Negligence is the legal foundation beneath most injury cases. Understanding how it works, and how the fault rules differ, matters to your claim.
To prevail on a negligence claim, an injured person generally must prove that the defendant owed a duty of care, breached that duty, caused the injury as a result, and that actual damages followed. Every injury case is built on these elements, and a defense will often target whichever one is weakest.
Under changes enacted by House Bill 837 in 2023, the general deadline to file a negligence lawsuit in Florida is now two years from the date of the injury under Section 95.11(5)(a) of the Florida Statutes, reduced from the four-year period that applied to injuries occurring before March 24, 2023.
The same 2023 law adopted a modified comparative negligence standard under Section 768.81, which bars recovery entirely for a plaintiff found to be more than fifty percent at fault for their own injury. Below that threshold, a recovery is reduced in proportion to the plaintiff's share of fault.
Florida's move in 2023 to a modified comparative negligence standard with a greater-than-fifty-percent bar was a significant change from its prior pure comparative negligence system, under which a plaintiff could recover even when mostly at fault, with the award reduced by their share of blame. Under the current rule, crossing the fifty percent line eliminates recovery entirely, which raises the stakes on how fault is apportioned.
In the District of Columbia, the deadline to file most personal injury lawsuits is three years from the date of the injury.
The District follows the doctrine of contributory negligence, one of the strictest fault rules in the country, under which a plaintiff found even slightly at fault can be barred from recovering. A statutory exception softens this rule for pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users injured in vehicle collisions.
The contributory negligence doctrine that the District follows is one of the most defendant-friendly fault rules in the country, because even a small share of fault assigned to the injured person can bar recovery. This makes the presentation of fault, and the rebuttal of any claim that the plaintiff contributed to the injury, central to a District negligence case.
The firm builds negligence cases element by element, developing the evidence of duty and breach, establishing the causal link to the injury, and documenting the full extent of the damages. Because the fault rules in Florida and the District can each bar or reduce a recovery, the firm pays close attention to apportionment from the outset.
Alec Kohn handled a wide range of complex civil matters at a prominent civil litigation firm, from pre-suit demands through post-trial litigation, standing across from Fortune 500 companies and large defense firms. You work directly with the attorney handling your case, and the firm is reachable 24 hours a day.
The figures on this page are drawn from the following primary and secondary sources. Statutes and penalties change; this summary is reviewed by the firm and is not a substitute for legal advice on your specific matter.
