Georgia and Florida

Georgia vs Florida Personal Injury Laws: A Comprehensive Legal Analysis

11 min read

  • 15 rules side by side
  • 12 sections

Florida bars recovery only when the injured person is more than 50 percent at fault, so a person found exactly 50 percent at fault still recovers half in Florida and nothing in Georgia. In Florida medical negligence cases there is no bar at all. Florida also adds a no-fault threshold for crash injuries, caps claims against government at $200,000 per person, and bars adult children from recovering for their grief when a parent dies from medical negligence.

Which state’s law applies

A Georgia court applies the law of the state where the injury happened. In Dowis v. Mud Slingers, Inc. (2005), the Supreme Court of Georgia held that “a tort action is governed by the substantive law of the state where the tort was committed.” A Florida crash sued in Georgia is therefore decided under Florida rules on fault and damages. Deadlines follow a different rule. In Harvey v. Merchan (2021), the Supreme Court of Georgia said that “[s]tatutes of limitations are generally procedural in nature, and therefore those of the forum state govern”, so a suit filed in Georgia generally runs on Georgia’s deadline, not Florida’s. The exception is a foreign statute that “creates a cause of action that is not recognized in the common law and includes a specific limitation period”: that period governs when it is shorter than Georgia’s. Whether a Georgia court can hear the case at all, which depends on jurisdiction over the defendant and on venue, is a separate question that these rules do not answer. Suing in Georgia does not move a claim against a Florida city or agency under Georgia’s government rules; Florida’s own immunity statute governs it. A Florida court applies its own choice-of-law rules, which should be checked before filing there.

Side by side

Topic Georgia Florida
Injured person's own fault Recovery reduced; barred at 50% or more (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33) Recovery reduced; barred if "greater than 50 percent at fault", in cases filed after March 24, 2023 (Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6); ch. 2023-15, § 30)
Fault in medical negligence cases Same 50% bar (§ 51-12-33) No bar; recovery reduced by the injured person's share (§ 768.81(6))
Defendants sharing fault Each pays only its own share, apart from concerted action (§ 51-12-33(b)) Each pays only its own share, "not on the basis of the doctrine of joint and several liability" (§ 768.81(3))
Negligence deadline 2 years (§ 9-3-33) 2 years, for causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023 (§ 95.11(5)(a); ch. 2023-15, § 28)
Wrongful death deadline 2 years from death (§ 9-3-33) 2 years (§ 95.11(5)(e))
Medical malpractice deadline 2 years from injury; 5 years from the act at most (§ 9-3-71) 2 years from the incident or its discovery; 4 years at most, 7 with fraud or concealment; those outer limits do not bar a child's claim brought by the eighth birthday (§ 95.11(5)(c))
Claims against government City notice 6 months; county and State 12 months (§§ 36-33-5, 36-11-1, 50-21-26) Written claim within 3 years (2 years for wrongful death); suit within 4 years (§ 768.28(6), (14))
Government damages limit State: $1 million / $3 million (§ 50-21-29) $200,000 per person / $300,000 per incident; no punitive damages (§ 768.28(5)(a))
Punitive damages cap $250,000, except product liability, intent-to-harm, and impairment cases (§ 51-12-5.1) Greater of 3 times compensatory damages or $500,000; 4 times or $2 million for conduct motivated solely by unreasonable financial gain; no cap for specific intent to harm (§ 768.73(1))
Punitive cap and an impaired defendant No cap (§ 51-12-5.1(f)) No cap when the defendant's normal faculties were impaired or blood or breath alcohol was 0.08 or higher (§ 768.736)
Car crash pain and suffering No threshold Permanent injury, significant and permanent loss of a bodily function, significant and permanent scarring, or death (§ 627.737(2))
Dog bites Vicious dog, careless management or running at liberty, no provocation (§ 51-2-7) Owner liable "regardless of the former viciousness of the dog"; reduced by the bitten person's negligence (§ 767.04)
Alcohol sellers Knowing service to a noticeably intoxicated person or unlawful service to a minor, knowing the person will soon drive (§ 51-1-40) Only willful, unlawful service to an underage person, or knowing service to a person habitually addicted to alcohol (§ 768.125)
Seat belt nonuse May be evidence of negligence and reduce damages (§ 40-8-76.1, cases commenced on or after April 21, 2025) Evidence of comparative negligence only; not negligence per se and not "considered in mitigation of damages" (§ 316.614(10))
Insurance and other collateral source payments Billed and insurance-satisfied medical amounts both admissible, for causes of action arising on or after April 21, 2025 (§ 51-12-1.1) Court reduces the award by collateral source payments, except sources with a subrogation or reimbursement right (§ 768.76(1))

The Florida rules above are from the 2026 Florida Statutes and the 2023 act. Florida’s bad-faith insurance statute, uninsured motorist coverage, and the bifurcation of punitive damages trials are not compared.

