What is the Florida Permanent Injury Threshold in an Auto Accident?
Florida is a no-fault insurance state, which means in most injury accidents your insurance coverage pays for damages up to your policy limits. However, when damages are serious and beyond your policy’s limits, a Jacksonville auto accident attorney can determine whether the other party in the accident can be held at fault. By suing another driver for negligence, you may be able to recoup the rest of your damages based on that driver’s insurance policy.
For example, suppose your insurance company paid 70 percent of your bodily injury expenses and 60 percent of your gross wage losses. Your attorney may be able to sue the other driver who caused the accident to recover the other 30 percent of bodily injury and 40 percent of wage-loss damages. These are economic damages. To pursue non-economic damages such as pain, suffering, mental anguish and inconvenience because of bodily injury, a case must meet the permanent injury threshold requirements of Florida statute §627.737(2) which are:
- Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function
- Permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring and disfigurement
- Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement
- Death
An experienced auto accident lawyer in Jacksonville can review the circumstances of your case and help maximize your recovery.
The Gillette Law Firm brings decades of experience to every case we handle, offers a free consultation to discuss your auto accident injury and only charges fees when we are successful in recovering compensation.
