Auto Accidents

Published on: May 27, 2025

I Was Just Rear-Ended in Fort Myers: What Do I Do Now?

rear-ended in Fort Myers Being involved in a rear-end collision can be a jarring and disorienting experience. As a Fort Myers personal injury attorney, I understand the confusion and stress you may be feeling right now. Our team at Garvin Injury Law will always take the time to guide clients through the initial process, explain your legal rights, and formulate a smart strategy for financial compensation.

Understanding Liability in Rear-End Collisions

In Florida, there exists what we call a “rebuttable presumption of negligence” in rear-end collisions. What this means is that the driver who rear-ends another vehicle is generally presumed to be at fault for the accident. This presumption is based on the principle that drivers should maintain a safe following distance and be prepared to stop when the vehicle ahead slows or stops.

However, as established in cases like Cevallos v. Rideout (107 So.3d 348, Fla. 2012), this presumption can be rebutted under certain circumstances. The rear driver may overcome this presumption by providing evidence that:

The lead vehicle made a sudden and unexpected stop.
The lead vehicle suddenly changed lanes in front of the following vehicle.
The lead vehicle had inoperable brake lights.
The accident was caused by a mechanical failure in the following vehicle that could not have been anticipated.

That said, even with these potential defenses, the rear driver still bears a significant burden of proof to overcome the presumption of fault.

Common Causes of Rear-End Collisions in Fort Myers

Our bustling Southwest Florida roads see numerous rear-end collisions every year. Many of these can be traced back to:

Distracted driving (texting, phone use, adjusting GPS)
Tailgating or following too closely
Excessive speed, especially during our frequent afternoon thunderstorms
Driver fatigue, particularly common among tourists unfamiliar with our roads
Impaired driving
Weather conditions affecting visibility or road traction

The Critical Importance of Immediate Medical Attention

Even if you feel fine immediately after being rear-ended in Fort Myers, seeking prompt medical attention is absolutely crucial.

Some injuries, particularly those involving soft tissue damage or whiplash, may not manifest symptoms for hours or even days after the accident. The adrenaline rush following a collision can mask pain temporarily.

Under Florida Statute §627.736, you have only 14 days to seek initial medical treatment following an auto accident to qualify for Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits. Waiting longer than two weeks can result in the denial of your PIP coverage, which could leave you personally responsible for thousands in medical bills.

Furthermore, immediate medical documentation creates an essential record connecting your injuries to the accident—a crucial element if your case later requires litigation.

Understanding Florida’s No-Fault Insurance System

Florida operates under a no-fault insurance system, which means your own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage is your primary source of compensation regardless of who caused the accident. Under F.S. §627.736, PIP covers:

80% of necessary medical expenses
60% of lost wages
Up to $10,000 in total benefits

However, this $10,000 limit can be quickly exhausted with today’s medical costs. This is where understanding when you can step outside the no-fault system becomes vital.

When You Can Pursue a Claim Against the At-Fault Driver

Florida law allows you to pursue a claim against the at-fault driver when your injuries meet the “serious injury threshold” as defined in F.S. §627.737. This includes:

Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function
Permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability
Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement
Death

If your injuries after being rear-ended in Fort Myers meet this threshold, you may file a claim against the at-fault driver’s bodily injury liability coverage for damages exceeding your PIP benefits, including full medical expenses, full lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Critical Steps to Take After Being Rear-Ended in Fort Myers

Published on: May 12, 2025

What to Do If You’re Hit by an Uninsured Driver in Cape Coral

by Leland Garvin

Being involved in a serious car accident is stressful enough. Finding out the other driver doesn’t have insurance can make a difficult situation even worse. If you’re hit by an uninsured driver in Cape Coral, the personal injury lawyers at Garvin Injury Law can help you explore all possible avenues for monetary compensation.

