Pompano Beach Car Accident Lawyer

A crash on Federal Highway or the I-95 ramps at Atlantic Boulevard leaves you with medical bills, a damaged vehicle, and an insurance adjuster who starts working the file before you leave the hospital. Jacobson Injury Firm represents drivers, passengers, and families across Broward County in serious crash claims.

Every case here is handled personally by attorney Adam Jacobson, never passed between paralegals. From the first call through resolution you speak with the lawyer who knows your file. Contact us today for a free consultation, and see our broader Pompano Beach personal injury practice for related claims.

Why Choose Jacobson Injury Firm for Your Pompano Beach Car Accident Claim?

Command of the Rules That Decide Florida Crash Cases

Florida rewrote much of its injury law in March 2023, and crash claims absorbed most of the impact. The modified comparative fault standard under Florida Statute 768.81 now bars recovery outright once a claimant is assigned more than 50 percent of the blame. Carriers apply that line aggressively, so how comparative fault gets argued often decides the claim before damages are ever discussed.

A car accident attorney in Pompano Beach, FL who works these cases regularly knows which defenses Broward adjusters raise first and how judges in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit handle the evidentiary fights that follow.

Demonstrated Results for Injured Clients

The firm has recovered millions of dollars for injured clients, including a $300,000 car accident recovery and a $478,000 truck accident result. No two crashes produce the same claim. A low-speed rear-end collision on Dixie Highway and a T-bone at Copans Road carry different injuries, different evidence, and different value. Our client reviews describe what the process looks like from the client’s side.

No Attorney Fees Unless You Recover

Crash claims at the firm run on a contingency fee. You pay nothing at the outset, and we advance the cost of investigation, records, and litigation. No recovery means no fee.

Key Components of a Pompano Beach Car Accident Claim

Meeting the 14-Day Treatment Deadline

This deadline ends more Florida claims than any other, and almost nobody warns drivers about it. Under Florida Statute 627.736, you must obtain initial medical care within 14 days of the crash or your personal injury protection benefits are forfeited entirely. Not reduced. Gone. Adrenaline masks soft tissue and head injuries for days, so the driver who decides to wait and see whether the stiffness fades often waits past the only deadline that guarantees coverage.

Understanding What PIP Actually Pays

Florida requires $10,000 in PIP, and drivers assume that covers them. It pays 80 percent of reasonable medical expenses and 60 percent of lost wages, which leaves 20 percent of every medical bill your responsibility from the first appointment. The benefit also splits: without an emergency medical condition diagnosis from an authorized provider, the $10,000 drops to $2,500. A single emergency room visit and one round of imaging can exhaust either figure.

Crossing the Permanent Injury Threshold

No-fault also restricts your right to sue. Florida Statute 627.737 permits recovery of pain and suffering from the at-fault driver only where the injury falls into one of four categories: 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. That threshold is the gate to the largest part of most claim values, and defense counsel attacks it with compulsory medical examinations and records review. Establishing permanency through the right treating physicians is central to the work.

Establishing Negligence

Liability requires duty, breach, causation, and damages. Negligence in a crash usually means following too closely, failing to yield, running a signal, or driving while distracted. Physical evidence decides close cases, and it disappears quickly. Vehicles get repaired, debris fields are swept, and business camera footage along Federal Highway is frequently overwritten within days, which is why traffic camera footage has to be requested early rather than at settlement.

Identifying Every Liable Party

Florida is close to unique on this point, and it is worth understanding. Under the dangerous instrumentality doctrine, the owner of a vehicle is vicariously liable for a crash caused by anyone driving it with permission, whether or not the owner did anything careless. The Florida Supreme Court applied the rule to automobiles in 1920 and reaffirmed it as recently as 2023. If a friend, an adult child, or an employee was driving someone else’s car when they hit you, the owner is on the hook too.

The exposure is capped. Florida Statute 324.021(9)(b)3 limits an owner who is a natural person to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per incident for bodily injury, plus $50,000 in property damage. Where the permissive driver is uninsured or carries under $500,000 combined, the owner faces up to another $500,000 in economic damages. Those caps cover vicarious liability only. An owner who was independently careless in handing over the keys faces no cap at all. Checking who held title to the vehicle that hit you is often what turns a minimum-limits claim into a real recovery.

