Florida is a no-fault state, and that shapes the first move after any crash. Your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage answers first, regardless of who was at fault, covering 80% of medical bills and 60% of lost wages up to a $10,000 ceiling. None of that reaches pain and suffering.
Then comes the part most people never hear about. You generally have to see a doctor within 14 days of the crash to use your PIP benefits at all. Let that window close and the coverage can be gone when you need it most.
When injuries are serious, Florida law lets you move past no-fault. A permanent injury, significant scarring, the loss of an important bodily function: any one of those can open a claim straight against the at-fault driver for what PIP does not touch. Fault then becomes the contest. Under Florida’s modified comparative negligence rule, say a jury values your claim at $150,000 and finds you 30% responsible. You recover $105,000. Cross 50% and you recover nothing.
One deadline runs under all of it. A 2023 change to Florida law gives you two years from the crash to file an injury lawsuit, down from the old four. The clock starts the day of the wreck, not the day you understand how hurt you are.