Florida’s Insurance Requirements vs. Reality

Florida law is clear: all drivers must carry auto insurance. Under Florida Statute §324.022, non-commercial drivers with a clean driving record must maintain Property Damage Liability (PDL) coverage of at least $10,000 and Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage of at least $10,000. These limits are actually quite low compared to the national average. What’s more, bodily injury liability insurance (which covers losses to others if the policyholder is at-fault in a crash) is optional. If a driver doesn’t carry bodily injury liability coverage, they must agree to be personally responsible for up to $20,000 in damages if they cause a crash.

Yet despite these requirements, Florida consistently ranks among states with the highest percentage of uninsured motorists—approximately 20 percent of Florida drivers are operating vehicles without proper insurance. That means 1 in 5 drivers in Florida is uninsured — higher than the national average of 1 in 7 drivers being uninsured.

It’s worth noting too that even if a driver carries the minimum mandatory level of auto insurance, there’s a strong chance it won’t be enough to compensate victims of serious crashes to the full extent of their losses.

Understanding Florida’s No-Fault Insurance System

Florida operates under a no-fault insurance system, which means your own PIP coverage is your first resource after an accident – regardless of who caused it. That coverage pays for 80 percent of your medical expenses and 60 percent of lost wages, up to the $10,000 limit. Health insurance may help bridge the gap for the other 20 percent of medical expenses, and disability insurance could help bridge the 40 percent gap for lost wages.

But what happens when your injuries exceed that $10,000 threshold? Or when the at-fault driver has no insurance to cover your vehicle damage or personal injury costs? Being hit by an uninsured driver in Cape Coral can put crash victims in a precarious situation. This is where uninsured/underinsured (UM/UIM) motorist coverage often becomes the primary form of financial recovery.

Why UM/UIM Coverage Is Essential in Florida

UM/UIM coverage comes standard in many auto insurance plans, but it is technically optional in Florida. That said, our personal injury lawyers cannot stress enough how crucial this protection is, especially considering how many uninsured and underinsured drivers there are. This coverage steps in when the at-fault driver either has no insurance or insufficient insurance to cover your damages.

UM/UIM coverage can pay for:

Medical expenses beyond your PIP limits
Long-term care and rehabilitation
Lost wages and diminished earning capacity
Pain and suffering and other non-economic damages
Future medical needs related to your injuries

The Florida Supreme Court has consistently upheld the importance of UM/UIM coverage, noting in Progressive American Insurance Co. v. Grossi (2005) that this coverage serves a vital public policy purpose of protecting innocent motorists from financial hardship if they’re hit by an uninsured or underinsured driver.

When You Need Legal Representation for a UM/UIM Claim

Many people are surprised to learn they may need legal representation even when filing a claim against their own insurance company. After all, you’ve faithfully paid your premiums—shouldn’t your insurer eagerly help you in your time of need?

Unfortunately, the reality is often quite different. Insurance companies—even your own—are for-profit businesses with a vested interest in minimizing payouts. At Garvin Injury Law, we’ve represented many clients who were shocked when their own insurance company:

Disputed the severity of their injuries.
Argued that treatment was unnecessary or unrelated to the accident.
Delayed processing the claim, hoping the victim would settle for less.
Offered a settlement far below what was deserved.

Insurance companies have a legal duty of good faith to their policyholders. While the hope is that they will meet that standard, crash victims can’t assume that will be the case. That’s why if you’re hit by an uninsured driver in Cape Coral, it’s smart to have a legal advocate in your corner at the very start.

Proving Your UM/UIM Claim

Published on: March 17, 2025

Fort Myers Injury Lawyers Discuss Compensation in Florida Hit-and-Run Cases

by Leland Garvin

Fort Myers injury lawyer hit and run Hit-and-run accidents are both incredibly problematic and far too pervasive in Florida. On average, the state clocks 103,000 hit-and-run crashes annually, an incident rate that has climbed 40 percent in the last decade, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV). Every year, more than 1,000 people suffer serious bodily injury in these crashes and hundreds lose their lives. Pedestrians and bicyclists tend to be disproportionately affected.

