Injury Claim Filed After Saying No Injuries at the Scene

Attorney Answer

Yes, he can still bring the claim. Saying "I'm fine" at the scene does not close the door in Florida. What you can do is stop handling it yourself and put it in your insurer's hands — and be aware that the same rule that makes his statement look helpful to you may keep it out of evidence entirely.

Start there, because it is the point people get wrong. Fla. Stat. § 316.066(4) provides: "Except as specified in this subsection, each crash report made by a person involved in a crash and any statement made by such person to a law enforcement officer for the purpose of completing a crash report required by this section shall be without prejudice to the individual so reporting. Such report or statement may not be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal." The subsection carries its own exceptions — an officer may testify about such statements at a criminal trial where the privilege against self-incrimination is not violated, and breath, urine and blood test results are not made confidential by it. But the general rule cuts both ways: it protects what you said to the officer, and it may also keep out what he said. What he said directly to you, outside the report process, is a different matter.

Next, the structure of a Florida injury claim. His own personal injury protection coverage pays first, without regard to fault. Section 627.736(1) requires PIP up to a limit of $10,000 in medical and disability benefits, and § 627.736(1)(a) conditions the medical half on this: "Eighty percent of all reasonable expenses for medically necessary medical, surgical, X-ray, dental, and rehabilitative services, including prosthetic devices and medically necessary ambulance, hospital, and nursing services if the individual receives initial services and care pursuant to subparagraph 1. within 14 days after the motor vehicle accident." That 14-day window is why claimants often turn up at a doctor days after saying they were fine.

To reach you for pain and suffering, he has to clear a statutory gate. Section 627.737(2) allows a plaintiff to recover in tort for pain, suffering, mental anguish and inconvenience from a motor-vehicle injury "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." That is a medical showing and a real hurdle. But it gates pain-and-suffering damages only. Economic losses beyond what PIP pays — medical bills, lost wages — are not gated by it.

On the ticket: a citation is a traffic charge, not a finding of civil liability. Careless driving under § 316.1925(1) is a moving violation under chapter 318 — a citation, not a crime.

What you can do

1. Report the claim to your own auto insurer now, and send them everything you have received. Defending you against a bodily-injury claim is what your liability coverage is for.

2. Do not contact the other driver or his lawyer, and do not give a recorded statement to his insurer. Send those requests to your own insurer instead.

3. Keep what already exists: photographs, the crash report, the citation, dashcam footage, and any text messages. Delete nothing.

4. Ask a local lawyer how to handle the citation before you simply pay it. How a traffic ticket is resolved is a legal choice, not a clerical one.

5. Ask your insurer for your declarations page so you know your bodily-injury limits, and ask a local lawyer whether you need your own attorney alongside the one your insurer appoints if the claim could exceed them.

6. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts with someone who can ask you questions is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Your crash falls on the current side of Florida's 2023 change, so the deadline for a negligence claim is the two-year period in Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a). That is shorter than the four years that older articles still describe, and other facts — who the defendant is, what claims are involved — can move it. Have a Florida attorney confirm the deadline on your specific facts, and do not wait to ask. This page does not calculate your date.