Please accept today’s question and response from the accident lawyer from Boca Raton (injury lawyer Deerfield Beach, accident attorney Wellington, injury attorney Miami Lakes).
In a car accident in Florida, generally there are certain proof requirements that must be made. Section 627.737, which is below, explains that to be entitled to pain and suffering, you must prove one of four injuries stemmed from an accident: 1) significant and permanent lost of an important bodily function; 2) permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring or disfigurement; 3) significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement; or 4) death. As to the question above, you may be entitled to monies for pain and suffering following an accident that was not your fault, if the scarring is permanent and significant. That fact, if a settlement could not be agreed upon, would be decided by a Florida jury. Granted, if someone has a scar on their body from a car accident, they may very well have other injury which may be permanent within a reasonable degree of medical probability, which is the most common means sought to obtain non-economic damages like pain and suffering, mental anguish and so forth. Here, we are not given a lot of facts about whether the scar faded or whether it resulted in a keloid (raised) scar or where on the body the scar is located. Clearly, these would be important facts to determine whether the scar is permanent and significant. However, if the sole issue is a scarring on the body, then the issue would be whether the scar was permanent AND significant.
If you have any questions regarding an injury case, like one where you sustained a scar on your body due to another’s negligence driving a vehicle, please call Drucker Law Offices at 561-483-9199 in the principal office in Boca Raton, 954-755-2120 in the satellite Coral Springs office, 305-981-1561 at the satellite Miami office, 561-265-1976 at the Boynton Beach office or 561-686-7070 at the West Palm Beach office.
Every case is unique and should be judged based on the specific facts of the case. The advice in this blog is intended to be general and should not to be construed as specific advice for a case or your case. A minor difference in the facts of the case in a fact pattern such as above could change the result. Also, this blog is, as the web site suggests, based on Florida law and the laws of any other states could vary from Florida.
627.737 Tort exemption; limitation on right to damages; punitive damages.—
(2) In any action of tort brought against the owner, registrant, operator, or occupant of a motor vehicle with respect to which security has been provided as required by ss. 627.730-627.7405, or against any person or organization legally responsible for her or his acts or omissions, a plaintiff may recover damages in tort for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience because of bodily injury, sickness, or disease arising out of the ownership, maintenance, operation, or use of such motor vehicle only in the event that the injury or disease consists in whole or in part of:
(a) Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function.
(b) Permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, other than scarring or disfigurement.
(c) Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement.
(d) Death.
