If you are preparing to file a personal injury or insurance claim in Florida, there are a variety of laws you should be aware of that might affect your case. The following are just a few:
Deadlines
Florida has a statute of limitations for the time you have to file a personal injury claim. You have four years from the date of the accident to file the lawsuit in the Florida court system, and a failure to do so could result in the court refusing to hear your case. The statute of limitations for claims against a government entity is three years from the date of an injury.
Comparative negligence
Florida is a pure comparative negligence state. Thus, the compensation you are entitled to receive will be cut by an amount equal to the percentage of fault you share for the accident.
If, for example, you are involved in a car accident in which the other driver blew a stop sign, but you were driving faster than the posted speed limit, you might share 20 percent of the blame for the crash. If the total damages in the case were $10,000, that would mean you would only receive $8,000, as you would lose $2,000 for your share of the blame.
No-fault car insurance
Florida has a no-fault system on car accident cases, which means an injured person’s own insurance company is always responsible for covering medical expenses and lost income — regardless of who was at fault. You cannot hold the other driver liable after an accident unless the “serious injury” threshold is fulfilled. Most minor accidents proceed without fault assigned in an insurance claim, although you can still file a personal injury claim against an at-fault driver.
To learn more about filing a personal injury claim in Florida, consult a skilled Bradenton car accident attorney with Goldman, Babboni, Fernandez, Murphy & Walsh.