Florida Car Accident Lawyers

A Florida car accident law firm since 2008

Kemp Law Group represents people hurt in car accidents across all of Florida, and in Georgia through our Georgia-admitted attorney. Stacy Kemp Ferrari founded the firm in 2008, and since then it has recovered more than $400 million for injured clients and earned a 4.9-star rating across more than 900 Google reviews. Our car accident attorneys have handled rear-end crashes on US-19 and I-275, interstate pileups on I-4, I-75 and I-95, intersection collisions in every major Florida city, and the cases insurers fight hardest: hit-and-runs, uninsured drivers, crashes with commercial vehicles, and collisions that take a life.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles counts roughly 400,000 crashes a year statewide, about 250,000 injuries and more than 3,000 deaths. Behind each one is a claim governed by laws that insurers understand better than the people they are paying. This page explains those laws in plain language and what we do about them.

Call (727) 847-4878 or contact us online for a free case review. We answer 24/7, and you pay no fee unless we win.

Four Florida laws that decide what your claim is worth

Every Florida car accident claim runs through the same four statutes. Knowing them before you talk to an adjuster is the single best protection you have.

No-fault and PIP: section 627.736

Florida is a no-fault state. Your own auto policy’s Personal Injury Protection coverage pays first, regardless of who caused the crash: 80 percent of reasonable medical bills and 60 percent of lost wages, up to the $10,000 PIP limit. Two rules inside this statute cost people money every day. You must receive initial medical treatment within 14 days of the crash or PIP pays nothing. And unless a physician, osteopath, dentist or supervised practitioner finds you had an “emergency medical condition,” PIP’s medical benefit drops from $10,000 to $2,500. We make sure both findings are in the record early.

The injury threshold: section 627.737

Because PIP pays first, Florida limits when you can recover pain and suffering from the at-fault driver. You can pursue those damages only if the crash caused a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, or death. Meeting the threshold is a medical question, and insurers dispute it in nearly every case. Proving it is most of our work in a car accident claim.

Modified comparative negligence: section 768.81

Since March 2023, a person found more than 50 percent at fault for a crash recovers nothing. At 50 percent or less, the recovery is reduced by that share. A $200,000 case with 20 percent fault assigned to you pays $160,000; the same case at 51 percent pays zero. Adjusters know this, which is why they push for recorded statements and fault admissions in the first days after a crash. You are under no obligation to give the other driver’s insurer a statement, and you should not.

The two-year deadline: section 95.11

A negligence lawsuit for a crash on or after March 24, 2023 must be filed within two years of the crash. Wrongful death claims also carry a two-year limit, measured from the date of death. Claims against a city, county or state agency require written notice to the agency and the Department of Financial Services before suit under section 768.28, and the agency has time to investigate before you can file. Missing any of these deadlines ends the claim, no matter how strong it is.

What we do in the first 72 hours after you call

The first three days decide more of a car accident case than the next three months. When you retain us, this is what happens before the weekend:

• We take over insurance contact. Letters of representation go to every carrier with a stake in your crash: the at-fault driver’s liability insurer, your PIP carrier, and your uninsured motorist carrier. From that point, adjusters talk to us, not to you.
• We get the crash report and the evidence behind it. Florida Traffic Crash Reports are available to the parties within days through the FLHSMV crash portal. We request the full long-form report, officer body-camera footage where it exists, 911 recordings, and any traffic or business camera footage near the scene, most of which is overwritten within 30 days.
• We send preservation letters. Vehicles, event data recorders, dash cam footage, phone records and dispatch logs are preserved by written demand before they can be repaired, sold or deleted. In a crash with a commercial vehicle, that letter also covers driver logs and maintenance records.
• We protect your PIP and medical record. We confirm treatment within the 14-day window, see that the emergency medical condition finding is documented when it applies, and connect you with physicians who will treat you now and document the permanence question the threshold requires.
• We find every policy. Bodily injury liability, umbrella, employer coverage if the driver was working, the vehicle owner’s policy, your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and resident-relative policies in your household. Many Florida claims are underpaid because nobody looked past the first policy.