As Fort Myers injury lawyers can explain, hit-and-run crashes also pose significant hurdles for victims seeking compensation. Understanding the legal avenues that may be available in these situations is an imperative.

Factors Contributing to High Hit-and-Run Accident Rates in Florida

Florida isn’t the only state to have issues with hit-and-runs, but it consistently ranks among the highest in the country.

Some of the most common contributing factors in Fort Myers hit-and-run cases include:

At-risk drivers. Studies have shown that a disproportionate number of at-fault drivers in hit-and-run crashes are young males with prior arrests for driving under the influence. Alcohol impairment at the time of the accident is also common. (It’s also worth noting that males make up 70 percent of hit-and -run victims in single car/single pedestrian crashes.)
Socioeconomic factors. Drivers who flee accident scenes frequently operate older vehicles that are not insured. A driver whose finances are precarious may be more motivated to avoid the legal and/or financial repercussions of a crash.
Environmental conditions. Reduced visibility due to dawn, dusk, nighttime, brush fires, rain, fog, etc. — all of that can contribute to the likelihood of accidents in general, but especially hit-and-run crashes. It may also embolden some drivers to flee, believing they’re less likely to be identified.
Urban environment. Cities tend to have higher rates of hit-and-run crashes than rural areas, likely thanks to higher population density and the fact that there are more pedestrians in urban areas.

Historically, drivers in Florida may have been motivated to flee because the penalties for fleeing the scene of a crash were far less severe than a serious or fatal drunk driving crash. That has since changed, with changes to F.S. 316.027, which makes it a third-degree felony to commit a hit-and-run. If the crash involved serious injury or death, it’s elevated to a second-degree felony.

Whatever happens in the criminal case, civil claims are handled separately.

Challenges in Seeking Compensation in a Hit-and-Run Crash

Published on: July 24, 2024

How Bare Feet and Flip-Flops Can Cause Your Fort Myers Car Accident Claim to Flop

by Leland Garvin

Flip-flops and bare feet are quite common footwear given the warm and sunny weather of South Florida. But just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s without consequence. If you’re in a Fort Myers car accident while wearing loose shoes (like flip-flops) or none at all, that could be a real issue as discussed below.

Is It Legal in Florida to Drive in Flip-Flops or Barefoot?

As Fort Myers car accident lawyers can explain, there’s nothing in Florida statute that expressly prohibits drivers from donning floppy footwear – or foregoing it altogether.

That doesn’t mean you’ll get off scot-free if law enforcement finds failure to wear proper shoes was a factor in the crash. In fact, it could result in a ticket for reckless driving or distracted driving.

For Florida injury attorneys, flimsy footwear can factor two-fold in crash cases:

It could be part of what caused the accident.
It could be cited in comparative fault claims for having made the plaintiff’s injuries worse than they would have been otherwise.

Risks of Flimsy Footwear in Fort Myers Car Accident

It’s not that sandals or other loose shoes are inherently dangerous for vehicle occupants, but they aren’t exactly safe either – especially for drivers. Fort Myers car accident flip flops

One study found that flip-flops are more dangerous to drive in than heels, often making it difficult to brake safely. Flip-flops reportedly double the amount of time it can take for a foot to move from the break to the accelerator. Among flip-flop-wearing drivers surveyed, 27% said it caused some kind of problem while driving and 1 in 10 said their shoe got caught underneath the pedal while driving.

Shoes that provide support and stability are essential for safe driving. Open-heeled shoes like flip-flops have a tendency to slide over the pedal (especially if they’re wet). This could cause a risky delay in acceleration or braking if the shoe gets even momentarily stuck under the pedal. Also, if you take your shoes off while driving and keep them near the pedals, they easily get stuck underneath that way as well.

As for driving barefoot, you might be at slightly less risk of your foot slipping than if you’re wearing flip-flops or wedges. The human foot has a surprisingly natural grip – except when it’s wet. Also, barefoot drivers have to apply a greater amount of pressure to brake and accelerate.

