Florida Personal Injury Claims

Free Florida injury tools

• Florida Settlement Calculator — estimate what a claim may be worth, with the permanent injury threshold and 51% bar applied to your numbers.
• Florida Filing Deadline Checker — enter the date of injury and see whether the two-year or the old four-year rule applies to you.

What HB 837 changed, and who it still affects

House Bill 837 took effect on 24 March 2023 and reshaped Florida injury law in a single stroke. Three changes matter most:

• The filing deadline dropped from four years to two, under Florida Statute § 95.11(5)(a).
• Comparative fault became modified. Under § 768.81(6), a claimant more than 50% at fault now recovers nothing. Previously Florida allowed recovery at any percentage.
• Medical damages evidence changed, tying recoverable medical costs more closely to amounts actually paid rather than amounts billed.

Injuries that occurred before 24 March 2023 generally keep the old four-year deadline, so the date of the accident decides which regime applies to you.

The permanent injury threshold

Florida is one of a dozen no-fault states, and the consequence catches people out. Under § 627.737 you cannot pursue pain and suffering from the at-fault driver unless the injury involves significant and permanent loss of a bodily function, permanent injury, significant scarring or disfigurement, or death.

Below that line a claim is limited to economic losses. The medical evidence establishing permanency is therefore often worth more to the value of a Florida claim than the bills themselves.

What Florida limits, and what it does not

There is no cap on pain and suffering in ordinary negligence claims, subject to the threshold above. The statutory caps that once applied to medical malpractice were struck down as unconstitutional in Estate of McCall v. United States (2014) and North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan (2017).

Two real limits remain. Punitive damages are generally capped at the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000 under § 768.73. And claims against government entities are capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident under § 768.28(5) — anything beyond that requires a claims bill passed by the Legislature, which almost never happens.

Insurance, and the coverage Florida does not require

Florida requires $10,000 in personal injury protection and $10,000 in property damage liability. It does not require bodily injury liability coverage, so the driver who injures you may have nothing at all to pay a claim with.

PIP covers 80% of reasonable medical expenses and 60% of lost wages up to $10,000, and only if treatment begins within 14 days of the crash. Without a certified emergency medical condition, the limit falls to $2,500.

Despite claims circulating online that Florida repealed no-fault on 1 July 2026, PIP remains mandatory. The 2026 repeal bills died in committee in March 2026. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy remains the most reliable protection available here.

Where Florida injury cases are filed

Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, Orange and Palm Beach counties account for the bulk of the state’s injury filings. Florida also carries one of the highest uninsured driver rates in the country, which is why so many serious claims turn on the claimant’s own UM coverage rather than the at-fault driver’s policy.

Common questions

How long do I have to file an injury claim in Florida?

Two years from the date of injury for accidents on or after 24 March 2023. Injuries before that date generally keep the previous four-year deadline.

Can I claim pain and suffering in Florida?

Only if the injury meets the permanent injury threshold: significant and permanent loss of a bodily function, permanent injury, significant scarring or disfigurement, or death. Otherwise the claim is limited to economic losses.

Did Florida repeal PIP?

No. SB 522 and HB 769 both died in committee in March 2026. The $10,000 PIP requirement and the 14-day treatment rule are still in force.

What happens if I was partly at fault?

Your recovery is reduced by your share of the blame, and ends entirely above 50%. At exactly 50% you still recover half. Medical malpractice claims are exempt and keep the older pure comparative rule.