What to do after a car accident in Florida

If you are reading this at the scene or in the days after, these steps protect your health and your claim.

• Get to safety and call 911. Florida law requires a report for any crash with injury, death or apparent property damage of $500 or more, and that describes nearly every crash. Stay until law enforcement arrives.
• Photograph everything. Both vehicles from all sides, license plates, the other driver’s license and insurance card, skid marks, debris, traffic signals, weather and road conditions, and your visible injuries.
• Get witness names and numbers. Independent witnesses are the fastest way to settle a fault dispute, and they are gone in minutes.
• Describe, don’t apologize. Tell the officer what happened. Do not estimate speed, guess at distances or say you are sorry; each one becomes a fault admission in the adjuster’s file.
• See a doctor within 14 days. Sooner is better. Adrenaline hides soft-tissue, disc and head injuries, and the 14-day PIP rule has no exceptions.
• Report the crash to your own insurer, briefly. Your policy requires notice. Give the date, place and vehicles involved, and nothing more until you have spoken with a lawyer.
• Do not give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement, and do not sign a medical authorization or accept a check. Early offers are made before anyone knows what the injury is.
• Keep a file. Every bill, receipt, missed workday, mileage to appointments and a short daily note on pain and limits. Juries and adjusters believe records more than recollections.

Who pays for a Florida car accident

Florida’s minimum required coverage is $10,000 in PIP and $10,000 in property damage liability. Bodily injury liability coverage is not required at all, which is why finding every available source of recovery matters more here than in most states.

• The at-fault driver’s bodily injury liability coverage, when the driver carries it and your injuries meet the threshold.
• The vehicle’s owner. Under Florida’s dangerous instrumentality doctrine, the owner who lent the car is liable for the driver’s negligence, subject to the limits in section 324.021 when the owner is an individual rather than a business.
• An employer, when the driver was working: delivery drivers, sales representatives, commercial fleets, and rideshare drivers, who carry a $1 million policy while a ride is active.
• Your uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, section 627.727. About one Florida driver in five carries no insurance, and many more carry too little. UM coverage on your own policy pays what the at-fault driver cannot, and using it does not raise your rates. Our guide to uninsured-driver crashes covers how these claims work.
• A government agency, for crashes involving police, county and city vehicles, buses and road hazards, under section 768.28, with its pre-suit notice requirement and caps of $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident unless the Legislature passes a claims bill.
• A bar or restaurant that knowingly served a habitual drunkard or a minor, under section 768.125, in drunk driving crashes.
• A trucking company and its broker in a commercial truck crash, where federal rules add insurance minimums and record-keeping duties.

Compensation in a Florida car accident claim

Economic damages are the measurable losses: emergency care, surgery, therapy, future treatment, medication, lost wages, lost earning capacity, household help, mileage, and property damage. Non-economic damages compensate pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life, and they are available from the at-fault party only when the injury threshold is met. A spouse may have a separate claim for loss of consortium.

Two 2023 changes affect how these numbers are proven. Under section 768.0427, evidence of past medical bills is limited to amounts actually paid or owed, and treatment under a letter of protection must be disclosed with the referral relationship, so we build the medical damages case around the actual charges and the treating physicians’ testimony from the start. And punitive damages, which punish rather than compensate, remain available for intentional misconduct or gross negligence under section 768.72, with the usual cap lifted for drivers impaired by alcohol or drugs under section 768.736.

Florida has no cap on compensatory damages in a car accident case against a private driver. The practical limit is the insurance available, which is why the policy search above is where most of the value in a claim is found.

When the insurance company won’t pay what it owes

Florida requires insurers to settle claims fairly when they could and should have done so, and an insurer that refuses can be liable for the full judgment, beyond its policy limits, under section 624.155. The 2023 reform gave carriers a safe harbor: a liability insurer that tenders its policy limits within 90 days of receiving actual notice of a claim, with sufficient evidence to support it, cannot be sued for bad faith on that claim. That rule changed how claims are presented. Our demand packages are built to start the 90-day clock with evidence an insurer cannot credibly dispute, so the choice it faces is to pay its limits or accept the exposure above them.

