Thank you. Because the Statute of Limitations for personal injury is two years in Texas, you are facing a deadline. It may behoove you to retain counsel - many attorney may take this on a contingency basis, i.e. they do not get paid unless you do.

If you wish to do this pro se, then read on.

The Process Overview
You must file the petition with the District Clerk of your county of your place of residence. For example, if you lived in Galveston County, you would need to file with the Galveston County District Clerk's Office. Look up your county online - nearly all counties have filing information on their websites. You may also call the county's district clerk office to get further information. It is recommended to call ahead to make sure you are filing at the right address. You may either send the petition by mail, or walk into the office to file. It is strongly recommended to file in person, since you can then make sure the filing is correct.

If filing by hand, bring three copies to the county district clerk's filing window. Again, check with the county district clerk's office to find out where the filing window is located. A clerk will take your copies, typically one or two of them, and stamp the third and give it back to you as proof of filing. You will also be asked to pay a filing fee - typically anywhere from $200 to $300, depending on your county. If you are sending it by postal mail, send three identical copies of the petition, a filing fee (call ahead to find out what it is), and a self-addressed and pre-stamped envelope with your address so the district clerk can send you a stamped copy back. Include a one sheet cover letter on top of the petition copies to explain that you are filing.

Once you file, you then serve the other party - you get a citation from the district clerk that you then attach to a copy of the petition, and you either have a private process server (Google "process server + New Mexico" to get a list of them) or send it to that party CERTIFIED MAIL, with RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED. Once you get the receipt back if you do it that way, you then send A COPY to the Court Clerk with a note that it's service, and save the original for yourself for proof in case it comes up later.

Once the Court sees that you've served, it'll take a few weeks and will then issue a SCHEDULE ORDER which will be sent out via email to all parties which will explain when your discovery starts, ends, when you pre-trial date is, and when the final hearing on merits is.

During discovery, you send to them (if you wish) Request for Disclosure, Request for Admissions, and Request for Interrogatories that would help to get you evidence that can be used against him in the suit.

At pre-trial, the parties touch base and the Court hears any motions that the parties might want to have heard before the Court.

Then, you will eventually have a trial date. I warn you - trial is hard, and navigating a court room without precious experience in Litigation and without a thorough knowledge in procedure and evidence is hard to do, especially if he retains counsel. This is why again, I recommend one.

The Petition
The petition is what you file to begin the matter. One has to have at least one "cause of action" to file a petition; you can file multiple causes of action in one petition. You have to prove a cause of action by proving its elements by a preponderance of the evidence. Here, individuals in your situation may wish to file for: (1) civil assault & battery; and (2) intentional infliction of emotional distress.

A person commits an assault if the person:
(1) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another;
(2) intentionally or knowingly threatens another with imminent bodily injury; or
(3) intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with another when the person knows or should reasonably believe that the other will regard the contact as offensive or provocative.
Hall v. Sonic Drive-In of Angleton, Inc., 177 S.W.3d 636, 649-50 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2005, pet. denied). (citing Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 22.01(a)).

The elements of a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress are:
(1) the defendant acted intentionally or recklessly,
(2) the conduct was extreme and outrageous,
(3) the acts of the defendant caused the plaintiff to suffer emotional distress; and
(4) the emotional distress suffered by the plaintiff was severe.
Kroger Tex. Ltd. Partnership v. Suberu, 216 S.W.3d 788, 796 (Tex.2006); Twyman v. Twyman, 855 S.W.2d 619 (Tex.1993)..

Drafting the petition is very hard. You can look for samples online, or have an attorney do it for you at a discount (but not represent you). Many companies like usalegalresource.com can draft a petition for you for low cost.

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Thank you.

You can file in Texas or New Mexico. However, he can challenge that the venue is more convenient in New Mexico because the matter occurred there - if he is smart enough to do so.

So it is up to you. In NM, the statute of limitations for such an act is indeed three years, so it give you an extra year so so you do not have to scramble and file suit (as in Texas). On the downside, filing in NM will have you travel to NM constantly in order to pursue the matter. Whether or not this is worth your emotional and financial investment, it is up to you.

To find an attorney in NM, I can recommend three resources. First, here is a list of all pro bono work in the state...

http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/probono/directory/newmexicohtml

...and another list:

http://www.lawhelp.org/

IMPORTANT INFO: I hope this finds you well. Please use REPLY TO EXPERT to keep talking, or RATE my answer when we are finished. Kindly rate my answer as one of the top three faces because this is how I get credit for my time with you. Rating my answer the bottom two faces does not give me credit and reflects negatively on me as an expert even if my answer is correct. I work very hard to formulate an informative and honest answer for you; please reciprocate my good faith. Do not worry, you may always ask follow ups free after rating.