Miami Personal Injury Lawyers — Felicetti Law Firm, Florida
South Florida combines the things that produce serious collisions: high tourist and rental-vehicle volume, a large share of drivers unfamiliar with the roads, wide arterials designed for speed, year-round motorcycle and scooter use, and a pedestrian environment that developed long after the highways did. Miami-Dade and Broward together account for a substantial fraction of the state’s injury crashes every year.
What Changed on 24 March 2023
Florida’s tort reform legislation cut the filing deadline for most negligence claims from four years to two years, effective 24 March 2023, and introduced a fault bar that did not previously exist. Anything written about Florida injury law before that date is describing a system that no longer operates.
The same legislation made Florida a modified comparative negligence state. A claimant found more than fifty percent responsible for their own injury recovers nothing at all. Below that line, damages are reduced by the claimant’s share in the usual way. Medical negligence claims are expressly excluded from that bar and remain on pure comparative principles.
Before 2023 Florida was a pure comparative state where a claimant seventy percent at fault still recovered thirty percent. That is no longer true, and it changes how seriously an early fault dispute has to be taken.
PIP and the Fourteen-Day Window
Florida remains a no-fault state for motor vehicle injuries. Personal Injury Protection provides $10,000 in benefits through your own policy regardless of who caused the crash.
It comes with a condition that catches people constantly: initial treatment must begin within fourteen days of the accident. Wait longer and PIP benefits can be denied outright. Beyond that, the full $10,000 is available only where a qualifying provider certifies an emergency medical condition; without that certification, benefits are limited to $2,500.
To step outside no-fault and pursue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering, Florida requires a permanent injury, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, permanent loss of an important bodily function, or death. That threshold, like New York’s, is proved with medical evidence built over time — which is another reason the fourteen-day rule matters far beyond the first bill.
The Coral Gables Office
The Felicetti Law Firm
1600 Ponce de Leon Boulevard
Suite 1208
Coral Gables, FL 33134
Phone: (800) 333-1988
Reachable at any hour, seven days a week. Se habla español.
From Coral Gables the firm covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Monroe and the Treasure Coast, and handles Florida matters statewide. The work spans car crashes on the Palmetto, Dolphin and Turnpike, commercial truck collisions on the I-95 and I-75 freight runs, motorcycle and scooter claims, pedestrian and cyclist injuries, rideshare cases, slip and fall claims, construction accidents, workers’ compensation and wrongful death.
Local Pages for Florida Cities
Road conditions, courts and crash patterns differ across the state. These pages go into local detail:
Free Miami Case Review
Two years is a much shorter runway than Florida claimants are used to, and the fourteen-day treatment window is shorter still. Call the Felicetti Law Firm at (800) 333-1988 at any hour or tell us what happened online. The consultation is free and the fee is contingent on recovery. Past outcomes are listed on the results page.
Call (800) 333-1988 — Free Florida Case Review
The firm covers these states as well: Georgia · Alabama · North Carolina · New York
Florida law changed substantially in 2023 and the summary here is general. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Florida matters are handled by attorneys licensed in Florida.