Locating Every Layer of Insurance

Florida does not require private drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage. Florida Statute 324.022 is satisfied by PIP and $10,000 in property damage liability alone, so a fully legal driver can put you in surgery and carry nothing that pays for it. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage under Florida Statute 627.727 then becomes the claim. Stacked coverage across multiple household vehicles routinely produces several times the limit a client believed they had, and resident relative policies add another layer people forget they can reach.

Proving Medical Damages Under the 2023 Rules

Florida Statute 768.0427 rewrote how medical damages are proven at trial and required disclosure of letters of protection and the referral relationships behind them. Juries now see amounts actually paid rather than amounts billed in many situations. The practical effect is that how and where you treat, and how that treatment is documented, now shapes claim value from the first appointment instead of at settlement.

Acting Within Two Years

Florida cut the negligence deadline from four years to two in March 2023 under Florida Statute 95.11. The four-year figure still circulates widely, and drivers who rely on it lose valid claims. Our statute of limitations resource breaks down how the deadline runs. Where a government vehicle or a roadway defect is involved, Florida Statute 768.28 adds written pre-suit notice to the agency and the Department of Financial Services, plus a waiting period.

“Excellent service and results. Attorney Jacobson was professional, responsive, and truly cared about my case. They explained everything clearly and delivered great results.”

Isaac M.

Where Pompano Beach Car Accidents Happen

Pompano Beach concentrates traffic into a handful of corridors, and the crash pattern follows. Federal Highway carries heavy commercial and turning traffic through the city center. Atlantic Boulevard, Copans Road, and Sample Road feed the I-95 interchanges, where merging conflicts and sudden backups produce chain-reaction collisions. Powerline Road and Dixie Highway absorb the overflow. Along A1A, beach parking turnover and pedestrian crossings add a different hazard entirely, and seasonal visitors unfamiliar with the roads raise the risk further between December and April.

The FLHSMV crash dashboard tracks these numbers for Broward County, which consistently ranks among the highest in Florida, and the Florida Department of Transportation publishes the safety data behind them. The City of Pompano Beach continues to redesign several of these corridors in response.

Types of Car Accident Claims We Handle in Pompano Beach

Rear-End Collisions

Florida presumes the trailing driver is at fault, but that presumption can be rebutted with evidence of a sudden unexplained stop or a mechanical failure. These crashes produce whiplash, disc injuries, and concussions that frequently present days after the impact, which makes the treatment record decisive.

Intersection and Left-Turn Crashes

A driver turning left across oncoming traffic must yield. These collisions at Atlantic and Powerline, or along Copans, tend to produce side-impact injuries with little protective structure between the occupant and the striking vehicle.

Distracted Driving

Phone use pulls a driver’s eyes, hands, and attention off the road at once. Federal data on distracted driving documents how many deaths follow each year. Phone records obtained through discovery often establish what a driver denies at the scene.

Drunk and Impaired Driving

An impaired driver faces criminal charges and a civil claim at the same time, and the criminal case can supply evidence for yours. Where a bar or restaurant served a habitually addicted person or a minor, Florida law may extend liability to that establishment as well.

Hit and Run and Uninsured Drivers

When the at-fault driver flees or carries no coverage, your uninsured motorist policy becomes the claim. These cases turn on prompt notice to your own carrier and on the investigation that identifies the fleeing driver where possible.

Rideshare Collisions

An Uber or Lyft crash brings tiered coverage that depends on what the driver was doing at impact, and the difference between waiting for a request and carrying a passenger is substantial. A recent rideshare case shows how those distinctions play out.

Learn More About Rideshare Accidents

Multi-Vehicle and Commercial Crashes

Chain-reaction collisions on I-95 raise fault allocation questions across several drivers at once. Where a commercial vehicle is involved, federal regulations, electronic logging data, and a corporate defense team enter the case immediately.

Learn More About Truck Accidents

We also represent people injured in motorcycle crashes, pedestrian accidents, and bicycle collisions, and we handle catastrophic injury and wrongful death claims arising from crashes. See all practice areas.