Without shoes, you may also be more vulnerable to serious leg and foot injuries in a Fort Myers car accident. Continue reading

Published on: June 12, 2024

“Should I Call A Fort Myers Car Accident Lawyer Even If It Was Partly My Fault?”

by Leland Garvin

Recent changes to Florida’s tort laws have made it a bit tougher to successfully sue for crash-related injuries if you were partly at-fault. That said, you shouldn’t presume it’s pointless until you talk to a Fort Myers car accident lawyer – especially if your injuries were serious enough to require hospitalization or time off work. While the new comparative fault law certainly creates legal challenges, rarely are matters of personal injury entirely black-and-white.

The vast majority of Florida car accidents are caused by human error. Common causes include inattention, speeding, failure to yield, intoxication, etc. However, there’s a tendency to think of fault in car accident cases as a binary: One person was at-fault, another was hurt because of it. And sometimes that’s true. But it’s also frequently true that more than one person’s actions contributed either to the cause of the crash or the severity of injuries. One driver may have been speeding, but the other wasn’t paying attention. One person ran a red light, but the other wasn’t wearing a seat belt. So then the question for insurers (and possibly the courts) becomes, “To what extent is each person at-fault – for the crash and resulting injuries?”

As a Fort Myers car accident lawyer, I can tell you the answers aren’t always perfectly obvious. In fact, they can often be a bit subjective. Even if you know you made some missteps, an experienced injury attorney will know what evidence is needed to make a compelling case that you are still entitled to compensation. Continue reading

Published on: March 20, 2024

Florida Auto Insurance Breakdown From Southwest Florida Injury Lawyers

by Leland Garvin

woman driving a car in Florida auto insurance breakdown from Cape Coral injury lawyers Car insurance is more expensive in Florida than any other state. Insurance Business Magazine reports the average annual auto insurance premium in Florida is $2,560 – which is 52% (or nearly $1,000) higher than the national average. (And that is based on rates for a hypothetical 40-year-old male driver with a good driving record. Rates can get much higher for teens or those with a poor driving record.) Such significant costs have some motorists wondering whether there’s certain coverage they can forego. Here, our Southwest Florida injury lawyers provide a Florida auto insurance breakdown from a civil claims perspective.

Why is Car Insurance So Much Pricier in Florida?

Although one could reasonably argue that insurance companies have never needed a good reason to impose sky-high rates on customers, there are a few factors that result in Florida car insurance being so much higher than the national average.

A couple of these reasons include:

Florida is prone to more extreme weather. Hurricanes, tropical storms, flooding, tornadoes, lightning, brush fires, heavy fog – all of these things can increase the risk of vehicles being damaged, either directly or in a related crash.
Florida’s high number of uninsured drivers. In Florida, 1 in 5 drivers does not have the required auto insurance. This makes the claims process tough, and lawsuits tend to be more likely. With two insured drivers, a lawsuit may be wholly unnecessary, as Cape Coral Car Accident lawyers can often simply negotiate fair terms directly with insurers. But if the other party had no insurance, you’re usually left with pursuing a claim against that individual personally, filing third-party liability claims, or seeking uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) claims from your own insurer. And if you’re the driver who is not insured, it doesn’t mean you can’t recover damages from the other at-fault party, but you will lose out on the claims for personal injury protection (PIP) as well as UM/UIM.

You might also expect to pay more if you:

Have poor credit. Florida does not prohibit use of this factor in premium rates the way some other states do.
Are male. Florida does not prohibit the use of this factor in premium rates the way some other states do.
Live in an urban area. Cities are packed with tight streets, loads of traffic, and a higher concentration of pedestrians, bicyclists, and large vehicles. The risk of vehicle damage is much higher.
Live in an area with high crime rates. The heightened risk of theft and vandalism will hike up rates.
Have an expensive or highly desirable car. Vehicles that are more costly to repair or particularly prone to theft will be pricier to insure.

