Legal Question in Personal Injury in Texas

Interesting question. Your husband probably had a cause of action for negligence since it is arguably negligent to point a loaded gun at another human being under most circumstances. However, the statute of limitations on a personal injury cause of action expires on the passing of the second anniversary of the injury. So that claim ceased to exist on 10/17/11 unless you filed a lawsuit before that time to preserve it.

You may have an oral contract claim that could be brought. If your husband agreed not to bring a claim against him in exchange for him paying the medical, you could make an argument that a verbal contract was formed. Contract claims have a four-year statute of limitations so that claim would still be alive.

There are two obstacles to prevailing on an oral contract claim:

1) If no payments were made at all, you may have a hard time proving the existence of the contract. It is your word vs his and if there is no payment made in two years, the belief that a contact existed by either party is pretty questionable since you did not take action before.

2) A contract claim would not be covered by his homeowners insurance policy whereas a negligence claim would have. Thus, even if you prevail on your contract claim, you may very well have a hard time collecting it. (I am assuming if he actually had the money to pay you readily accessible, he would have honored his promise.) Texas Homestead laws make collection of a judgment against an individual who does not have substantial assets very difficult.