, because that mindset forces insurance companies to take us seriously. Our documented results speak to this commitment:

• We secured a multi-million dollar settlement for a client who suffered a brain injury with vision loss when a log dropped on him at a logging company.
• In a recent car accident case, our client’s leg injury led to staff infections and a partial amputation during treatment. This case settled in the millions.
• Our firm is one of the few in Texas to be involved in the BP Texas City explosion litigation, taking on a billion-dollar corporation in federal court—experience that translates to handling complex liability cases against powerful defendants.
• We are currently litigating a $10 million lawsuit against the University of Houston and Pi Kappa Phi fraternity (Bermudez v. Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, Inc.), demonstrating our capacity for high-stakes, complex litigation.

These results are not accidental. They stem from the leadership of Ralph Manginello, admitted to the Texas Bar in 1998 and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and the strategic advantage of having Lupe Peña, who spent years learning insurance company tactics from the inside. As client Jamin Marroquin noted, “Mr. Manginello guided me through the whole process with great expertise…tenacious, accessible, and determined.”

Compassionate, Client-Centered Service You Can Trust

With 251+ Google reviews and a 4.9-star rating, our clients consistently praise the communication and personal care they receive. Paralegal Leonor (Leo) is mentioned in over 80 reviews for her diligent updates and support. Client Chad Harris said, “You are NOT a pest to them and you are NOT just some client…You are FAMILY to them.” We offer bilingual services in Spanish through Lupe Peña and staff member Zulema, ensuring the Houston, Austin, and Beaumont communities we serve have full access to justice. We work on a contingency fee basis—you pay nothing unless we win your case (33.33% before trial, 40% if a trial is necessary). We advance all costs, so there is no financial barrier to getting top-tier legal representation.

Understanding Your Compensation: What Can You Recover?

When a minor causes an accident, the types of compensation available are no different than with an adult driver, but the strategies to secure them may be. We fight to recover all applicable damages:

• Medical Expenses: Past, present, and future costs for ER visits, hospital stays, surgery, physical therapy, medications, and assistive devices.
• Lost Wages and Earning Capacity: Income lost during recovery and compensation if your injuries prevent you from returning to the same job or earning the same income in the future.
• Property Damage: The cost to repair or replace your vehicle and any other damaged personal property.
• Pain and Suffering: Physical pain and emotional distress, including anxiety, depression, and loss of enjoyment of life.
• Punitive Damages: In rare cases of egregious misconduct (e.g., a minor driving while intoxicated), the court may award punitive damages to punish the wrongdoer.

Calculating these amounts, especially future medical needs and lost earning capacity, requires expert economists and life care planners. We have the network and experience to build these compelling cases, as we did for our client with the brain injury and vision loss.

Frequently Asked Questions About Accidents with Minors

What if the minor’s parents deny their child was driving?

This is a common tactic, which is why photographing the driver at the scene is so vital. Without it, we would rely on other evidence: witness statements, traffic camera footage, cell phone location data, and the minor’s own statements to police. Our investigative team is skilled at uncovering the truth. As former defense attorneys, we know where to look for inconsistencies in the other side’s story.

Can I sue the minor’s parents directly?

Yes, under certain conditions. Texas law allows for claims against parents for negligent entrustment (giving a car to a reckless teen) or under the family purpose doctrine. Furthermore, if the minor is uninsured or underinsured, we will explore all avenues of recovery against the parents’ assets or umbrella insurance policies. This requires a sophisticated legal strategy that our firm is equipped to handle.

The insurance adjuster is being very nice and offering to pay my bills. Should I trust them?

Be extremely cautious. Friendliness is a standard tactic to build rapport and encourage you to settle quickly. Remember, the adjuster’s loyalty is to the insurance company’s shareholders. Their initial offer is almost always a fraction of your claim’s true value. Once you sign a release, you forfeit your right to any future compensation, even for injuries that appear later. Let us handle all communications. As client Tracey White experienced, our team rejected an initial offer: “She had received a offer but she told me to give her one more week because she knew she could get a better offer.”

