What is the serious injury threshold in Florida?
Because Florida is a no-fault state, you can't recover non-economic damages — pain and suffering — from the at-fault driver unless your injury meets a statutory threshold.
The categories under § 627.737 involve significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability other than scarring or disfigurement, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, and death.
Permanency is the battleground. Most disputed cases turn on whether a physician will testify, within a reasonable degree of medical probability, that the injury is permanent. That's a medical opinion, and the defense will have its own.
What supports it: objective findings — imaging showing structural injury, documented range of motion deficits, consistent clinical findings over time — and a treating physician willing to state the opinion.
What undermines it: gaps in treatment, inconsistent reporting, and a purely subjective complaint with no objective correlate.
Economic damages — medical bills and lost wages beyond PIP — aren't subject to the threshold in the same way.
This turns on a doctor's permanency opinion. Consistent treatment is what supports it. ---
Talk to an Attorney — Free
An answer on a page isn't the same as advice about your case. Talk to an attorney who handles these matters on the Treasure Coast — free and confidential.