Florida personal injury lawyer

You generally have a claim if someone else’s negligence caused you injury, you are not more than 50% at fault, you are inside the deadline, and there is a source of payment — insurance or assets.

All four have to hold. A clear liability case against an uninsured person with no assets is not worth more than a case you can actually collect.

Two years for most negligence claims arising on or after 24 March 2023, under Fla. Stat. § 95.11.

Shorter for some: a cruise ticket usually gives one year, claims against government bodies carry notice requirements, and medical malpractice consumes months in presuit before a complaint can be filed.

Personal Injury Protection pays nothing — not a reduced amount, nothing. That is Fla. Stat. § 627.736.

It does not end a liability claim against the at-fault driver, but it removes the first $10,000 of medical coverage and makes the rest considerably harder.

Your own uninsured motorist coverage steps into their place, and a resident relative’s policy may as well, because UM generally follows the person.

Florida does not require bodily injury coverage, so this is common rather than unusual. Checking every declarations page in the household is part of the first conversation.

Yes, up to 50%, with your recovery reduced by your share. Above half, Fla. Stat. § 768.81 bars it entirely.

That cliff is why insurers now invest so heavily in the fault argument, and why early statements matter so much.

You are not required to give them a recorded statement. The questions in one are designed to find a prior injury, a gap in treatment, or an admission that shifts fault.

You do need to notify your own insurer promptly — that is a policy obligation, and it is different from giving the other side a statement.

Against your employer, workers’ compensation is normally the only claim, under Fla. Stat. § 440.11. Against anyone else — a subcontractor, a driver, a property owner, a manufacturer — it is an ordinary negligence claim with full damages.

Those run in parallel, and the comp carrier usually asserts a lien against the third-party recovery, which has to be handled deliberately.

No. An injured person in Florida may bring a claim regardless of immigration status.

It is worth saying plainly, because the fear of raising it is one of the most common reasons a legitimate claim in these communities is never brought at all.

PIP first in a crash, up to its limit. Health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid may cover more, and they generally have a right to be reimbursed from a settlement.

Negotiating those liens down at the end is frequently worth as much to a client as the last increment of settlement.

Be wary of anyone who gives a number before seeing the file, and of any guarantee.

It turns on the injury and its permanence, the extent and length of treatment, past and future medical cost, lost income and lost earning capacity, the available policy limits, your share of the fault, and whether the responsible party has assets.

Most Florida injury claims settle without a lawsuit. Where filing is the right move, the options are explained first, with a recommendation.

The decision to settle or to file is always the client’s.

Yes. Jose Dapena was born in Puerto Rico and speaks Spanish, and so does the staff, so a matter can run in Spanish from the first call to the last.

The Spanish side of this site is a full counterpart, not a translation widget.