Excess Judgment Risk After a Rejected Policy Limits Offer

Attorney Answer

Yes, be concerned — anything a jury awards above your policy limits is your money, not the insurance company's. But the fact that your insurer already tendered the full limits and the other side turned that down is a significant fact, and one your own lawyer can evaluate. That is the call to make this week, separate from the insurer's assigned lawyer.

Start with what your policy does for you. It obligates the company to defend the lawsuit at its expense, through trial, and to pay a judgment up to your limits. The lawyer who appears for you is paid by the insurer but represents you. "My insurance is not helping" often means nobody has explained that.

Above those limits, the exposure is personal — the real risk here, and the reason the tender matters. Florida has a statute aimed at insurer conduct. Fla. Stat. § 624.155 lets a person sue an insurer for, among other things, not attempting in good faith to settle a claim when, under all the circumstances, it could and should have done so, with due regard for the insured's interests. It has a gate: § 624.155(3)(a) provides that "As a condition precedent to bringing an action under this section, the department and the authorized insurer must have been given 60 days' written notice of the violation." Whether any of that fits your situation is a strategic legal judgment. Ask a lawyer; do not send one yourself.

On liability, be realistic. Florida applies a presumption that a driver who rear-ends the vehicle in front was negligent. It can be rebutted, but it starts the case against you, and it is judge-made rather than statutory.

On damages, do not read $280,000 in billed charges as a $280,000 verdict. Billed amounts, amounts actually paid, and what a jury finds reasonable and related to the crash are three different numbers, and a low-speed impact is precisely where that gets fought. There is also a legal gate on part of the claim. Fla. Stat. § 627.737(2) allows recovery in tort for pain, suffering, mental anguish and inconvenience "only in the event that the injury or disease consists in whole or in part of: (a) Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function. (b) Permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring or disfigurement. (c) Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement. (d) Death." Medical bills and lost income beyond no-fault benefits are not gated by that.

And if she contributed to the crash at all, the date matters. For accidents before March 24, 2023, Fla. Stat. § 768.81(2) provided: "In a negligence action, contributory fault chargeable to the claimant diminishes proportionately the amount awarded as economic and noneconomic damages for an injury attributable to the claimant's contributory fault, but does not bar recovery." That was pure comparative fault — a share of blame cut the award and barred nothing. The Legislature changed the rule in 2023 for later accidents; which version reaches an older crash is a lawyer's question, not a page's.

What you can do

1. Ask your insurer in writing for your full policy and declarations page, and keep the request.

2. Ask the defense lawyer assigned to you, in writing, what your limits are and whether you have been sent a letter about exposure above them.

3. Do not speak with the other side's lawyer, and do not give any statement except through your defense counsel.

4. Keep every letter and email from the insurer, the adjuster and the defense lawyer, in date order.

5. Meet every deadline in the lawsuit paperwork, and forward anything you are served with to your insurer the same day.

6. Consult your own personal lawyer about the excess exposure and about whether a civil remedy notice under § 624.155 is appropriate.

7. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts — the dates, the paperwork, the exact wording — is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Florida's limitations statute is Fla. Stat. § 95.11. For a crash before March 24, 2023, a negligence claim ran under the former four-year period; the Legislature shortened the negligence period in 2023 for later accidents, and whether the old period or the new reaches an older crash is a question for a Florida attorney on your actual dates. I am not going to compute a deadline from a few lines of text. Take the real dates to a lawyer, sooner than feels necessary. Deadlines inside a pending lawsuit are shorter and independent, and missing one can cost you the case without a hearing.