What to Do After a Car Accident in Pompano Beach

• Seek medical care within 14 days without exception, even if you feel able to walk away from the scene.
• Photograph vehicle positions, damage, skid marks, signals, and your injuries before anything is moved. Evidence at the scene cannot be recreated later.
• Call law enforcement and obtain the crash report number. Reports for Pompano Beach collisions are available through the FLHSMV crash portal, and incidents in the city are generally handled by the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Note that Florida keeps crash reports confidential for a period after filing, released only to the people involved, their attorneys, and their insurers, so a delay in obtaining one is normal rather than a problem.
• Collect witness names and numbers at the scene. Witnesses scatter within minutes and are rarely traceable afterward.
• Report the crash to your own insurer, but decline a recorded statement to the other driver’s carrier until you have spoken with a lawyer. Our guide to dealing with insurance companies explains why.
• Keep every appointment and follow the treatment plan. Gaps in care become causation arguments later in the case timeline, and soft tissue injuries, broken bones, and back injuries all need consistent documentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to file a car accident lawsuit in Florida?

Two years from the date of the crash for most negligence claims. Florida shortened this from four years in March 2023, so any source still citing four years is out of date. Claims involving a government vehicle or a roadway defect require written pre-suit notice and follow separate rules.

Do I have to see a doctor within 14 days after a car accident?

Yes, if you want your PIP benefits. Florida forfeits the coverage entirely when initial treatment falls outside that window. Go even if you feel fine, because concussions and soft tissue injuries commonly surface several days after a crash.

Who pays my medical bills after a Pompano Beach crash?

Your own PIP pays first regardless of fault, covering 80 percent of reasonable medical expenses up to your limit. The remaining 20 percent, and everything past the limit, comes from the at-fault driver’s bodily injury coverage, your uninsured motorist coverage, MedPay, or health insurance. We map every available policy at the start.

Can I sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering?

Only if your injury crosses Florida’s permanent injury threshold. The four qualifying categories are significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, and death. Without one of them, the claim is generally limited to economic losses.

Can I still recover if I was partly at fault for the crash?

Yes, provided your share does not exceed 50 percent. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage, and anyone found more than 50 percent responsible recovers nothing. Insurers understand that line well, which is why they begin building a fault argument during the first phone call.

What if the driver who hit me had no insurance?

This happens often in Florida, because state law does not require private drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage. Your uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage becomes the primary source of recovery, and stacked coverage across multiple vehicles frequently provides more than clients expect.

Can I sue the owner of the car if someone else was driving?

Usually yes. Florida’s dangerous instrumentality doctrine makes a vehicle owner vicariously liable for a crash caused by anyone driving with permission, without any proof that the owner was careless. Statutory caps limit that exposure, but the caps do not apply where the owner was independently negligent in lending the vehicle.

How much is my car accident case worth?

Value depends on the severity and permanence of your injuries, total medical costs, lost income, whether you cross the permanent injury threshold, the insurance available, and your share of fault. Anyone quoting a figure at the first meeting is guessing. We give a realistic range once we review the records and coverage.

Should I accept the insurance company’s first offer?

Rarely. Early offers arrive before the full extent of an injury is documented, and the release you sign closes the claim permanently. If your condition worsens or further treatment becomes necessary, you cannot reopen it. Have the offer reviewed before you respond.

How long does a Florida car accident case take?

A claim with clear liability and adequate coverage can resolve within a few months of finishing treatment. Disputed fault, serious injuries, or a coverage fight commonly stretch a case to one or two years, and longer at trial. Settling before treatment concludes usually costs more than the wait.

Speak With a Pompano Beach Car Accident Lawyer

The days right after a crash shape everything that follows: the treatment record, the evidence, and the fault argument the insurer will make. Reach out today to speak directly with Adam Jacobson about your case before adjusters begin making offers. Consultations are free and you pay nothing unless we recover for you. Call (561) 567-7163 or send us a message. The firm also serves Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, and West Palm Beach, with the full list on our areas we serve page and further reading in our personal injury resources and blog.