State guide · Southeast
Florida subrogation law guide
In negligence actions filed after March 24, 2023, a claimant found more than 50% at fault recovers nothing; at 50% or less, damages are reduced by its share. Medical negligence claims remain under pure comparative fault.
Florida at a glanceFL
- Property damage
- 2 years
- Bodily injury
- 2 years
- Fault rule
- Modified, 51% bar
- Gov. notice
- 1095 days
Overview
Florida's subrogation rules changed sharply with HB 837, signed March 24, 2023. For causes of action accruing after that date, the limitation period for negligence fell from four years to two under what is now Fla. Stat. 95.11(5)(a), and for negligence actions filed after that date the state moved from pure comparative fault to a modified rule that bars any claimant more than 50% at fault. Joint and several liability was abolished in 2006, and defendants can place pleaded and proven nonparties on the verdict form under Fabre, so incomplete defendant lists cost real money. Florida is also a no-fault state: PIP pays $10,000 in medical and wage benefits regardless of fault, the PIP carrier has no lien on the insured's tort recovery, and PIP reimbursement is limited to accidents involving commercial motor vehicles. Collision, property and homeowners subrogation is unaffected by PIP and remains the core of Florida recovery work, from roofing and plumbing contractor losses to appliance fires and condominium water damage. Claims against public entities run through the sovereign immunity statute, 768.28, with a three-year presentment deadline and caps of $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident that survived a 2026 attempt to raise them.
Quick reference with citations
- Property damage SOL
- 2 years
- Fla. Stat. 95.11(5)(a) (actions founded on negligence; 2 years for causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023, formerly 4 years). Fla. Stat. 95.11(3)(g) still lists 4 years for injuring personal property and 95.11(3)(f) for trespass on real property, but calendar negligence claims at 2 years
- Bodily injury SOL
- 2 years
- Fla. Stat. 95.11(5)(a) (causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023)
- Product liability
- 4 years for injury to a person founded on the design, manufacture, distribution or sale of personal property (Fla. Stat. 95.11(3)(d)), but negligence counts face the 2-year period in 95.11(5)(a); 12-year statute of repose from delivery to the original purchaser, with longer periods for products with a useful life beyond 10 years (Fla. Stat. 95.031(2)(b)); construction repose cut to 7 years by SB 360 (2023) (Fla. Stat. 95.11(3)(b))
- Written contract
- 5 years
- Contract and indemnity recoveries
- Comparative fault rule
- Modified, 51% bar
- Fla. Stat. 768.81(6), enacted by HB 837 (2023)
- Government notice of claim
- 1095 days
- Before suing the State or any of its agencies or subdivisions, including counties and municipalities, the claimant must present the claim in writing to the agency within 3 years after accrual, and except for claims against a municipality, county or the Florida Space Authority, also to the Department of Financial Services (Fla. Stat. 768.28(6)(a)). The claim is deemed denied if not finally disposed of within 6 months (768.28(6)(d)), suit must be filed within 4 years of accrual (768.28(14)), and recovery is capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident (768.28(5)). HB 145 (2026), which would have raised the caps and revised the claim process, was vetoed on June 30, 2026.
Fault rule in practice
How Florida's rule changes a $50,000 recovery.
In negligence actions filed after March 24, 2023, a claimant found more than 50% at fault recovers nothing; at 50% or less, damages are reduced by its share. Medical negligence claims remain under pure comparative fault.
Authority: Fla. Stat. 768.81(6), enacted by HB 837 (2023)
| Insured's share of fault | Recoverable in FL | Under pure comparative |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | $50,000 | $50,000 |
| 20% | $40,000 | $40,000 |
| 50% | $25,000 | $25,000 |
| 60% | Barred | $20,000 |
Doctrines that move the number
Florida doctrine checklist.
Made-whole doctrine
Florida applies the made-whole doctrine mainly in limited-fund situations, where the tortfeasor's coverage cannot pay both the insured's uninsured losses and the carrier's claim, and courts have indicated that clear policy terms can override it. An insured who settles below available limits or releases the tortfeasor without the carrier's consent weakens the defense. For PIP, the insurer has no lien on the injured person's tort recovery (Fla. Stat. 627.736(3)), and its reimbursement right is limited to the owner or insurer of a commercial motor vehicle when the injured person occupied that vehicle or was struck by it while not in a vehicle (Fla. Stat. 627.7405).
Economic loss doctrine
Tiara Condominium Ass'n v. Marsh & McLennan Cos., 110 So. 3d 399 (Fla. 2013) confined the economic loss rule to products liability cases, where a defective product damages only itself (Indemnity Insurance Co. of North America v. American Aviation, Inc., 891 So. 2d 532 (Fla. 2004)). Outside products, contracting parties are limited by the independent tort doctrine, which bars tort claims that merely restate a breach of contract.
Joint and several liability
Florida abolished joint and several liability in 2006, and each defendant is liable only for its percentage of fault (Fla. Stat. 768.81(3)). Under Fabre v. Marin, 623 So. 2d 1182 (Fla. 1993), defendants can place nonparties on the verdict form, but only if they plead and prove the nonparty's fault.
Anti-subrogation and waiver
A carrier cannot subrogate against its own insured (Bulone v. United Services Automobile Ass'n, 660 So. 2d 399 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1995)). When a construction contract requires the owner to insure the contractor's interest, the contractor becomes an insured and the owner's carrier cannot pursue it (Insurance Co. of North America v. E.L. Nezelek, Inc., 480 So. 2d 1333 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1985)).
