When the At-Fault Driver Faces Criminal Charges Too

Attorney Answer

A criminal case against the other driver runs on a separate track from your fiancé's injury claim — it can help that claim, slow it down, or produce a restitution order, and none of that changes who is handling it for him. He already has an attorney. The most useful thing either of you can do is route everything through that attorney instead of around him.

Start by settling what was actually said. The sentence "he needed to get a criminal defense attorney" can be read two ways, and which person was meant matters enormously. One phone call to the lawyer who said it will resolve it, and it should be made before anyone acts on either reading.

If the point was about the other driver, here is the shape of it. A criminal case is brought by the State. The injured person is a victim and a witness, not a party, and has no control over whether charges are filed, reduced or dropped. A criminal court can order the defendant to pay restitution — under Fla. Stat. § 316.027(2)(d), for instance, a court sentencing a driver for leaving the scene of a crash that injured someone must order restitution to the victim unless it finds clear and compelling reasons not to. Restitution is not the same thing as the civil damages claim and generally does not replace it.

The practical effects on the civil case are why a plaintiff's lawyer flags this. A defendant facing charges will often decline to answer questions in a civil deposition, and civil proceedings are sometimes paused while the criminal case runs. That can slow an injury claim without weakening it, and how to handle the timing is a judgment call for his attorney.

Meanwhile his own coverage does not wait. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.736(1), personal injury protection pays up to $10,000 in medical and disability benefits, and the medical piece is: "Medical benefits. — 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." Lost income is paid at 60 percent under the same subsection — the part most often left unclaimed by someone who drives for a living. Beyond PIP, Fla. Stat. § 627.737(2) limits a claim for pain and suffering to injuries that meet a statutory threshold, but economic losses such as medical bills and wage loss are not gated by that threshold.

What you can do

1. Give every letter or filing from the other side to his attorney and answer none of it yourselves.

2. Ask that attorney directly which person he meant about criminal defense counsel, and ask him to say it in writing.

3. Keep the treatment records and the time-off-work records together as they come in. Wage loss has to be documented, usually by the employer.

4. Do not contact the other driver, and do not post about the crash. A pending criminal case makes anything either of you says interesting to two sets of lawyers.

5. Ask his attorney about the PIP wage-loss benefit specifically, since it is the piece that goes unclaimed most often.

6. Ask his attorney whether a criminal case is actually pending and what it does to the timing of his claim.

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

⏱ Time limits apply. On the civil side, a negligence claim runs under Fla. Stat. § 95.11, and which period applies depends on the date of the crash: for a crash before March 24, 2023, the former four-year period; for a crash on or after that date, two years under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a). The same 2023 law that shortened the period also changed Florida's shared-fault rule, so the crash date decides both. Have a Florida attorney key every deadline to your actual facts rather than working from either number here. Any criminal case against the other driver runs on its own schedule and does not extend the civil deadline. His attorney should confirm the governing period against the crash date before anything is assumed.