Fault: the 50 percent line, and medical negligence

Florida’s statute says that “any party found to be greater than 50 percent at fault for his or her own harm may not recover any damages”, and that this “does not apply to an action for damages for personal injury or wrongful death arising out of medical negligence pursuant to chapter 766” (§ 768.81(6)). Below that line, contributory fault “diminishes proportionately the amount awarded as economic and noneconomic damages” (§ 768.81(2)).

Injured person's fault, $100,000 found Georgia Florida Florida, medical negligence
40% $60,000 $60,000 $60,000
50% $0 $50,000 $50,000
51% $0 $0 $49,000
60% $0 $0 $40,000

The date that matters is the filing date. The 2023 act that created the bar (ch. 2023-15, effective March 24, 2023) provides that “this act shall apply to causes of action filed after the effective date of this act”, except as the act otherwise provides (ch. 2023-15, § 30). The act’s change to the deadline in § 95.11 is the exception: it applies “to causes of action accruing after the effective date” (ch. 2023-15, § 28). An injury from before March 24, 2023, sued after that date, is decided under the 50 percent bar.

Each Florida defendant answers only for its own percentage: the court enters judgment “on the basis of such party’s percentage of fault and not on the basis of the doctrine of joint and several liability” (§ 768.81(3)). A defendant who wants fault assigned to a nonparty must plead and identify that nonparty and prove its fault at trial (§ 768.81(3)(a)). The section does not apply to intentional torts (§ 768.81(4)).

Deadlines

A negligence action must be brought within two years (§ 95.11(5)(a)), and so must a wrongful death action (§ 95.11(5)(e)). A medical malpractice action must be brought “within 2 years from the time the incident giving rise to the action occurred or within 2 years from the time the incident is discovered, or should have been discovered”, and never “later than 4 years from the date of the incident”, except that the 4-year period “shall not bar an action brought on behalf of a minor on or before the child’s eighth birthday”. If fraud, concealment, or intentional misrepresentation prevented discovery, the period runs two years from discovery, up to seven years from the incident (§ 95.11(5)(c)).

Before suing for medical negligence, the claimant must notify each prospective defendant of the intent to sue; the statute of limitations is tolled during the 90-day period that follows (§ 766.106(2), (4)).

Claims against Florida government

A claim must be presented in writing to the agency, and also to the Department of Financial Services unless it is against a municipality, county, or the Florida Space Authority, “within 3 years after such claim accrues”; a wrongful death claim must be presented to the Department within two years (§ 768.28(6)(a)). If the agency does not make final disposition within six months, the claim is treated as denied; in medical malpractice and wrongful death claims, within 90 days (§ 768.28(6)(d)). The lawsuit must be filed within four years after the claim accrues, or within the § 95.11(5) periods for malpractice and wrongful death (§ 768.28(14)).

Liability “shall not include punitive damages or interest for the period before judgment”, and the government will not pay more than $200,000 to one person or $300,000 for one incident. A judgment above those amounts may be reported to the Legislature, which can pay the excess only by a further act (§ 768.28(5)(a)).

Georgia’s limit for the State is $1 million per person and $3 million per occurrence, five times Florida’s per-person limit and ten times its per-incident limit (§ 50-21-29).

Punitive damages

An award of punitive damages “may not exceed the greater of” three times the compensatory damages awarded to each claimant or $500,000. When the wrongful conduct “was motivated solely by unreasonable financial gain” and a managing agent or policymaker actually knew of its unreasonably dangerous nature and the high likelihood of injury, the limit is four times the compensatory damages or $2 million. When the defendant “had a specific intent to harm the claimant” and did harm the claimant, “there shall be no cap on punitive damages” (§ 768.73(1)). The caps also do not apply to a defendant who, at the time, was impaired by alcohol or drugs or had a blood or breath alcohol level of 0.08 percent or higher (§ 768.736). The jury is not told about the caps (§ 768.73(4)).

Georgia caps punitive damages at $250,000 except in product liability, specific-intent, and impairment cases (§ 51-12-5.1(e) to (g)).