Practice notes
Working Florida subrogation files.
- 1
Use the accrual date to pick the Florida deadline. A negligence claim that accrued before March 24, 2023 kept the old four-year period; one that accrued after it has two years. Some practitioners argue the four-year period for injuring personal property in 95.11(3)(g) still applies to vehicle and contents damage, but no appellate court has settled the point, so calendar every negligence-based subrogation claim at two years and treat the longer period only as a fallback.
- 2
The more-than-50% bar changed the value of mixed-liability files. If a carrier pays $48,000 on an intersection collision and the insured is 40% at fault, it recovers $28,800. At 51% it recovers nothing, where the same file would have produced $23,520 under the pre-2023 pure comparative rule. Suits filed after March 24, 2023 use the new standard even when the loss occurred earlier, so rescore open files accordingly.
- 3
No-fault limits auto injury recoveries, not property. PIP pays up to $10,000 per person, and the PIP carrier cannot recover those benefits from the insured's tort recovery. The narrow exception is Fla. Stat. 627.7405: reimbursement from the owner or insurer of a commercial motor vehicle when the injured person rode in it or was struck by it as a pedestrian. Collision, rental and property damage subrogation proceed under ordinary negligence rules.
- 4
For claims against a county, city or state agency, present the written claim to the agency within three years and, for state agencies, also to the Department of Financial Services. The agency then has six months before the claim is deemed denied, and suit must be filed within four years of accrual. Present early, because the six-month review period runs while the limitation clock keeps moving, and recovery is capped at $200,000 per person.
- 5
Ishqkala's SOL Tracking Engine reads the loss date in every Florida file and applies four years to negligence claims that accrued before March 24, 2023 and two years after, flagging older files approaching the end of the four-year window. The Liability Reasoning Engine applies the more-than-50% bar to actions filed after the HB 837 effective date and raises a Fabre warning when the narrative names a contractor, property manager or manufacturer not yet on the target list.
Key cases
Fabre v. Marin
623 So. 2d 1182 (Fla. 1993)
Fault must be apportioned among all participants in the accident, including nonparties the defense pleads and proves. A subrogating carrier absorbs any share assigned to a party it did not sue.
Tiara Condominium Ass'n v. Marsh & McLennan Cos.
110 So. 3d 399 (Fla. 2013)
Limited the economic loss rule to products liability cases. Negligence-based subrogation against contractors, brokers and service providers is not barred by the rule outside the product setting.
Hoffman v. Jones
280 So. 2d 431 (Fla. 1973)
Replaced contributory negligence with pure comparative negligence. HB 837 (2023) superseded it for most negligence actions filed after March 24, 2023 by adopting the more-than-50% bar, so loss dates and filing dates now matter.
Inter-company arbitration
Arbitration Forums panels apply Florida law, including the post-2023 modified comparative fault rule, and signatory carriers must arbitrate company-paid damages up to $100,000 in the Automobile and Property forums. PIP reimbursement against commercial motor vehicle owners under Fla. Stat. 627.7405 is a narrow path and should be screened separately from collision filings. Product defect claims are not compulsory in the Property program, so failed water heater and supply line cases against manufacturers usually proceed in court within the two-year negligence period.
How Ishqkala applies this guide
FL rules, built into every score.
- Opportunities with a Florida loss state are calendared against the 2 years property damage period or the 2 years bodily injury period, whichever controls the claim type.
- The insured's estimated fault share is applied under modified, 51% bar before recoverable dollars are scored.
- Files involving a public entity get a 1095-day notice deadline that outranks the general SOL in the priority queue.
- Alerts fire at 180, 90, 45 and 15 days before the controlling deadline.
Other modified, 51% bar jurisdictions
FAQ
Florida subrogation FAQ
2 years (Fla. Stat. 95.11(5)(a) (actions founded on negligence; 2 years for causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023, formerly 4 years). Fla. Stat. 95.11(3)(g) still lists 4 years for injuring personal property and 95.11(3)(f) for trespass on real property, but calendar negligence claims at 2 years). A subrogating carrier generally takes the insured's claim subject to the same limitation period, usually measured from the date of loss.
Modified, 51% bar (Fla. Stat. 768.81(6), enacted by HB 837 (2023)). In negligence actions filed after March 24, 2023, a claimant found more than 50% at fault recovers nothing; at 50% or less, damages are reduced by its share. Medical negligence claims remain under pure comparative fault.
Before suing the State or any of its agencies or subdivisions, including counties and municipalities, the claimant must present the claim in writing to the agency within 3 years after accrual, and except for claims against a municipality, county or the Florida Space Authority, also to the Department of Financial Services (Fla. Stat. 768.28(6)(a)). The claim is deemed denied if not finally disposed of within 6 months (768.28(6)(d)), suit must be filed within 4 years of accrual (768.28(14)), and recovery is capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident (768.28(5)). HB 145 (2026), which would have raised the caps and revised the claim process, was vetoed on June 30, 2026.
Florida applies the made-whole doctrine mainly in limited-fund situations, where the tortfeasor's coverage cannot pay both the insured's uninsured losses and the carrier's claim, and courts have indicated that clear policy terms can override it. An insured who settles below available limits or releases the tortfeasor without the carrier's consent weakens the defense. For PIP, the insurer has no lien on the injured person's tort recovery (Fla. Stat. 627.736(3)), and its reimbursement right is limited to the owner or insurer of a commercial motor vehicle when the injured person occupied that vehicle or was struck by it while not in a vehicle (Fla. Stat. 627.7405).
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