What if I was partially at fault for the accident?

Texas follows a “modified comparative fault” rule (Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 33.001). If you are found 50% or less at fault, you can still recover damages, but your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 51% or more at fault, you cannot recover anything. Insurance companies will aggressively argue to assign you more fault. Our job is to counter those arguments with evidence and expert testimony to minimize your assigned fault and maximize your recovery.

How long will my case take?

Every case is unique. A straightforward property damage claim may resolve in months. A serious injury case requiring extensive treatment and negotiation can take 1-2 years or more if litigation is necessary. We will never rush you into a settlement that doesn’t fully account for your future needs. We prepare for the long haul to ensure you receive justice, as we did in the 19-month case for client Jamin Marroquin.

Why is Attorney911 better than other firms I’ve spoken to?

Three words: Experience, Insight, and Results. Ralph Manginello has 25+ years of courtroom experience, including federal court. Lupe Peña provides an unparalleled insider’s understanding of insurance company strategies. We have a documented history of multi-million dollar settlements and a 4.9-star reputation from real clients like you. We are trial-ready lawyers, not just negotiators. As Houston celebrity Trae Tha Truth has recommended us, you know we have the trust of the community. When you call 1-888-ATTY-911, you’re not calling a marketing line; you’re contacting a legal emergency line answered by a firm that will fight for you like family.

Don’t Face This Legal Emergency Alone. Call Attorney911 Today.

Being in a collision with a minor driver introduces layers of complexity and potential pitfalls. From the moment you take that critical photo of the young driver to the final negotiation with a multi-billion dollar insurance carrier, you need an advocate who knows the terrain. At Attorney911, The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC, we combine Ralph Manginello’s quarter-century of litigation prowess with Lupe Peña’s insurance defense insider knowledge to create an unbeatable advantage for our clients across Texas. We’ve recovered millions for those with catastrophic injuries and fought for every dime for those with serious but less visible wounds.

If you or a loved one has been hit by a minor driver in Houston, Austin, Beaumont, or anywhere in Texas, time is not on your side. Evidence disappears, memories fade, and the insurance company’s defense machine is already rolling. Let us be your first responder. Your consultation is free, and there is no fee unless we win your case. Call the legal emergency line now at 1-888-ATTY-911 (1-888-288-9911) or visit our website at attorney911.com. Let us walk you through it, just as we have for thousands of Texans before you.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do immediately after a wreck with a minor in Texas?

Ensure safety, call police, and document everything: take photos of the minor’s license and insurance, all vehicle damage, the scene, and—critically—a photo of the minor driver to prevent identity disputes. Then, contact an attorney before speaking to the insurance company.

Can I sue the parents of a minor who caused a car accident?

Yes, under Texas law, parents can be held liable through claims like “negligent entrustment” if they knowingly allowed an unfit minor to drive, or via the “family purpose doctrine.” An experienced attorney can investigate and pursue all available sources of recovery.

What if the minor driver doesn’t have insurance?

You may still recover through your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage, or by pursuing a claim against the parents’ assets or insurance policies. Attorney911 conducts thorough investigations to identify all potential avenues for compensation.

How does Attorney911’s experience with insurance companies help my case?

Associate attorney Lupe Peña spent years working for a national insurance defense firm, learning firsthand how insurers value claims, use delay tactics, and employ “independent” medical exams. We use this insider knowledge to counter their strategies and fight for maximum settlements.

What compensation can I recover after an accident with a minor?

You may be entitled to medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, pain and suffering, and in severe cases, punitive damages. Attorney911 has secured multi-million dollar settlements for clients with catastrophic injuries like brain trauma and amputations.

Why should I choose Attorney911 over other law firms?

With 25+ years of experience, federal court admission, involvement in BP explosion litigation, a former insurance defense attorney on staff, and a 4.9-star rating from 251+ clients, Attorney911 offers proven results and a client-focused approach that settlement mills cannot match.