Car crashes: PIP and the tort threshold

A Florida policy must provide personal injury protection up to $10,000 in medical and disability benefits, paying 80 percent of reasonable medical expenses if the injured person receives initial care within 14 days after the crash (§ 627.736(1)(a)). In a tort action against the owner or driver of a vehicle with that security, damages “for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience” are recoverable only if the injury consists in whole or in part of significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death (§ 627.737(2)).

What a Florida owner must carry to keep a vehicle registered is narrower than Georgia’s requirement. Every owner or registrant “shall maintain security” for personal injury protection throughout the registration period (§ 627.733(1)(a)), and every owner or operator must be able to respond in damages “in the amount of $10,000 because of damage to, or destruction of, property of others in any one crash” (§ 324.022(1)). Bodily injury figures of $10,000 for one person and $20,000 for two or more appear in the definition of “proof of financial responsibility” (§ 324.021(7)); those figures apply in the situations where chapter 324 calls for that proof, which the chapter lists. Georgia’s minimum liability limits are $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage (§ 40-9-37(a), using the amounts in § 33-7-11(a)(1)(A)).

Medical bills and collateral sources

For past medical treatment that has been paid, evidence of the amount of damages “is limited to evidence of the amount actually paid, regardless of the source of payment” (§ 768.0427(2)(a)). Unpaid charges and future treatment are proved under separate formulas in the same subsection. After the verdict, the court “shall reduce the amount of such award” by collateral source payments, but “there shall be no reduction for collateral sources for which a subrogation or reimbursement right exists” (§ 768.76(1)).

Dogs, alcohol, and seat belts

The owner of a dog that bites a person in a public place, or lawfully on private property, “is liable for damages suffered by persons bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owners’ knowledge of such viciousness”. The bitten person’s negligence reduces the owner’s liability by its percentage. An owner who displayed a readable “Bad Dog” sign in a prominent place is not liable, except to a child under 6 or for damage caused by the owner’s own negligence (§ 767.04).

A seller or server of alcohol to a person of lawful drinking age is not liable for that person’s intoxication, except for one who “willfully and unlawfully sells or furnishes alcoholic beverages to a person who is not of lawful drinking age or who knowingly serves a person habitually addicted” (§ 768.125). Georgia’s statute reaches knowing service to a noticeably intoxicated person who the server knows will soon be driving (§ 51-1-40(b)).

A seat belt violation “shall not constitute negligence per se, nor shall such violation be used as prima facie evidence of negligence or be considered in mitigation of damages, but such violation may be considered as evidence of comparative negligence” (§ 316.614(10)).

Wrongful death: who recovers for grief

Survivor Florida damages for companionship and mental pain and suffering (§ 768.21)
Surviving spouse Yes
Children under 25 Yes
Children 25 or older Only if there is no surviving spouse
Parents of a child under 25 Yes
Parents of an adult child Only if there are no other survivors
Children 25 or older, and parents of an adult child, in a medical negligence death No

Florida’s wrongful death act defines “minor children” as “children under 25 years of age, notwithstanding the age of majority” (§ 768.18(2)). Subsection (8) provides that the damages for adult children “shall not be recoverable by adult children”, and the damages for parents “shall not be recoverable by parents of an adult child”, “with respect to claims for medical negligence” (§ 768.21(8)). The decedent’s estate recovers lost earnings from injury to death, in some cases the loss of prospective net accumulations, and medical and funeral expenses it paid (§ 768.21(6)).

Georgia measures the claim by the full value of the life of the decedent, and the right to sue belongs to the spouse, then the children, then the parents (§§ 51-4-2, 51-4-4).

Dates and documents to pin down

  1. Where the injury happened, which sets the governing law in a Georgia court, and where the suit will be filed, which generally sets the deadline.
  2. The date the lawsuit is or will be filed, which decides whether Florida’s 50 percent bar applies.
  3. The date of the injury, which decides whether Florida’s two-year negligence deadline applies.
  4. For a crash, the date of first medical care, because PIP medical benefits depend on care within 14 days.
  5. For a claim against a Florida city, county, or agency, the date the written claim was presented and to whom.
  6. For a death claim, the ages of the decedent’s children and whether medical negligence caused the death.

How Georgia’s own rules work is explained in the Georgia personal injury law guide. Another no-fault state is compared in how Michigan’s no-fault threshold compares with Georgia’s.

Sources

General information about Georgia and Florida law as of October 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.