What Makes an Injury Catastrophic?
No single legal definition applies to every Florida injury case. In general, an injury is catastrophic when it causes permanent harm that limits a person's ability to work, care for themselves, or live as they did before. One Florida statute, written for medical malpractice cases, defines a catastrophic injury as a permanent impairment from one of a short list of injuries: a spinal cord injury with severe paralysis of an arm, a leg, or the trunk; amputation of an arm, hand, foot, or leg; a severe brain or closed-head injury; second- or third-degree burns over 25% or more of the body, or third-degree burns of 5% or more to the face and hands; total blindness; or loss of reproductive organs that leaves a person unable to have children.
The catastrophic injuries we handle include:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries and paralysis
- Amputations and the loss of use of a limb
- Severe burns
- Permanent scarring and disfigurement
- Loss of vision or hearing
Brain injuries and spinal cord injuries each raise their own medical questions, and we cover them in more detail on their own pages. This page explains what these cases have in common: how they are valued, where the money to pay for them comes from, and the Florida rules that apply.
A consultation with us is free, and there is no obligation. If we take your case, you owe no fee and no costs unless we recover money for you.
How Catastrophic Injury Claims Are Valued
In a catastrophic injury case, many of the biggest losses are still ahead: years of medical care, help at home, and income the injured person may never be able to earn. Proving those future losses usually takes a team.
- Treating doctors: Your doctors explain the diagnosis, whether the injury is permanent, and what treatment you are likely to need.
- Life-care planners: A life-care plan lays out the medical care, therapy, equipment, medications, home care, and changes to a home or vehicle you are expected to need over your lifetime, with the cost of each.
- Vocational experts: A vocational expert looks at your education, skills, and limits to show what work you can still do, if any, and how the injury affects what you could have earned.
- Economists: An economist adds up future medical costs and lost earning capacity and calculates their value in today's dollars, which is how Florida juries are told to measure future economic losses.
Some losses have no price tag: pain, mental anguish, disability, disfigurement, and the loss of the ability to enjoy life. Florida's jury instructions say there is no exact standard for measuring these losses, and the amount should be fair and just in light of the evidence. That is why it matters to show a jury how the injury changed your daily life.
Finding Every Source of Insurance
The cost of a catastrophic injury can be far more than one insurance policy will pay. Florida generally does not require drivers to carry bodily injury liability insurance, which pays for injuries they cause to others, so the at-fault driver may have little or no coverage for your injuries. That makes a careful search for other coverage essential. Depending on the facts, sources can include:
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) coverage. If you have UM coverage (it is optional in Florida), it can pay for your injuries when the at-fault driver has no insurance or not enough. A family member's policy may also apply.
- Umbrella policies, which add coverage on top of a person's auto or homeowners policy. Some umbrella policies also include UM coverage.
- Commercial policies carried by businesses, trucking companies, and property owners, which may have higher limits than a personal policy.
- The vehicle owner or the driver's employer. Florida law can make a vehicle's owner responsible when someone else drives it with permission, and an employer responsible for an employee's carelessness on the job, though limits and exceptions apply.
- Makers and sellers of a defective product that caused or worsened the injury.
- Workers' compensation, if you were hurt on the job, along with a separate claim against an outside party, such as another driver or an equipment maker, who caused the injury.
Florida generally makes each at-fault party pay only its own share of the damages, based on its percentage of fault. That is another reason to identify everyone who played a part early in the case.
Florida Laws You Should Know
Deadline to file a lawsuit
The deadline depends on the type of claim. For injuries caused by negligence that happened after March 24, 2023, Florida generally gives you two years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit. Injuries on or before that date generally have four years. Other claims, such as medical malpractice, defective product, and wrongful death claims, have their own deadline rules, including when the time starts to run. If you miss the deadline, you can lose your claim entirely, so talk to a lawyer as early as possible.
Shared fault
In most negligence cases, Florida uses modified comparative negligence. If you are partly at fault, your recovery is reduced by your share of the blame. If you are found more than 50% at fault, you generally cannot recover anything.
Injuries from car crashes
To recover for pain and suffering from the at-fault driver after a car crash, Florida law generally requires that the crash caused a permanent injury (within a reasonable degree of medical probability), significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, a significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, or a death. Permanent injuries such as paralysis, amputation, or lasting brain damage generally meet this standard when they are supported by medical evidence. Florida appeals courts have held that this standard does not apply to a motorcycle rider suing a driver, because PIP does not cover riders.
Claims against the government
When a government agency or employee causes an injury, such as a crash involving a city vehicle or a dangerous condition on public property, written notice must be given before a lawsuit can be filed, and there are limits on damages. These rules are strict, so call a lawyer quickly.
What Compensation Can You Recover?
Every case is different, but compensation in a Florida catastrophic injury claim can include:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Rehabilitation, therapy, and medical equipment
- Attendant care and nursing care at home
- Home and vehicle modifications
- Lost wages and lost earning capacity
- Pain and suffering, disability, and mental anguish
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium for a spouse
For most injuries from a car crash, pain and suffering and similar losses can be recovered from the at-fault driver only if the injury meets the standard described above. Family members may have claims of their own, which we explain in the questions below.
How We Build a Catastrophic Injury Case
- Free consultation: Tell us what happened. We explain in plain terms whether you have a claim and what comes next.
- Investigation: We gather reports, video, photos, and witness statements, and we identify every person, company, and insurance policy that may be responsible.
- Medical and financial proof: We work with your doctors and, when the case calls for it, life-care planners, economists, and vocational experts to document what the injury will cost over your lifetime.
- Demand and negotiation: We present the full claim to every insurer involved and negotiate for a fair settlement.
- Lawsuit and trial if needed: If the insurers won't offer a fair amount, we file suit and prepare your case for a jury.