If you were hurt in a crash, a Sarasota car accident attorney can help you understand a system that works differently from most states. Florida is a no-fault state: your own personal injury protection (PIP) coverage pays 80% of your medical bills and 60% of lost income, up to $10,000, no matter who caused the crash, as long as you get medical care within 14 days.
You can pursue the at-fault driver for losses PIP does not cover, and for pain and suffering once your injury meets Florida’s permanent-injury threshold. In most cases, you have two years from the crash to file a lawsuit.
At Shapiro Delgado, we help injured people across Sarasota County sort out which insurance pays, what it will not pay, and how to recover the rest. Our attorneys bring over 100 years of combined legal experience to that work, and we handle the insurance adjusters and legal filings so you can focus on your health and your family.
We are available 24/7, and your consultation is free. Call us at (941) 954-4000.
Yes, but PIP shapes what you can sue for. Florida law exempts the at-fault driver from liability for the portion of your losses that PIP pays. For costs beyond PIP, such as medical bills above your $10,000 limit or the 40% of lost income PIP does not replace, you can bring a claim against the driver who caused the crash.
Pain and suffering is where the threshold matters. Under Florida’s no-fault tort limitation, you can recover damages for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience only if your injury includes at least one of the following:
Whether your injury meets this standard usually comes down to medical evidence, which is why your treating physicians’ records and opinions carry so much weight. Our Sarasota auto accident attorneys work with your doctors to document how an injury affects your body and your life over time, not only on the day of the crash.
PIP is the first insurance that responds to your car accident injuries, and its rules are strict. Under Florida’s PIP statute, medical benefits are available only if you receive initial care within 14 days of the crash from a qualifying provider, such as a hospital, an emergency transport provider, a physician, a chiropractic physician, a dentist, or a registered advanced practice registered nurse.
The amount PIP pays for medical care also depends on a medical finding. If a qualifying provider determines you had an emergency medical condition, PIP medical benefits can reach the full $10,000.
If a provider determines you did not, medical reimbursement is limited to $2,500. That difference catches many people off guard, especially when pain from a neck or back injury builds slowly in the days after a crash.
PIP covers you whether you were driving, riding as a passenger, or walking when a car struck you, subject to the policy’s terms. It does not cover damage to your car; that falls under property damage coverage. And the $10,000 limit is shared between medical and lost-income benefits, so a serious injury can exhaust it quickly.
Florida lawmakers have filed bills to repeal the no-fault system in recent sessions, but none has become law, and PIP remains required as of 2026.
Many of the crashes we see trace back to a handful of corridors that carry most of the county’s traffic. Each one creates its own kind of risk, and knowing the road often helps us understand how a collision happened.
US-41, known locally as Tamiami Trail, runs through downtown Sarasota and past Sarasota Memorial Hospital, mixing through traffic with drivers turning into shopping centers, neighborhoods, and beach routes. Frequent driveways and turn lanes make rear-end and left-turn collisions common here.
I-75 carries commuters, commercial trucks, and seasonal visitors through the eastern side of the county. Highway speeds and sudden slowdowns near the Fruitville Road and Bee Ridge Road interchanges can turn a moment of inattention into a multi-vehicle crash.
Fruitville Road and Bee Ridge Road are the east-west arteries that connect I-75 to the city. Busy signalized intersections, such as Bee Ridge Road at Cattlemen Road, see red-light violations, distracted driving, and failure-to-yield crashes. Traffic on all of these roads climbs during the winter season, when part-time residents and visitors unfamiliar with local roads add to the load.
Proving fault means showing that another driver failed to drive with reasonable care and that this failure caused your injuries. The insurance company will not simply accept your account, so we build the case from several kinds of evidence at once:
When the facts are disputed, we can bring in accident reconstruction professionals to explain how the collision occurred. The earlier this work starts, the more evidence is still available to find.
Insurers often argue that you share the blame, because every percentage point of fault assigned to you reduces what they pay. Under Florida’s comparative fault law, your recovery is reduced by your share of fault, and if you are found more than 50% at fault for your own injuries, you cannot recover damages from the other driver.
