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Florida's Motor Vehicle NO-FAULT Law
For those clients who have been involved in motor vehicle accidents, this will attempt to assist you in understanding what is involved under Florida's No-Fault law and what is required for you to bring a civil lawsuit for damages to be filed for injuries sustained in most motor vehicle accidents. Not all motor vehicle accidents come under the no-fault law, but the majority will be covered by this law. Your attorney will specifically determine whether or not the circumstances of your accident require the no-fault threshold or minimum requirements of injury to be met before the claim may be brought. The current provisions of Florida law require that claimants of personal injuries meet a minimum requirement which is commonly referred to as the "personal injury threshold". The injury to meet or exceed this threshold must consist at least in part of:
Unless you have sustained severe injuries with fractures or extensive scarring, in most circumstances it will take many months of medical evaluation and treatment before your doctor is able to make a determination as to whether or not your injuries meet the threshold requirement. For a doctor to be able to determine, in many circumstances, whether your injury is "permanent" it is usually necessary for him to wait until your treatment has progressed to the point where there is no longer any significant chance of further healing which is called the point of "maximum medical improvement" or "MMI".
When your doctor has determined that you have reached the point of MMI after having progressed through the recommended course of treatment, he will proceed to evaluate your condition and to report this final evaluation to us in writing. In many cases the doctor will include a percentage rating of your disability in the report. The insurance companies use this percentage rating as strong evidence to support their positions with a zero or minimal disability rating being interpreted as not meeting the legal threshold or the injury is of minimal significance. The higher the disability rating in most circumstances, the greater the value the insurance company is likely to place on your case.
The expert opinion of your doctor regarding the nature, extent and permanency of your injuries is a very important element for us to use in determining whether or not you have a valid claim and further in determining the value of your claim. It is imperative that you cooperate thoroughly and completely with your doctor, comply with his requests and instructions and provide him with all necessary information as we have informed you through this manual and through our staff.
Under Florida law, the doctor is able to consider the permanent nature of your injuries based upon the subjective or verbal complaints you express to him over the course of your treatment. It is important for you to be truthful and not exaggerate any of your complaints. You must fully describe and advise him of every complaint or problem which you have been suffering related to your injuries. If necessary, write them down before each appointment so you do not forget them at the time of your examination.
If your doctor does not find that you have sustained a permanent injury or injuries or any of the other elements which meet the threshold allowing you to proceed with a claim for intangible damages, you still may have a claim for the financial losses you have sustained beyond which your insurance has paid for medical care and treatment, or a loss of income or wages. This amount obviously is limited since under most circumstances you will not have injuries. Furthermore, it is difficult to proceed in a lawsuit for these elements alone since under a contingency contract a significant portion of this recovery of established financial losses will go to attorneys fees and costs. It is, in most circumstances, not advisable to proceed as such for those damages alone, and in most conditions, our firm would not be in a position to assist solely for those elements.
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