South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers Blog

Who Can File a Claim After a Fatal Car Accident in Miami?

Published on: June 30, 2026 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

After a fatal car accident in Miami, only one person can file a wrongful death claim: the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate. Individual family members, even a spouse or a parent, cannot bring their own separate lawsuit under Florida law. When a high-speed crash like the recent overnight collision in Little Havana takes a life, the family’s first questions are usually about who has the right to act and how much time they have.

How Florida’s Wrongful Death Act Decides Who Can File

Florida law puts the wrongful death claim in the hands of the estate’s personal representative, not the grieving relatives directly. The Florida Wrongful Death Act, found at sections 768.16 through 768.26 of the Florida Statutes, controls these cases. Under Florida Statute § 768.20, the personal representative files a single lawsuit on behalf of everyone who lost something because of the death.

Hit-and-Run Bicycle Accidents in Florida

Published on: June 29, 2026 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

When a driver hits a cyclist and speeds off, the victim’s family can still recover money, often through the cyclist’s own auto insurance and through a wrongful death claim. In late June 2026, a 68-year-old cyclist riding in a marked bike lane on the Southeast 17th Street Causeway in Fort Lauderdale was killed when a driver struck her and left the scene. Cases like this raise a hard question for families across South Florida: what happens to the claim when the person who caused the crash runs.

The attorneys at Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada handle fatal crash and wrongful death cases for families in Miami-Dade, Broward, and the surrounding counties, and a driver fleeing does not close off the family’s options.

Your Own Insurance Can Pay When the At-Fault Driver Is Long Gone

What to Do After a Wrong-Way Crash on I-95 in Miami

Published on: June 26, 2026 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

If you were hit by a wrong-way driver on I-95, you can usually hold that driver responsible for your medical bills and lost income, and a serious injury may let you pursue money for pain and suffering too. These crashes tend to happen late at night, and they often leave victims with severe injuries. A recent early-morning crash on the northbound express lanes of I-95 sent two people to Jackson Memorial Hospital, one of them in critical condition, after a driver headed south in the wrong direction.

The car accident attorneys at Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada have represented people hurt on South Florida highways since 1976. If you are dealing with an injury from a wrong-way crash, understanding how fault and insurance work in Florida helps you know what your claim is actually worth.

Why fault is usually clear when a driver goes the wrong way

What to Do After a Fatal Hit-and-Run Pedestrian Crash in Miami

Published on: June 25, 2026 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

When a driver hits someone on a Miami street and speeds off, the family left behind faces two problems at once: losing a loved one and having no one at the scene to answer for it. A hit-and-run pedestrian accident still gives that family real legal options, even while police are searching for a car and a suspect. The recent deadly crash on Northwest 17th Avenue, where a pedestrian was killed and the driver fled, is the kind of case that happens on South Florida roads more often than most people realize.

Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada has handled Miami-Dade pedestrian accident cases since 1976, including crashes where the at-fault driver was never caught.

Why a Driver Who Flees Faces Felony Charges in Florida

What to Do After a Fatal Hit-and-Run Pedestrian Crash in Miami

Published on: June 22, 2026 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

When a driver hits someone on a Miami street and speeds off, the family left behind faces two problems at once: losing a loved one and having no one at the scene to answer for it. A hit-and-run pedestrian accident still gives that family real legal options, even while police are searching for a car and a suspect. The recent deadly crash on Northwest 17th Avenue, where a pedestrian was killed and the driver fled, is the kind of case that happens on South Florida roads more often than most people realize.

Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada has handled Miami-Dade pedestrian accident cases since 1976, including crashes where the at-fault driver was never caught.

Why a Driver Who Flees Faces Felony Charges in Florida

Miami Grocery Store Slip and Falls

Published on: May 27, 2026 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

If you had a slip and fall at a Miami grocery store, Florida law puts the burden on you to prove the store either knew or should have known about the dangerous condition that caused your fall. This is a tougher standard than most people realize, and it’s the single biggest reason slip-and-fall cases at Publix, Winn-Dixie, Sedano’s, and Whole Foods locations across South Florida get denied.