Here is how that works in practice. Suppose your losses total $100,000 and a jury finds you 20% at fault for changing lanes without enough room. You would recover $80,000. If the jury instead found you 51% at fault, you would recover nothing.
Because the line between those outcomes can turn on a single piece of evidence, pushing back on unfair fault arguments is one of the most important parts of our work.
The steps you take in the first days and weeks after a crash can protect both your PIP benefits and your claim against the at-fault driver. This is the sequence we recommend:
If you are already past some of these steps, a claim may still be possible. Our team can review where things stand and what options remain.
Compensation after a car accident covers both the losses with a price tag and the human cost of an injury. Depending on your situation and whether your injury meets Florida’s threshold, a claim may include:
When an injury is permanent, we work with medical professionals and life-care planners to estimate costs years into the future. We do not want you facing bills five years from now because they were left out of a settlement today.
How much you can actually collect often depends on the available insurance. The standard minimum a Florida driver must carry is $10,000 in PIP and $10,000 in property damage liability, and bodily injury liability coverage is not part of that standard minimum.
If the at-fault driver has little or no coverage for your injuries, uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy may fill the gap, if you have it. We review every policy that may apply, including coverage held by vehicle owners and employers when a driver was working at the time of the crash.
For most car accidents, you have two years from the date of the crash to file a negligence lawsuit under Florida’s statute of limitations. If you miss that deadline, a court will likely dismiss your case, however strong it is.
Some situations follow different rules. Claims against a government agency, such as a crash involving a city or county vehicle, carry separate notice requirements that must be met before suit. Certain circumstances can also pause or extend the deadline. Because these exceptions depend on the facts, it is safest to treat two years as the outer limit and start well before it.
Insurance companies are businesses, and their adjusters are trained to close claims for as little as possible. A quick offer can look generous until you add up months of treatment and missed work. Having a personal injury attorney changes that dynamic: once we represent you, the insurer deals with us, and we value your claim based on the full record rather than the first few weeks of bills.
We also give you room to recover. You can attend your appointments and rest at home while we handle the calls, the paperwork, and the deadlines. Shapiro Delgado has served injured people from our Sarasota office at 308 Cocoanut Avenue for years, and we know the roads, the hospitals, and the courts our clients deal with after a crash.
If you do not receive initial medical care within 14 days of a Florida car accident, PIP medical benefits are generally not payable. You may still have a claim against the at-fault driver, but the delay can give the insurer room to argue your injuries were not caused by the crash, so getting evaluated promptly matters.
Yes, insurers often argue that an injured driver shares fault, because Florida reduces recovery by the injured person’s percentage of fault and bars recovery entirely above 50%. Evidence such as video, event data recorder information, and witness statements is the best answer to an unfair fault argument.
A Florida wrongful death claim after a fatal car accident generally must be filed within two years of the date of death, which may differ from the date of the crash. We know how hard it is to think about legal deadlines while grieving, and speaking with an attorney early lets your family understand its options without rushing decisions.
If the at-fault driver in a Florida crash is uninsured or underinsured, your own PIP still pays first, and uninsured motorist coverage on your policy may cover additional losses if you carry it. Other responsible parties, such as a vehicle owner or employer, may also have coverage that applies.
You are not required to give the other driver’s insurance company a recorded statement after a Florida car accident. Statements given while you are in pain or still sorting out what happened can be used to limit your claim, so it is wise to let your attorney handle that communication.
Shapiro Delgado handles car accident cases on a contingency fee basis, so there are no upfront fees, and we are paid only if we recover compensation for you. Your first consultation is free.
Florida’s 14-day PIP rule, the injury threshold, and the two-year filing deadline all start running the day of the crash, and each one can affect what you recover.
If you were injured on Tamiami Trail, I-75, or any road in Sarasota County, we can review your situation, explain which coverage applies, and outline your next steps. Call Shapiro Delgado at (941) 954-4000 for a free consultation, any time of day or night.
Every case is different, and results depend on the specific facts of your case. This page provides general information and is not legal advice.
