Truck Accident Claims in Florida

Florida applies the federal motor carrier safety regulations (49 C.F.R. parts 382-386 and 390-397) to owners and drivers of commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce, and to intrastate carriers as those rules existed on December 31, 2023, with state exceptions; for example, intrastate drivers not hauling placarded hazardous materials may drive up to 12 hours after 10 hours off duty and are subject to a 70-hour/7-day or 80-hour/8-day limit. Commercial motor vehicles must carry combined bodily injury and property damage liability of at least $50,000 (26,000 to under 35,000 lbs.), $100,000 (35,000 to under 44,000 lbs.) or $300,000 (44,000 lbs. or more) per occurrence, and vehicles subject to federal financial-responsibility rules must carry the federal minimums (49 C.F.R. part 387).

Modified comparative fault (51% bar). In negligence cases, an injured person's own fault reduces the damages proportionately, but a person found more than 50% at fault for his or her own harm recovers nothing. This bar does not apply to personal injury or wrongful death claims for medical negligence, where pure comparative fault applies. Each defendant generally pays only its own percentage of fault.

A lawsuit founded on negligence (such as most car-accident and slip-and-fall injury claims) must be filed within 2 years. Claims for assault, battery, false imprisonment and other intentional torts have 4 years, as do product-related injury claims.