The statute that governs these claims is Florida Statute § 768.0755, and it changed how grocery store cases work back in 2010.

What Florida Statute § 768.0755 Requires

Under § 768.0755, if you slip and fall on a transitory foreign substance in a business establishment, you must prove that the business establishment had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and should have taken action to remedy it. A transitory foreign substance is any temporary substance on the floor that isn’t supposed to be there — spilled milk, leaking produce water, a smashed grape, melted ice cream, or anything similar.

You can prove the store’s knowledge two ways:

Actual knowledge — an employee saw the spill, was told about it, or caused it themselves. This is the harder version to prove because it usually requires witness testimony or video.
Constructive knowledge — the condition existed long enough that, in the exercise of ordinary care, the store should have known about it, or the condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable.

Your Rights if You’ve Been Injured as a Passenger in a Miami Car Accident

Published on: May 17, 2026 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

If you were a passenger in a car accident in Miami, you can usually file a claim against multiple insurance policies — your driver’s, the other driver’s, and sometimes your own. Passengers also rarely face the comparative fault arguments that complicate driver claims, which often makes a passenger’s case stronger than the drivers’ own claims.

That’s true whether the crash happened on I-95, Bird Road, the Dolphin Expressway, or a side street in Little Havana.

How Passenger Insurance Claims Work in Florida

The first source of coverage is Personal Injury Protection (PIP) under Florida Statute § 627.736. PIP pays 80% of your medical bills and 60% of lost wages up to $10,000, regardless of fault. Where it comes from depends on your situation. If you own a car, your own PIP pays first, even though you weren’t driving. If you don’t own a car, the PIP on a resident relative’s auto policy may apply. If neither exists, the PIP on the car you were riding in covers you.

Can You Sue a Florida Bar That Served a Drunk Driver Who Hit You?

Published on: May 11, 2026 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

In most cases, you cannot sue a Florida bar or restaurant just because it served alcohol to an adult who later caused a drunk-driving crash. Florida’s dram shop law is one of the narrowest in the country, and the rule applies whether the crash happened in Miami Beach, Brickell, or anywhere else in South Florida.

There are two exceptions, and they matter. If either applies, the establishment can be held liable alongside the drunk driver.

What Florida’s Dram Shop Law Actually Says

The governing statute is Florida Statute § 768.125. It says that a person who sells or furnishes alcoholic beverages to a person of lawful drinking age shall not become liable for injury or damage caused by that person’s intoxication — except in two specific situations.

Were You Hit by a Rental Car in Miami?

Published on: May 2, 2026 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

If you were hit by a rental car in Miami, you can usually pursue compensation from the driver’s personal auto insurance, the rental company’s liability coverage, or your own PIP and uninsured motorist coverage — depending on the facts. South Florida sees this scenario constantly because Miami International draws millions of visitors a year, and rental-car crashes on I-95, the Palmetto Expressway, and the Dolphin Expressway are routine.

The complication is figuring out which policy applies and in what order. That’s where most rental-car claims get stuck.

Whose Insurance Pays After a Rental Car Crash

Florida is a no-fault state, so the first stop is always Personal Injury Protection (PIP) under Florida Statute § 627.736. PIP covers 80% of your medical bills and 60% of lost wages up to $10,000, regardless of who caused the crash. If you own a car, your own PIP pays first. If you don’t, the PIP on a resident relative’s policy may apply, or the rental driver’s PIP may step in.

Florida’s Permanent Injury Threshold: When You Can Sue After a Crash

Published on: April 28, 2026 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

Florida is a no-fault state, and that one fact controls almost every Miami car accident case. Even when another driver clearly caused the crash and clearly caused your injuries, you cannot recover money for pain and suffering unless your injury crosses what Florida law calls the permanent injury threshold. Most clients have never heard of it before they walk into our office, and most of them are surprised by what it does and does not include.

The personal injury attorneys at Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada have handled South Florida car accident claims since 1976, and the threshold question is one of the first things we evaluate on every motor vehicle case. Whether the injury qualifies often determines whether the case is worth tens of thousands of dollars or substantially more.

What the Permanent Injury Threshold Actually Says