Florida Personal Injury Intake: Deadlines and Fault Rules

This guide is for law firms. If you were injured, contact a licensed Florida attorney.

Does Florida use comparative or contributory negligence?

Florida now uses modified comparative fault: in a negligence action, a party found greater than 50 percent at fault for their own harm may not recover any damages. The rule is Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6), added by HB 837 in 2023. Before that, Florida applied pure comparative fault, so a firm’s older intake scripts and case evaluations may assume rules that no longer hold. The subsection does not apply to medical negligence claims under chapter 766.

For intake, the change raises the stakes of the liability conversation. A caller who ran a yellow light, was on the phone or was not wearing a seat belt is not automatically a lost case, but the attorney needs those facts early. A Florida intake specialist should record the caller’s account and any police findings in plain terms, without leading the caller into conclusions about their own fault.

Sources: Fla. Stat. § 768.81, Florida.Public.Law; CS/CS/HB 837 (2023), Chapter 2023-15, The Florida Senate (2023)

Is Florida a no-fault state?

Yes. Florida is a no-fault state, and its personal injury protection statute pays up to $10,000 in medical and disability benefits. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.736, PIP medical benefits cover 80 percent of reasonable, medically necessary expenses, and only for initial services and care received within 14 days after the motor vehicle accident. Benefits are limited to $2,500 if a qualifying provider determines the injured person did not have an emergency medical condition.

The 14-day rule is the most time-sensitive fact in Florida auto intake. A caller who phones on day nine and has not seen a doctor is in a different position from one who went to the ER that night. Florida intake should capture the accident date, every place the caller has been treated, and who treated them. The Insurance Information Institute lists Florida among the five no-fault states with a verbal threshold on the right to sue.

Sources: Fla. Stat. § 627.736, Florida.Public.Law; Background on: No-fault auto insurance, Insurance Information Institute

Which Florida deadlines can run out before the statute of limitations?

The 14-day PIP treatment window is the deadline most likely to be running when a Florida caller phones after hours. It runs from the accident, not from the first call to the firm, and missing it limits the caller’s PIP medical benefits under § 627.736. That is a different kind of deadline from the two-year limitations period, because it affects the client’s treatment and benefits rather than the right to sue.

Florida intake should also ask about letters of protection. Fla. Stat. § 768.0427 defines a letter of protection as any arrangement where a provider treats in exchange for payment from a judgment or settlement, and makes disclosure of the letter and itemized, coded billing a condition of claiming those medical expenses. A caller already treating under one should say so on the first call.

Sources: Fla. Stat. § 627.736, Florida.Public.Law; Fla. Stat. § 768.0427, Florida.Public.Law

Does Florida cap personal injury damages?

Florida limits punitive damages to the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000, in the general case. Fla. Stat. § 768.73 sets that ceiling, with higher limits where the fact finder determines the wrongful conduct was motivated solely by unreasonable financial gain. Florida also changed how medical damages are proven: § 768.0427 governs what evidence of medical expenses is admissible in a personal injury or wrongful death action, including amounts actually paid and amounts owed under letters of protection.

For intake, the medical evidence rules mean insurance status and billing arrangements are case-value facts, not paperwork. Florida intake should record whether the caller has health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, whether treatment is running through PIP, and whether any provider has asked for a letter of protection. Those answers tell the attorney how the medical damages will be presented.

Sources: Fla. Stat. § 768.73, Florida.Public.Law; Fla. Stat. § 768.0427, Florida.Public.Law

What does Florida guidance say about lawyers using AI?

Yes. Florida Bar Ethics Opinion 24-1, issued January 19, 2024, says lawyers may use generative AI if they meet their existing ethical duties. Opinion 24-1 speaks to intake directly. It warns that a chatbot used for client intake can create a prospective client relationship, or even a lawyer-client relationship, without the lawyer’s knowledge. It says a lawyer must inform prospective clients that they are communicating with an AI program and not with a lawyer or law firm employee, and that the lawyer is responsible if the program gives misleading information.

The opinion is advisory, not binding, but it is the clearest state guidance on AI intake. Della meets the disclosure point by design: she tells callers she is an AI if they ask, never claims to be human, and never gives legal advice. Our guide to privilege and AI intake covers the prospective-client duties.

Source: Florida Bar Ethics Opinion 24-1, The Florida Bar (2024)

Do Florida intake calls need recording consent?

Florida is an all-party consent state for recording phone calls, under Fla. Stat. § 934.03(2)(d). Florida’s all-party rule means the recording notice has to come before the caller describes their accident, on every call. Every Call Della plan includes a recording disclosure set for the firm’s state, and Della plays it before the caller describes their matter. Our call recording consent by state table covers all 50 states and DC.

Source: Reporter’s Recording Guide: Florida, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

What should a Florida intake call capture?

A Florida intake call should capture the facts that decide the deadline, the fault rule and the coverage, in the caller’s own words. The checklist below is the minimum for a Florida auto or premises matter. It is a list of facts to record, not questions to argue with the caller.

1. Accident date, so the 14-day PIP treatment window can be checked
2. Every place the caller has been treated so far, and when
3. The caller’s own auto carrier and whether they have opened a PIP claim
4. Health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid status
5. Whether any provider has offered or requested a letter of protection
6. Police report agency and any citation issued
7. The other driver’s insurer and whether the other vehicle was commercial
8. Whether the caller has spoken to another lawyer or a referral service

How does Della handle Florida intake after hours?

Della, Call Della’s intake specialist, answers a Florida firm’s line in the firm’s name nights, weekends and holidays. She plays the recording disclosure first, takes the facts above, and never gives legal advice. Each call becomes a dossier with a summary, urgency score, recording and transcript. The dossier records the accident date and treatment so far, so a caller inside the 14-day window stands out. Urgent calls send an email alert to the attorney on call, on every plan.

Firms lose callers in the gap between the call and the reply. According to Lawyers Mutual NC (2019), reporting an ABA Law Practice Division secret-shopper study, lawyers took three or more days to reply to voicemails and online requests 42 percent of the time. See how Della runs after-hours personal injury intake, or compare Florida with other states in our personal injury rules by state table.