The state of Florida is a “no-fault” car insurance state. This means regardless of who was to blame for the accident, drivers will recover compensation for minor injuries from their own insurer.

Specifically, they will make a claim under their required Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage. PIP will pay compensation for:

• 80% of reasonable medical expenses incurred due to crash-related injuries.
• 60% of lost income if crash-related injuries prevent the policyholder from working
• $5,000 in death benefits if a collision is fatal (this will be paid to the estate of the deceased or to relatives of the deceased crash victim)

If injuries are very serious (including death, loss of a bodily function, permanent injury or permanent scarring), collision victims can recover compensation outside of the no-fault system. When injuries meet the threshold of serious under Florida law, victims can pursue a personal injury claim against the driver who caused the accident. In these situations, the victim can recover compensation for:

• Medical bills
• Lost wages
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress

An experienced Florida car accident lawyer can help collision victims to determine if their crash is serious enough that they can try to recover compensation from the other driver rather than being forced to rely solely on their PIP coverage alone.

Comparative Negligence Rules in Florida Car Accidents

Sometimes, both drivers involved in a collision share the blame for the Florida car accident. In these cases, Florida’s pure comparative negligence rules apply.

Comparative negligence is one of three approaches that different states use to establish when car accident victims can pursue a claim for compensation if they are partly to blame for their own injuries. The three approaches are:

• Pure comparative negligence: Victims can always make a claim to recover damages no matter how much of the blame they share. A driver who was 99% responsible for a crash could still try to recover compensation from the other motorist. This is Florida’s rule.
• Modified comparative negligence: With this rule in place, only drivers who are less than 50% or 51% at fault for the crash can pursue a claim to recover damages.
• Contributory negligence: This rule applies in the minority of states and prevents someone from pursuing a claim for damages if they were even a small percentage to blame for the accident.

In Florida — and in all pure and modified comparative negligence states — compensation will be reduced when a victim is partly to blame. If a crash victim was 20% responsible for the collision and sustained $100,000 in losses, the victim could recover 80% of their $100,000 in damages or $80,000 total.