Navigating the recovery process after an accident in a no-fault state is different from an at-fault state. While injury victims in at-fault states may file a personal injury lawsuit right away to recover compensation from negligent parties, those injured in a no-fault state must first turn to their insurance company to receive compensation. However, serious injury victims in no-fault states may still recover compensation through a personal injury lawsuit under certain conditions.
How Does a No-Fault State Impact Personal Injury Claims?
A no-fault state mandates that drivers carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance to cover medical expenses after an accident, regardless of who was at fault. In these states, injury victims simply file a claim with their own insurance company to get compensation for expenses related to the injury. This system limits the victim’s ability to sue at-fault parties for damages unless the injuries meet the state’s severity threshold.
Both Texas and Louisiana are at-fault states, which means that injury victims can file a personal injury lawsuit to pursue compensation without having to file a claim with their own insurance.
What Types of Damages Are Recoverable Under the No-Fault System?
Recovering compensation for a minor accident in a no-fault state can be relatively straightforward, as the injured party’s PIP insurance is required to cover expenses related to the injury, such as:
- Medical Expenses: This includes hospitalization costs, surgery, prescription medication, physical rehabilitation, and more.
- Lost Wages: This includes the time the victim cannot go to work due to the injury or the rehabilitation requirements.
- Essential Services: This will cover any essential services that the injury victim cannot perform due to the injury, such as household duties or childcare.
- Passenger Coverage: Passenger injuries are also covered under PIP.
Notably, non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of activities, and trauma, are non-recoverable under PIP insurance.
Is It Possible To File a Lawsuit in a No-Fault State After a Serious Accident?
Yes, it is possible to file a lawsuit in a no-fault state after a serious accident. Car accidents that result in catastrophic injuries, such as spine injuries, amputations, or traumatic brain injuries (TBI), often cause extremely painful, debilitating, and expensive injuries. Each no-fault state has a severity threshold, which may be defined in terms of specific injuries, medical expense amounts, or disability duration. When this threshold is exceeded, the injury victim can pursue a lawsuit against the at-fault driver for damages.
In these cases, the injured party may pursue compensation for all economic and non-economic damages directly attributed to the accident. However, the injured party must prove that a third party engaged in negligent behavior that directly caused their injuries.
How Is Liability for Serious Injuries Determined in No-Fault States?
For minor injuries, most no-fault states do not assign fault to any party, as it does not affect the financial recovery process. However, if an injury meets the serious injury threshold and the victim chooses to pursue compensation through a personal injury lawsuit, then they will need to show that the other driver was negligent by proving all four elements of negligence:
- Duty of Care: The injured party must establish that the other driver owed them a duty of care. All drivers on public roads owe a duty of care to other drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, so this is generally easy to prove in the case of car accidents.
- Breach of Duty of Care: The injured party must then show that the negligent driver violated the duty of care. For example, if they ran a red light or violated a traffic law, that would be considered a breach of duty of care.
- Causation: The injured party must prove that the negligent driver’s breach of duty of care resulted in their injuries.
- Damages: The injured party must show documentation of the damages suffered, such as medical bills, lost wages, and rehabilitation costs.
Can the At-Fault Party Recover Compensation for a Serious Injury in a No-Fault State?
The at-fault party can recover compensation for a serious injury in a no-fault state through their PIP coverage. This type of coverage is available to all injured parties, regardless of who was at fault. However, at-fault parties may be able to pursue additional compensation through a personal injury lawsuit depending on the state’s negligence laws, as long as the injuries meet the state’s severity threshold.
There are three main types of negligence laws:
- Pure: In a pure negligence state, the injured party may seek compensation for their injuries as long as another party is at least 1% at fault. The amount of damages awarded will be proportional to the share of fault attributed to other parties. For example, if a driver is found to be 75% at fault for an accident, then they may only recover up to 25% of damages through a personal injury lawsuit.
- Modified: The injured party must be less than half at fault to receive compensation. In a no-fault state like Florida, the injured party must be responsible for 50% or less of the accident to pursue compensation through a personal injury lawsuit.
- Contributory: The injured party cannot pursue any compensation for the accident through a personal injury lawsuit if they share any responsibility for the accident.
Is It Possible To File a Lawsuit After Receiving No-Fault Benefits?
Yes, receiving no-fault benefits does not preclude an injured party from filing a lawsuit if their injuries meet the state’s severity threshold. The types of damages pursued in a personal injury lawsuit in a no-fault state are those outside the scope of PIP insurance, such as pain and suffering. However, injured victims may not file a lawsuit to pursue compensation for damages they have already been compensated for through their PIP insurance.
Is There a Statute of Limitations for Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit Under the No-Fault System?
Yes, there is a statute of limitations for filing a personal injury lawsuit in no-fault states. If the accident resulted in serious injuries that exceed the state’s severity threshold, then injury victims in no-fault states must file the lawsuit within the state’s statute of limitations. The statute of limitations for personal injury lawsuits varies between states, but it is usually one or two years from the accident date.
