Social Media Posts

Nearly everyone has some kind of a social media presence. Because people are willing to share personal details of their life, these social media posts may end up being used against them in their case.

If the plaintiff was injured because of negligence or an accident, the insurance companies defending themselves and their clients may try to prove otherwise. Social media activity could end up becoming vital evidence in helping insurance comapanies win when plaintiffs are not careful about what they post on social media.

For any legal case involving an accident or injury, perhaps the wisest option is to simply refrain from posting anything on social media.

Florida House Members Move On Auto Insurance Changes

Florida currently requires auto drivers to carry personal injury protection of at least $10,000 in medical benefits. But critics say that isn’t enough to cover health care costs when there’s an accident. Lawmakers are considering changing up the insurance coverage drivers must have.

Edgewater resident Adrienne Gorham was driving with her children in Leesburg in 2015 when she was struck by a speeding driver. Gorham said a Corvette ran a red light and t-boned her car, striking the driver’s side door from the side. She and her daughter were knocked out.

“When I came to, my son was actually already out of the vehicle running around, trying to get help, screaming for help,” she said. “And then I was like ‘Emily, Emily’ and she wasn’t responding and that’s when I realized her face was down in the seat in a pool of blood and I freaked out and thought the worst.”

Florida’s Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law, also known Personal Injury Protection or PIP, requires all drivers to carry $10,000 in medical, disability and funeral protection. That’s the case no matter who’s at fault in the accident. Gorham said she’s struggling to pay her family’s medical bills she’s stuck with because the at-fault driver only had the minimum coverage.

She said she supports legislation by Rep. Erin Grall to do away with PIP and raise bodily injury coverage to $25,000 a person and $50,000 per incident. Bodily injury would be required before registering a vehicle. But insurance companies and physician groups oppose the legislation. Insurance companies say dumping PIP moves Florida to a system of litigation. Gorham ian’t sue the other driver because of the Florida’s No-Fault Law. But that would change with a mandatory bodily Injury system.

“We can bring meaningful value into a system that places fault appropriately on the person who caused the accident,” Grall said.

Florida’s PIP law has long been blamed for insurance fraud. It’s been revised several times since 2000 to try to curb “bad faith claims.” But those reforms have also restricted coverage. PIP was created in 1971 as a way to reduce lawsuits over traffic lawsuits.

Opponents of the legislation said they can’t support the legislation because it doesn’t protect them from phony legal claims.

Orlando Attorney Coretta Anthony Smith disputes the charge this opens the door to more fraudulent claims. But she said taking PIP away would hurt low-income Floridians who are injured. She says getting through the court process would take too long.

“My most recent case that – I felt really bad for her – she was an employee at Chik-fil-A,” she said. “She’s walking across the street to catch a bus and she’s hit by a car. So thankfully, she did have the $10,000 in PIP coverage to pay for her lost wages that didn’t even go to medical bills, it went to her lost wages because she couldn’t work. She couldn’t walk at all.”

Lawmakers most recently made changes to Florida’s No Fault law in 2012. The aim was to reduce Floridians’ auto premiums and reduce PIP claim amounts. A legislative analysis shows that premiums fell by more than a statewide average of 13 percent as of January 2014. But a 2016 report on the PIP reforms found the savings are eroding.

Adrienne Gorham’s family still suffers from the car accident. Gorham has herniated and bulging discs that give her pain every day because of the accident. Her daughter’s face hit the back passenger window and she has trouble breathing out of her nose. Her son suffered hip and spinal injuries. She says she’s hounded by creditors every day on the thousands of dollars in medical bills she owes. She didn’t have medical insurance at the time because she made too much to qualify for Medicaid.

“Everyday I get a bill,” she said. “I get three-to-four-harassing phone calls every single day. I literally can’t answer my phone without disguising my voice or not answering it at all.”

Grall’s bill made it out of its first committee, but it still faces an uphill battle. Similar legislation is also filed by Senator Jeff Brandes, Senator Tom Lee and Representative Bill Hager.

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Florida Personal Injury Laws & Statutory Rules

The basics of Florida personal injury laws – time limits to sue, limits on compensation, and more.

If you’re filing an insurance claim or lawsuit over an accident or injury, you’ll need to be familiar with laws in your state that might affect your case. In this article, we’ll provide a snapshot of a few key Florida laws to keep in mind when it comes to personal injury.

