A Miami bodily injury lawsuit is a civil case filed in Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court by someone physically injured through another party’s negligence, seeking money for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. Most of these claims must be filed within two years of the injury, the plaintiff cannot have been more than 50% at fault, and the rules for proving medical damages tightened sharply after Florida’s 2023 tort reform law, House Bill 837.
The Two-Year Deadline
Since HB 837 took effect on March 24, 2023, most negligence-based injury claims in Florida must be filed within two years of the accident, cut from the previous four-year window.1Florida Legislature. F.S. 95.11 Limitations of Actions Wrongful death carries the same two-year clock, measured from the date of death. Medical malpractice runs two years from when the injury was discovered, with a four-year outer limit.2Injury LawStars. How Long Does a Personal Injury Lawsuit Take in Florida Miss the deadline and the case is almost always permanently barred.
Some claim types require pre-suit steps before you can file. Medical malpractice plaintiffs must serve a Notice of Intent to Initiate Litigation on the provider, backed by a corroborating expert medical opinion, and wait 90 days for the provider to investigate.3Avard Law. Florida Medical Malpractice Notice of Intent Claims against the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, or a state agency require written notice to the agency and the Department of Financial Services, followed by a 180-day investigation period before suit can proceed.4Florida CFO. State Liability Claims Process For most other cases, the first move is a demand to the at-fault party’s insurer to try to settle before filing.5Injury Attorney FLA. How Do You Start a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Florida
Where You File and What It Costs
Miami-Dade injury cases over $50,000 go to the Circuit Civil Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, housed at the Miami-Dade Justice Center at 73 West Flagler Street.611th Judicial Circuit of Florida. Circuit Civil Division Serious injury claims almost always clear that threshold. Smaller claims go to County Court (up to $50,000) or Small Claims Court (up to $8,000).7Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts. Civil Court
The filing fee is $401, plus $10 for the summons and $40 for sheriff service.7Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts. Civil Court Filings go through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal; paper filing is generally not an option.8Attorneys for the Injured. Miami-Dade Circuit Court Under the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, the defendant must be served within 120 days of the complaint being filed.9Meldon Law. Personal Injury Lawsuit Process in Florida
What You Have to Prove
Every Florida negligence case rests on four elements, and the plaintiff must prove each by a preponderance of the evidence — more likely than not. The defendant owed a duty of care. The defendant breached that duty, for example by running a red light or ignoring a known hazard on their property. That breach actually caused the injury (the “but-for” test) and the injury was a foreseeable result (proximate cause). And the plaintiff suffered real, measurable harm. If one element is missing, the claim fails.10LMD Law Firm. Why Negligence Is the Foundation of Every Personal Injury Claim
The 51% Fault Bar
HB 837 replaced Florida’s old pure comparative negligence rule with a modified version that can wipe out a claim entirely. Under Florida Statute 768.81 as amended in 2023, a plaintiff who is more than 50% at fault for their own injury recovers nothing.11Florida Legislature. F.S. 768.81 Comparative Fault If the plaintiff’s share is 50% or less, the damage award is reduced by that percentage. A plaintiff found 30% at fault on a $200,000 verdict receives $140,000.
Florida has also abolished joint and several liability for most negligence claims, so each defendant pays only their own percentage of fault.12Florida Senate. F.S. 768.81 The main exception to all of this is medical malpractice under Chapter 766, which still follows pure comparative negligence.13Jimerson Firm. Florida Tort Reform Bill HB837 Comparative Negligence
What You Can Recover
Compensatory damages split into two buckets. Economic damages cover quantifiable losses: past and future medical expenses, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, and property damage. Non-economic damages compensate for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium.14Herman Wells. Compensatory Damages Florida does not cap non-economic damages in ordinary negligence cases.
Punitive damages are available only in a small subset of cases and must be proven by clear and convincing evidence. They are generally capped at the greater of three times the compensatory damages or $500,000. If the defendant acted out of an unreasonable desire for financial gain while knowing the danger, the cap rises to the greater of four times compensatory damages or $2 million. If the defendant specifically intended to cause harm and did so, there is no cap.15Florida Legislature. F.S. 768.73 Punitive Damages Juries are not told about these caps during deliberations.