What Coverage is Required for Florida Drivers

As longtime injury lawyers in Southwest Florida, we’ve seen a lot of crash victims put at a significant disadvantage because of lacking car insurance coverage. While it’s true that this is a no-fault state for crash claims, meaning your own insurer will cover damages regardless of fault, you must keep in mind that this coverage (PIP) only goes so far – $10,000, to be exact. And even then, it only covers PART of your losses – 80 percent of medical bills and 60 percent of lost wages.

If you’re seriously hurt and the other driver was at-fault, you’ll need to step outside the no-fault system to pursue a claim against that driver, your Underinsured Motorist Carrier (or other liable third parties).

But let’s start with what is required minimum car insurance coverage for registered vehicles Florida: Continue reading

Published on: February 8, 2024

Florida Supreme Court Nixes Auto Insurer’s Bid to Pay Less for Car Crash Injuries

by Leland Garvin

Fort Myers crash injuries lawyer In a win for people seeking fair compensation for Florida car crash injuries, the Florida Supreme Court recently ruled against an auto insurer trying to minimize a claimant’s rightful payout.

The case of Ellison v. Willoughby started with a South Florida car accident. A truck driver t-boned another vehicle, causing serious car crash injuries. The plaintiff, a passenger in the car, sued both the truck driver and his wife, who co-owned the truck. (Florida allows vicarious liability lawsuits against vehicle owners under the dangerous instrumentality doctrine.)

The plaintiff also filed a claim with his own auto insurance company for uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage. As our Fort Myers car accident lawyers can explain, UM/UIM coverage is paid by your own insurer when the at-fault driver either doesn’t have any insurance or doesn’t have enough insurance to cover your losses. Such coverage isn’t mandatory for Florida auto insurance policies, but most offer it standard.

In this case the plaintiff then successfully pursued a claim for bad faith damages against his UM/UIM carrier. We don’t know the exact details of this particular bad faith claim, but most Florida bad faith insurance claims are initiated when insurers try to evade their obligations to policyholders. Examples include failure to properly investigate a claim or settle reasonable claims in a timely manner for a fair sum. Bad faith damages can be incredibly costly for insurers, but that’s intentional. Insurers have the upper hand in negotiations after a car crash as the insurance contract says that the insured gives up their right to negotiate their claim to the insurance carrier. Heavy penalties for acting in bad faith are intended to serve as a powerful incentive to treat injured claimants and policy holders fairly. In this case, the UM/UIM policy limit was a maximum of $10,000. But the bad faith claim ultimately led to a $4 million settlement between the UM/UIM insurer and the plaintiff. This was all before the trial against the truck driver and his wife/co-owner of the truck.

The negligence trial then proceeded, and plaintiff won a $30 million verdict. The defendant then filed to offset that verdict by $4 million, citing the bad faith insurance settlement. The trial court denied the request, as did Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal upon review. In so doing, the Fla. 2nd DCA certified a two-part question to the Florida Supreme Court:

Is a settlement made by a UM/UIM insurer to settle a first-party bad-faith insurance claim subject to setoff under F.S. 768.041(2)?
Can an insurer claim a setoff of such a settlement under F.S. 768.76 by citing it as a collateral source?

The Florida Supreme Court quashed the first part of the question/answer (it hadn’t been properly preserved for appeal). As to the second question, justices answered: No. Continue reading

Published on: January 18, 2024

The Risk of Rejecting a Fair Florida Car Accident Settlement Offer

by Leland Garvin

Cape Coral car accident settlement Florida A central part of resolving any Florida car accident case is negotiation with insurers. You may not need to go to trial or even file a lawsuit. But you will almost certainly be negotiating with at least one insurer at some point. Some folks feel comfortable handling this themselves, but for reasons laid out in this blog post, they might want to think twice. If you botch the negotiation by turning down a fair car accident settlement offer from the insurer, you could lose everything – even with a winning case.

For one thing, it’s common for auto insurance companies to lowball claimants. If you accept that initial offer, you will forgo any chance of collecting more in the future, even if you later realize your damages are much greater.

