Florida injury rights, deadlines, and help

This page covers Florida injury deadlines and what to do right now. Florida's main deadline was cut in half in 2023, so a lot of advice online is out of date.

Are you in an emergency right now?
Check yourself and others for injuries, breathing, and bleeding.
Call 911 if anyone is hurt or the road is not safe.
Move away from traffic if you can do it safely.
Get medical care even if you feel fine. Some injuries hide for days.
This page is for after you are safe.

We are the injured person's advocate. We connect you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours, so you get the full settlement your recovery deserves. Always free. Talk to an advocate. We usually reply within minutes, at most one business day.

The deadline box: Florida's key time limits

Personal injury lawsuit: 2 years (it used to be 4). Under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a), negligence lawsuits must be filed within 2 years. A 2023 law (House Bill 837) cut the old 4-year deadline in half for claims that arose after March 24, 2023. Injuries from before that date keep the old 4-year clock. If you are relying on an older article that says "4 years," check the date of your injury carefully. (Source)
Work injury, report to your employer: 30 days. Under Fla. Stat. § 440.185(1), you must report the injury to your employer within 30 days. Report in writing and keep a copy. (Source)
Work injury, file the claim: 2 years. Under Fla. Stat. § 440.19, a petition for workers compensation benefits (the state system that pays for work injuries) is due within 2 years after you knew or should have known the injury came from work. If benefits are being paid, the clock pauses, and you then have 1 year from the last payment. (Source)
Injury involving the government: a written claim first. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6)(a), before you can sue a government body, you must present a written claim to the agency within 3 years (2 years for wrongful death), and for most agencies also to the Department of Financial Services. The lawsuit is then blocked until the claim is denied or 180 days pass. (Source)

Warning: don't wait! Florida's new 2-year injury clock is a trap, especially since the old 4-year advice is still floating around online, so people wait, and waiting kills cases. The longer you wait, the fuzzier memories get and documents get lost. Collect and save what you can, then talk to an advocate immediately. And important: medical claims against doctors or hospitals can have different, often shorter deadlines. Do not assume the standard rule covers a hospital or doctor case.

Protect your case

Talk to an advocate at WeHelpInjured. It is free.
If it happened at work, report it to your employer today, in writing. Keep a copy.
Write down what happened while it is fresh: date, time, place, people, and conditions.
Take photos of the scene, your injuries, and anything involved (a vehicle, a wet floor, a machine, a dog).
Get names and contact information for witnesses.
Write down the date of your injury and keep it somewhere safe. In Florida, that single date decides which deadline rules apply to you.

Never do these

Never give a recorded statement to an insurance company, even your own. Talk to an advocate first.
Never sign a release or accept a first settlement offer before you talk to an advocate. Once you sign, you may not be able to undo it.
Never admit fault at the scene. Stick to facts only.
Never post about your injury or recovery on social media. Insurers use these posts against you.

Common situations in Florida

Hurt at work. Florida's system pays medical costs and part of your wages, but it runs on two clocks: the 30-day report and the 2-year petition. People who let the employer "handle it" without a written report are the ones who end up fighting about whether they reported at all. Put it in writing.

Hurt on the road. The same 2023 law changed Florida's fault rule too. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6), Florida now uses modified comparative fault: if you are found more than 50 percent at fault for your own harm, you recover nothing. Before 2023, some fault only reduced your recovery. (Source)

This makes early evidence more valuable than ever, because the fault percentage now has a cliff in it.

Hurt on someone's property. Falls and unsafe conditions follow the 2-year clock.

For dog bites, under Fla. Stat. § 767.04, the owner is liable even if the dog never bit anyone before, though your own carelessness can reduce the recovery, and a visible "Bad Dog" sign on the owner's property can be a defense, with exceptions for young children. (Source)

A true story: the lawyer who guessed wrong about a Florida deadline

A Florida woman, Mrs. Mitchell, was bitten by a dog in 1970. She hired a lawyer who filed suit for her in 1973. Days before trial, he learned the dog had a history of biting people, which could have strengthened her case. He asked to add the new claim, was denied, and then voluntarily dismissed the whole case, planning to refile it stronger. He believed Florida gave him four years. He was wrong. The applicable limit was three years. When he refiled, the dog's owners raised the missed deadline and won. Her case was thrown out, and the Florida Supreme Court later wrote that the lawyer's mistake could itself be grounds for a negligence case against him. She recovered nothing through the courts. (Source: CourtListener)

That case ran under 1970s law and a different limitations clock than the 2-year and 4-year injury deadlines in the box above, so the "three years" is not a rule you can apply to your own claim today. The lesson has not changed: even a licensed lawyer can misread a deadline, especially in a state where the rules just changed. Ask your attorney to show you, in writing, exactly which time limit applies to your case. That is not rude. It is how you protect yourself.

Talk to an advocate. You do not have to sort out deadlines and lawyers alone.

What we can help with

We are on your side, and our help is free to injured people. We can help you:

Figure out which Florida deadline applies to your injury date, the new 2-year rule or the old 4-year rule
Understand why a written work-injury report, filed today, matters
Know what records, photos, and timeline details to keep
Connect with a lawyer who handles cases like yours, so you get the full settlement your recovery deserves

We do not give legal advice, and we never take money from injured people. We explain your rights in plain language and help you connect with a lawyer who handles cases like yours.

Talk to an advocate

If you or someone you love was hurt in Florida, you do not have to sort this out alone. Start the form or open the chat. Talk to an advocate. It is free and private.

Sources

Last reviewed: 2026-08-17

This is general information, not legal advice. Deadlines can change or vary with the facts. A licensed attorney can confirm the rule for your situation.

Injury types we cover in Florida

Pick what happened to see what applies.