Settlement ranges vary enormously with the injury. Practitioners put soft-tissue cases roughly at $1,500 to $50,000, fractures and minor surgeries at $50,000 to $300,000, and catastrophic injuries involving permanent disability over $1 million. Wrongful death cases frequently exceed $1 million, and claims involving lifetime care needs such as paraplegia or quadriplegia can reach $5 million to $30 million or more. Miami-area outcomes tend to run higher than much of Florida, reflecting the region’s higher cost of living and historically large jury awards.16Perkins Law Offices. What Is the Average Personal Injury Settlement in Miami
How Medical Bills Are Proven Now
HB 837 rewrote how medical damages reach a jury. Plaintiffs can no longer present the full billed amount for care. Evidence of past medical expenses is limited to the amount actually paid, regardless of who paid it. If the plaintiff has health insurance but chose to treat under a letter of protection — an arrangement where the doctor waits for payment out of a future settlement or verdict — the admissible amount is capped at what the insurer would have paid, not the provider’s full charge.17Florida Senate. HB 837 For uninsured plaintiffs with unpaid bills, the ceiling is 120% of the Medicare reimbursement rate, or 170% of Medicaid if no Medicare rate exists.18Wilson Elser. Florida’s New Tort Reform Package
The law also stripped attorney-client privilege from communications about an attorney’s referral of a client to a particular medical provider, and it made the financial relationship between a law firm and a treating doctor admissible as evidence of bias.19Marshall Dennehey. Impact of House Bill 837 on Health Care Litigation
Car Accidents and the No-Fault Threshold
Auto accidents are by far the largest category of injury filings in Miami-Dade, with more than 21,000 auto negligence cases filed between 2021 and 2024.20Schrier Law Group. Most Common Personal Injury Lawsuits in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties Florida’s no-fault system adds a layer most plaintiffs don’t expect. Every driver carries Personal Injury Protection (PIP), which pays up to $10,000 in medical expenses at 80% and lost wages at 60%, regardless of who caused the crash. You must seek treatment within 14 days of the accident to qualify.21Gonzalez Cartwright. Florida’s No-Fault Law
Because of no-fault, you generally cannot sue for pain and suffering after a car accident unless your injury clears one of four statutory thresholds under Florida Statute 627.737:
- Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function
- Permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability
- Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement
- Death
If the defendant disputes whether the injury clears the bar, the court can review the evidence 30 days before trial and dismiss the non-economic damage claim without prejudice.22Florida Legislature. F.S. 627.737
Florida does not require drivers to carry bodily injury liability insurance, only PIP and property damage liability, so many at-fault drivers have no coverage to pay an injured person’s claim.23Chris Russo Law. Uninsured Motorist Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, which insurers must offer, fills that gap. It applies when the at-fault driver is uninsured, underinsured, or flees, picks up after PIP is exhausted, and can cover pain and suffering. A UM claim is a contract dispute against your own insurer rather than a negligence claim, which gives it a five-year statute of limitations instead of two.24DHC Law. Filing UM/UIM Claims for Florida Car Accident Injuries
Suing a Government Entity Is Different
If the defendant is the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, or a state agency, the usual damages rules don’t apply. Florida’s sovereign immunity statute, F.S. 768.28, caps the government’s payout at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident.25FindLaw. F.S. 768.28 A jury can award more, but the government will only pay above those limits if the Florida Legislature passes a special claims bill authorizing it. Failing to serve the pre-suit notice on both the involved agency and the Department of Financial Services, or filing before the 180-day investigation period runs, can get the case dismissed.4Florida CFO. State Liability Claims Process
How Long It Takes and Why Most Cases Settle
After the defendant answers, the case enters discovery: written questions, document requests, and depositions. Discovery alone typically takes six to twelve months, and courts regularly grant extensions.2Injury LawStars. How Long Does a Personal Injury Lawsuit Take in Florida A Case Management Conference is required within 180 days of filing in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.8Attorneys for the Injured. Miami-Dade Circuit Court Florida courts require mediation in most civil cases before trial can be set.9Meldon Law. Personal Injury Lawsuit Process in Florida
Between 95% and 97% of personal injury cases settle before trial.26Nicolet Law. Personal Injury Case Timeline Those that settle usually do so within 6 to 18 months. Cases that go to trial take longer: getting a trial date in Miami-Dade can run 12 to 24 months after filing, and the national average from filing to verdict is about 25.6 months. An appeal can add another one to three years.2Injury LawStars. How Long Does a Personal Injury Lawsuit Take in Florida
One Florida-specific tool, the “proposal for settlement” under Florida Statute 768.79, puts real money on the line. If a defendant makes a written settlement offer, the plaintiff rejects it, and the plaintiff then recovers a judgment at least 25% below the offer, the defendant can recover attorney fees and costs from the date the offer was filed. The reverse applies: if a plaintiff’s demand is rejected and the final judgment comes in at least 25% higher, the defendant pays the plaintiff’s post-demand fees and costs.27Florida Legislature. F.S. 768.79 Offer of Judgment and Demand for Judgment That fee-shifting risk pushes both sides toward realistic evaluations early.
What Your Lawyer Will Cost
Nearly all Miami bodily injury attorneys work on contingency: no fee upfront, and the lawyer takes a percentage of the recovery. Florida’s Rules of Professional Conduct set presumptive fee limits: 33⅓% of the first $1 million if the case settles before the defendant files an answer, and 40% of the first $1 million if it settles or goes to verdict after that point. The percentage drops for recoveries above $1 million.28The Florida Bar. Consumer Pamphlet: How Do Attorney’s Fees Work
Costs are separate from the fee. Filing fees, expert witnesses, deposition transcripts, and medical records are usually advanced by the firm and then deducted from the recovery. Some fee agreements make the client owe those costs even if the case is lost, so read the retainer carefully. Medical malpractice carries an added constitutional protection: the client is entitled to at least 70% of the first $250,000 and 90% of any amount above that, though that right can be waived in writing.28The Florida Bar. Consumer Pamphlet: How Do Attorney’s Fees Work