For another thing, Florida statute explicitly incentivizes parties to accept a fair car accident settlement offers. It also penalizes those who don’t. F.S. 768.79 says that in any civil action for damages filed in state court, if one side offers the other a settlement that isn’t accepted and the subsequent final judgment of the court is within 25% of that earlier settlement amount, the side that rejected the settlement has to pay the other’s court costs and attorney’s fees.

For example, let’s say you’re suing for $100,000, and the defendant extends a Florida car accident settlement offer of $80,000. You reject it, take the case to court, and the final judgment is for $90,000. That is within 25% of what you were offered to settle. Even though you won, you now have to pay the defense attorney’s fees (as well as your own) out of your winnings. If costs and attorney’s fees amount to more than the final judgment, the court will enter a judgement in favor of the defendant and you’ll owe them.

The trickiest part of all is that without an experienced car accident lawyer, you won’t have a strong sense of what is truly fair and what isn’t. If you aren’t confident about what your case is really worth, you could end up with far less than you deserve – either by accepting far too little and forgoing your right to ask for more OR refusing a settlement that’s totally fair based on the facts.

By working with a knowledgeable Cape Coral car accident attorney, you get the assurance of knowing when an insurance settlement offer is reasonable and when it isn’t.

Proper Valuation of Florida Crash Cases

Proper valuation of a crash case for purposes of determining a fair car accident settlement isn’t simple math. Some of the factors that weigh into what a case is worth include: Continue reading

Published on: January 8, 2024

Southwest Florida Injury Lawyer on E-Bike Injuries vs. Conventional Bicycle Injuries

by Leland Garvin

E-bike-Pic-300x201 Electric bicycles, aka “e-bikes,” have become incredibly popular here in the Sunshine State. If you’re unfamiliar, these are pedal-operated bicycles equipped with an electric bike motor to assist. U.S. sales of e-bikes topped $1.3 billion in 2022, and Floridians love them, as they’re allowed on most roads, bike paths, and trails where traditional bikes can operate.

That said, a Key West injury lawyer can tell you their introduction hasn’t been a super-smooth ride. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says that micromobility device injuries treated at hospital emergency rooms nationwide have increased 23 percent every year since 2017. (This includes not only e-bike injuries, but those involving hoverboards and e-scooters.)

But such increases do make sense for the simple fact that these devices didn’t even exist a few years ago. The risks they pose are worth knowing, but none of it really changes the fact that the bigger safety threats on South Florida roads are:

Infrastructure that wasn’t designed to safely accommodate alternative modes of transportation (i.e., wide roads, high speed limits, no sidewalks, etc.).
Reckless motor vehicle drivers.

If you’re injured in a Florida e-bike accident, a Key West injury lawyer can explore all avenues of compensation (i.e., defective helmets, rental bike agency liability, product liability claims against the e-bike manufacturer, etc.). But such cases are probably going to closely mirror conventional Florida bicycle accident claims than anything else – and those are most typically against motor vehicle drivers.

E-Bike Injuries Often Resemble Conventional Bike Injuries

Questions have been raised about whether e-bikes are better classified as “motor vehicles” – more aligned with motorcycles than traditional bicycles.

But in one study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, researchers looked at injury patterns involving e-bike operators, bicyclists, and motorcycle operators. They found that the injury patterns of e-bikers resembled that of bicyclists “much more” than that of motorcyclists. Continue reading

Published on: December 21, 2023

“Deck the Halls – Not Your Steering Wheel,” Advises Fort Myers Injury Lawyer

by Leland Garvin

Snowman-Steering-Wheels-300x220 Sparkling decor is part of the magic of the holiday season. But as a Fort Myers injury lawyer, I’d strongly advise you to keep it away from your steering wheel.

The National Highway Traffic Safety administration (NHTSA) just issued a warning not long ago about the dangers of aftermarket, gem-studded decals that can cause serious injury in a crash. In one documented case, a driver lost sight in one eye after a rhinestone-emblazoned decal dislodged from the wheel during a crash and struck her in the face.

Aftermarket Vehicle Parts Can Complicate Product Liability Case