In the State of Florida, bicycle injury victims can seek compensation for both the current costs of their medical treatments related to the injury and any likely future treatments deemed medically beneficial.
According to proposed jury instructions suggested by the Florida Supreme Court, section 501.1 provides that the future expenses must be “reasonably certain to be incurred.” Other trials interpret this threshold as the need to show that the treatments will be “more likely than not” necessary in the future.
In order to meet this standard, an injury claimant must provide a substantial quantity of evidence indicating the likelihood of future medical costs. For instance, a physician scheduling a surgery a few weeks out would be very compelling evidence to a jury and an insurer that future medical costs are likely, if not inevitable. Another example would be a bone fracture injury that is likely to need medical devices like braces as it heals, along with the required physical therapy.
Documenting physicians and expert witnesses used to help prove the likelihood of future expenses only need to note that a future expense is “more likely than not” in their opinion within a reasonable degree of medical certainty.
Bicycle accident injury victims must typically seek out the maximum amount of available coverage from their own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) or medical insurance policies, provided they have them, before seeking compensation from a negligent party’s Bodily Injury (BI) liability insurance policy. If the negligent party does not have a BI policy, the injury victim may be able to file a claim under Uninsured Motorist (UM) coverage or by filing a lawsuit against the negligent party directly.