Car Accident Lawyer in Miami, Florida

A car crash in Miami is decided by two things most people do not think about in the first week: the 14 days you have to see a doctor, and whether the driver who hit you carries any injury coverage at all. Florida Injury Team connects people hurt in crashes across Miami-Dade County with an independent Florida law firm. The consultation is free, and you pay nothing unless the firm recovers money for you.

Where crashes happen in Miami-Dade

• I-95 and the Golden Glades interchange, where four highways converge
• SR 826, the Palmetto Expressway, and its interchanges with SR 836 and I-75
• SR 836, the Dolphin Expressway, between the airport and downtown
• US-1 / South Dixie Highway through Coral Gables, South Miami and Kendall
• Biscayne Boulevard, NW 7th Avenue and Flagler Street, wide arterials with frequent left-turn and pedestrian crashes
• The MacArthur, Julia Tuttle and Rickenbacker causeways
• Okeechobee Road and Florida’s Turnpike, where commuter traffic mixes with freight

The two Florida rules that decide most Miami claims

The 14-day rule. Florida Statute 627.736 requires you to receive initial medical care within 14 days of the crash. Miss it and your own personal injury protection pays nothing, not one bill. PIP covers up to $10,000, but only $2,500 unless a physician documents an emergency medical condition.

No mandatory injury coverage. Florida requires drivers to carry PIP and $10,000 in property damage liability. It does not require bodily injury liability. Many drivers in Miami-Dade carry none, which means the person who hurt you may have nothing to pay your claim with. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage then becomes the most important policy in the case. Check your declarations page before you speak with any adjuster.

Two more rules shape every claim. Negligence lawsuits from crashes on or after March 24, 2023 must generally be filed within two years. And under modified comparative negligence you recover only if you were 50% or less at fault, with your award reduced by your share.

What to do in the first days

1. Get medical care within 14 days, ideally the same day. Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital is the Level I trauma center serving Miami-Dade. Whiplash, concussions and disc injuries often appear days later.
2. Get the crash report. Expressway crashes are worked by Florida Highway Patrol Troop E. Inside city limits the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office or the City of Miami Police respond. Reports are sold through the FLHSMV Crash Portal for $10 and are confidential for 60 days.
3. Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer. You are not required to.
4. Photograph everything before the cars are moved or repaired, and collect witness names and numbers.
5. Look for video. Intersections, buses, businesses and doorbell cameras record Miami constantly, and most footage is overwritten within days.
6. Stay off social media about the crash or your recovery.

Pain and suffering: the permanent injury threshold

Because Florida is a no-fault state, you cannot recover pain and suffering from the at-fault driver unless your injury meets the threshold in Florida Statute 627.737: significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death. Medical expenses and lost wages are recoverable without meeting it. This is why the medical record, and the language a treating physician uses in it, carries so much weight.

Who can be held responsible

• The driver who caused the crash
• That driver’s employer, if they were working
• The owner of the vehicle, under Florida’s dangerous instrumentality doctrine, when someone else was driving with permission
• A bar or vendor in narrow dram shop situations under Florida Statute 768.125
• A manufacturer, when a defective tire, airbag or seatbelt worsened the injury
• A government entity for a road defect, which carries its own notice rules and damage caps
• Your own UM/UIM insurer, when the at-fault driver has little or no coverage

Where a Miami car accident case is handled

Lawsuits from crashes in Miami-Dade are filed in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit at the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, 73 West Flagler Street. Most cases settle, but the firm builds each one on the medical record, the crash report and the evidence gathered in the first weeks, because that is what determines the number an insurer is willing to pay.

How the referral works

Florida Injury Team is not a law firm. When you call, we take the basic facts and connect you with an independent, licensed Florida law firm that handles car accident claims in Miami-Dade. The firm reviews your case for free. If it takes the case, it works on contingency: no fees unless it wins. Before you hire any lawyer, you can ask that lawyer for written information about their qualifications and experience.