Deadlines for Filing an Injury Lawsuit in Florida

Like every other state, Florida has a statute on the books that sets a deadline for the amount of time you have to file a lawsuit in civil court against the person or business that might be legally at fault for your injury. This law is called a statute of limitations.

Under Florida’s statute of limitations for personal injury cases, you have four years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit in Florida’s civil courts (this law can be found in Florida Statutes Annotated section 95.11). If you don’t file your case within this time window, the court will very likely refuse to hear it at all. In rare cases, you may not “discover” that you actually suffered harm for some amount of time after the incident that caused the injury, and in those instances, the lawsuit-filing window will be extended.

For injury claims against a city, county or state government, the time limit is three years.

Florida’s Comparative Negligence Law

In some cases, the person you are seeking to hold liable for your injuries may turn around and say that you’re actually to blame (at least in part) — for causing the accident that led to your injuries and/or for making your own injuries worse. If you do share some amount of fault for your injuries, it can affect the amount of compensation you can receive from other at-fault people or businesses.

Florida follows a “pure comparative negligence rule” in cases like these. Under this rule, the amount of compensation you’re entitled to receive will be reduced by an amount that is equal to your percentage of fault for the accident.

So, if you’re in a car accident where the other driver ran a red light, but you were driving a few miles an hour above the posted speed limit, you might share 10 percent of the blame for the accident, while the other driver is 90 percent to blame. Let’s say your damages add up to $5,000. Under Florida’s comparative negligence rule, your compensation will be reduced to $4,500 (or the $5,000 total minus $500 which accounts for your share of fault.)

Courts in Florida are obligated to follow this rule in an injury case, and if you’re dealing with an insurance adjuster outside the court system, don’t be surprised if he or she raises the comparative negligence rule during settlement talks.

Florida No-Fault Car Insurance Laws

In car accident cases only, Florida follows a no-fault system, which means that after most traffic accidents, an injured person’s own insurance company will provide coverage for medical expenses and lost income, no matter who was at fault for the accident.

You can’t hold the other driver liable after a car accident in Florida unless the “serious injury” threshold is met. So most minor accidents will fall under the no-fault umbrella. But you may be able to step outside of the no-fault system and file a liability claim against an at-fault driver in Florida if, as a result of the accident, you suffered:

permanent injury
significant and permanent scarring, or
disfigurement.

Obviously, these terms are a little vague, so it will be up for negotiation as part of your claim whether certain injuries meet the “serious injury” threshold of Florida’s no-fault rules.

“Strict” Liability for Dog Bite/Attack Cases

In many states, dog owners are protected (to some degree) from injury liability the first time their dog injures someone if they had no reason to believe the dog was dangerous. This is often called a “one bite” rule. In Florida however, two statutes (Fla. Stat. Ann. §§ 767.01 and, Fla. Stat. Ann. §§ 767.04) make the owner “strictly liable”, meaning regardless of the animal’s past behavior, the dog owner is responsible for a personal injury caused by his/her dog. Specifically, the statute reads:

“Owners of dogs shall be liable for any damage done by their dogs to a person.” – Fla. Stat. Ann. §§ 767.01

“The [dog] owner” “ is liable for damages suffered by persons bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owners’ knowledge of such viciousness.” – Fla. Stat. Ann. §§ 767.04

Damage Caps in Florida Injury Cases

Damage cap statutes set a limit on the amount of money that an injured person can receive in certain kinds of cases, or for certain types of losses. Most often, these laws limit the amount of non-economic damages (i.e. “pain and suffering”) that an injured person can recover.

In terms of common personal injury cases like car accidents, slip and fall injuries, and product defect claims, the most important Florida law on damage caps pertains to punitive damages. It’s important to note that punitive damages are only available in a small percentage of injury cases. They’re meant to punish the wrongdoer for particularly dangerous or reprehensible behavior.

For most injury cases, Florida limits punitive damages to three times the amount of compensatory damages or $500,000 whichever is greater. This law can be found in Florida Statutes Title XLV section 768.73.

There are no other damage cap laws on the books in Florida when it comes to standard personal injury cases. But it’s a different story in medical malpractice cases. Florida law does impose caps on damages in lawsuits against medical practitioners, including strict limits on non-economic damages like pain and suffering. Those laws are a little too complex to get into here.