When a case does not settle, we file suit in the county where the crash happened or where the defendant lives, in county court for claims up to $50,000 and in circuit court above that. Most car accident cases still resolve before trial, through negotiation or mediation, but they resolve at full value only when the other side knows the firm will try the case.

Car accident results

Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a future outcome. These recoveries show the kinds of motor vehicle cases the firm handles and what they have been worth to our clients:

• $2,000,000 for a family in a wrongful death truck accident
• $2,000,000 for a pedestrian struck by a vehicle
• $1,250,000 in a hit-and-run with an uninsured driver
• $1,004,722 for a rideshare passenger
• $975,000 in a car accident
• $900,000 for a child passenger injured in a car accident

See more case results.

Where we handle car accident cases

Kemp Law Group represents car accident victims throughout Florida and in Georgia. Our office is at 11567 Trinity Boulevard in Trinity, in Pasco County, and we meet clients by phone, video and in person wherever the case requires. Many of our Tampa Bay clients start on one of these pages:

• Pinellas County, Pasco County and Hernando County
• Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Palm Harbor, New Port Richey, Trinity, Wesley Chapel, Land O’ Lakes, Spring Hill and Brandon

Across the rest of the state, see our pages for South Florida, Central Florida, Southwest Florida and North Florida, and for crashes across the state line, Georgia personal injury.

Frequently asked questions about Florida car accidents

How much does a car accident lawyer cost in Florida?

Nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee, which means the fee is a percentage of the recovery and is paid only if we win. The Florida Bar sets the maximum percentages, and our contract follows them. If there is no recovery, you owe no fee.

How long do I have to file a car accident lawsuit in Florida?

Two years from the date of the crash for negligence claims, and two years from the date of death for wrongful death. Claims against government agencies have an additional written-notice requirement before suit. Evidence disappears long before the deadline, so the useful answer is: call as soon as you are medically able.

Should I give the other driver’s insurance company a recorded statement?

No. You have no legal obligation to give the at-fault driver’s insurer a statement, and under Florida’s comparative negligence rule anything you say that shifts fault to you reduces your recovery or ends it. Your own insurer may be entitled to your cooperation under your policy; we prepare clients for that statement and attend it.

What if I was partly at fault for the crash?

If you were 50 percent or less at fault, your recovery is reduced by your percentage. If you were more than 50 percent at fault, Florida law bars recovery entirely. Fault is decided by evidence, not by the adjuster’s first opinion, and the percentage the insurer proposes is a negotiating position, not a verdict.

What if the driver who hit me has no insurance or fled the scene?

Your own uninsured motorist coverage pays for your injuries as if it were the at-fault driver’s policy, including in a hit-and-run where the driver is never found. If you did not buy UM coverage, we look for every other source: a resident relative’s policy, the vehicle owner’s coverage, an employer, or a PIP claim with an emergency medical condition finding. One of our largest recoveries, $1,250,000, came from a hit-and-run with an uninsured driver.

Do I have to go to court?

Most Florida car accident claims settle before a lawsuit is filed, and most lawsuits settle before trial. We prepare every case as if it will be tried, because that preparation is what produces full-value settlements. If your case needs a trial, our attorneys try cases in county and circuit courts across Florida.

How long will my case take?

A claim with clear fault and completed treatment can resolve in a few months. A case with a disputed threshold injury, ongoing treatment or a lawsuit takes a year or more. We do not settle until you have reached maximum medical improvement or your doctors can project your future care, because a settlement is final and cannot be reopened when a condition worsens.

Can I still recover if I wasn’t wearing a seat belt?

Yes. Failure to wear a seat belt is not a bar to recovery in Florida. Under section 316.614, the defense may argue your injuries would have been less severe, and a jury can assign a percentage of fault for it. The argument requires proof, and we contest it.

If you or someone you love was hurt in a car accident anywhere in Florida, call (727) 847-4878 or request a free case review online. We answer 24 hours a day, and you pay nothing unless we win.