Suing an Uninsured At-Fault Driver for Florida Medical Bills

Attorney Answer

You can sue the at-fault driver personally, and their lack of insurance is not a defense — but the real question is collection, and for a driver with no bodily-injury coverage the honest answer is often that there is little to collect. That does not mean you should do nothing. There are two other places to look first.

First, understand why there was no bodily-injury coverage. Florida does not require most private drivers to carry any. Section 324.022(1) requires an owner or operator of a vehicle registered in this state to "establish and maintain the ability to respond in damages for liability on account of accidents arising out of the use of the motor vehicle in the amount of $10,000 because of damage to, or destruction of, property of others in any one crash" — property damage only — plus the personal injury protection coverage Florida separately requires. The familiar 10/20/10 figures live in § 324.021(7), which defines proof of financial responsibility. That is the after-the-fact track that can be required of a driver following a crash or an unsatisfied judgment, not a pre-crash insurance mandate. So a driver with no bodily-injury coverage was not necessarily breaking the law.

Second, look at your own coverage before you look at the other driver's. Your PIP under § 627.736(1) pays 80 percent of reasonable, medically necessary medical expenses and 60 percent of lost income within a $10,000 combined medical-and-disability limit — but § 627.736(1)(a) conditions medical benefits on receiving "initial services and care pursuant to subparagraph 1. within 14 days after the motor vehicle accident." If a PIP claim was never opened, open one.

Third, be sure you truly have no uninsured-motorist coverage. Under § 627.727(1), UM coverage must be included in a bodily-injury liability policy unless it is rejected, and the statute is specific: "However, the coverage required under this section is not applicable when, or to the extent that, an insured named in the policy makes a written rejection of the coverage on behalf of all insureds under the policy." A written rejection by a named insured is what removes it. It is worth asking your insurer for a copy of the signed rejection form, and worth asking whether a resident relative's policy might cover you.

On the claim itself: § 627.737(2) gates pain-and-suffering damages behind permanent injury or the statute's other listed categories, but your medical bills and lost wages are not gated by it. And if a share of fault is argued against you, for a crash before March 24, 2023, § 768.81(2) provided that contributory fault "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." The Legislature changed that rule in 2023 for later crashes.

Suing personally is real but slow. A judgment is only as good as what the person has, though an unpaid crash judgment can carry consequences for the driver's license under chapter 324's financial-responsibility provisions — leverage that sometimes produces payment. Florida also protects certain assets and wages from collection, so have someone assess this before you file.

What you can do

1. Open a PIP claim with your own insurer if you have not, and ask in writing what was paid and what was denied.

2. Ask your insurer for a copy of the signed uninsured-motorist rejection form. If they cannot produce one, tell a lawyer that.

3. Check whether any resident relative's auto policy might provide uninsured-motorist coverage for you.

4. Ask the hospital and each provider whether they offer financial assistance, charity care, or an income-based reduction, and apply. As a full-time student you may qualify, and this often reduces the balance more than a lawsuit would.

5. Ask a lawyer which court and which type of case fits the amount you are claiming before you file anything. Small claims has its own dollar limits and its own procedures, and filing in the wrong place costs time you cannot get back.

6. Keep every bill, every explanation of benefits, and every letter. Do not ignore collection notices.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts — the crash date, what your policy actually says, and what the driver may own — is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. For negligence claims arising before March 24, 2023, the former four-year period under the earlier text of § 95.11 applied; § 95.11(5)(a) now sets two years for later claims, and a 2023 law changed both the deadline and Florida's shared-fault rule. Uninsured-motorist claims run on their own contractual and statutory terms, which can differ. A Florida attorney should check these against your dates. This page does not calculate any date.