South Florida Injury Lawyer Blog
Winning a Florida motorcycle accident claim just got harder for helmetless riders – even when the crash isn’t their fault. This is thanks to a sweeping Florida tort reform measure that shifted the way our courts hold negligent drivers accountable. 
To be clear, Florida’s motorcycle helmet law remains unchanged. F.S. 316.211 allows adults over 21 with at least $10,000 in medical insurance benefits for self-sustained injuries to operate or ride on a motorcycle without a helmet.
The issue is the passage of Florida HB 837 and companion bill SB 236, which changed Florida from a state that follows a fault system of pure comparative negligence to one of modified comparative negligence with a 51 percent bar.
In layman’s terms: More than one person can be at-fault for an accident that results in personal injuries. A pure comparative negligence is a system of fault whereby everyone is financially responsible for their own share of the blame in an accident. So if you’re 35 percent at-fault for your own injuries, you can still sue the other person at-fault to collect on the remaining 65 percent. With pure comparative fault, you can be 99 percent liable/legally responsible for your own injuries, and still collect the remaining 1 percent from the other at-fault party. (That’s an extreme case that certainly isn’t ideal, but you aren’t prohibited from collecting damages inflicted by someone else’s wrongdoing just because you were also responsible.) Florida – up until March 2023 – adhered to a system of pure comparative fault for accidents and personal injuries.
HB 837 transformed Florida into a state that adheres to a system of modified comparative fault with a 51 percent fault. This means you can still hold the other negligent person accountable for their share of fault, even if you’re to blame – but only if your percentage of the fault doesn’t exceed 50 percent. If your share of legal responsibility is 51 percent or higher, you are not able to collect anything at all – even if they are 49 percent responsible.
Now, this impacts ALL motorists in Florida. However, it will have an outsized impact on motorcyclists who don’t wear helmets. The reason? Continue reading