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What Changed in Florida Injury Law in 2026

By Serge Hovhanessian, Esq. · Updated August 2026 · 9 min read

Status as of August 2026

The honest summary is that 2026 was a quiet year for Florida injury law. One set of civil procedure amendments took effect on January 1, 2026. The two changes that would have mattered most to injured people, repealing PIP and repealing the medical-negligence wrongful death restriction, were both filed, both covered heavily, and both died when the session adjourned on March 13, 2026. Most of what circulates online as a “2026 change” is either a 2025 change or a bill that never became law.

Key Takeaways

  • ✓ Effective January 1, 2026: amendments to rule 1.442 and two forms, adopted in SC2025-0045
  • ✓ PIP repeal failed. SB 522 and HB 769 both died on March 13, 2026
  • ✓ Free-kill repeal failed. HB 6003 cleared the House, then died in Senate Rules
  • ✓ The 60-day initial disclosure rule is real, but it took effect January 1, 2025
  • ✓ The two-year negligence deadline dates to 2023, not 2026, and still governs your case

What Actually Took Effect on January 1, 2026

The Florida Supreme Court adopted amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure in case SC2025-0045, effective January 1, 2026 at 12:01 a.m. The amendments reached rule 1.442 (Proposals for Settlement), along with form 1.902 (Summons) and form 1.938 (Forcible Entry and Detention).

Rule 1.442 governs the mechanics of a proposal for settlement, the formal offer device that can shift attorney's fees when a party rejects an offer and then fails to beat it at trial. The amendment addresses apportionment in joint proposals directed to parties alleged to be vicariously, constructively, derivatively, or technically liable. Florida courts had long enforced a strict rule requiring a joint proposal to state the amount and terms attributable to each party, on the reasoning that the fee entitlement is in derogation of the common law and must be strictly construed.

This is a litigation-mechanics change rather than something that alters what your case is worth or how long you have to file. It matters to how a case is negotiated, and it is the kind of detail your attorney handles. If you want the operative text rather than a summary of it, read the opinion in SC2025-0045 directly; the sources section below links to it.

What Did Not Change: PIP and No-Fault

Two bills in the 2026 regular session would have ended Florida's no-fault system. Senate Bill 522 died in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on March 13, 2026. Its House companion, House Bill 769, died in the House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee the same day. Neither received a floor vote in either chamber.

March 13, 2026 was the 60th and final day of the regular session. Under Florida practice, a bill still sitting in committee when the session adjourns sine die dies there automatically. No version of PIP repeal was presented to the Governor in 2026.

So every part of FL § 627.736 that governed a crash claim last year governs one today: the $10,000 limit, 80 percent of reasonable medical expenses, 60 percent of lost wages, the 14-day treatment deadline, and the emergency-medical-condition split that caps benefits at $2,500 without a qualifying determination. We cover the repeal question in detail in did Florida repeal PIP in 2026, and the mechanics in Florida no-fault and PIP insurance explained.

What Did Not Change: The Free Kill Restriction

Florida's Wrongful Death Act contains a restriction, widely referred to as the “free kill” provision, that bars certain survivors from recovering noneconomic damages when a death results from medical negligence. It reaches adult children 25 and older, and parents of a decedent who was 25 or older.

House Bill 6003 in the 2026 session would have removed that restriction. It cleared the House and then died in Senate Rules on March 13, 2026. This was not a fringe effort, and it was not the first attempt; a materially similar bill was filed in the 2025 session as HB 6017.

The practical consequence is unchanged and harsh: a family in that category can lose a parent or an adult child to a fatal medical error and have no claim for the loss itself, only for economic losses where they exist. Our guide to Florida's free kill law explains who is affected, and the Florida Wrongful Death Act covers who may bring a claim generally.

The 2025 Changes That Get Misdated to 2026

This is where most of the confusion comes from. Florida did undergo a genuine overhaul of civil case management, and it is recent enough that it gets restated as a 2026 development. It was not. In case SC2023-0962, the Florida Supreme Court adopted amendments to rules 1.200 (Case Management; Pretrial Procedure), 1.201 (Complex Litigation), 1.280 (General Provisions Governing Discovery), 1.440 (Setting Action for Trial), and 1.460 (Motions to Continue Trial), effective January 1, 2025 at 12:01 a.m.

Those amendments built a framework for active case management, with deadlines set early based on the complexity of the case and room for customization by circuit. The piece most often cited is the initial disclosure obligation in amended rule 1.280: a party must provide initial discovery disclosures without waiting for a discovery request, within 60 days after service of the complaint or joinder, subject to exemptions for the actions and claims listed in rule 1.200(a).

That 60-day requirement is real and it is significant. It is simply not new in 2026. If you have read that Florida “introduced a 60-day disclosure requirement this year,” the underlying rule is correct and the year is wrong by one.

The 2023 Changes That Still Govern Your Claim

The single most consequential change to Florida injury law in recent years is older still, and it is the one that most often costs people their cases. CS/CS/HB 837 in the 2023 session, which became Chapter 2023-15, reduced the limitations period for negligence actions under FL § 95.11 from four years to two years.

The same legislation reshaped Florida's comparative fault rule. Under FL § 768.81, a claimant found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing, and a claimant below that threshold has any award reduced in proportion to their share of fault. Nothing in the 2026 session changed either rule.

If you take one practical thing from this page, take the deadline. Two years is short, and evidence degrades long before it expires: surveillance footage is overwritten, vehicles are repaired or scrapped, and witness memory fades. Our guide to Florida comparative negligence and the 51 percent rule covers how shared fault reduces a recovery.

Why “What Changed This Year” Articles Are So Often Wrong

The pattern is consistent and worth recognizing, because it will repeat in 2027. A bill is filed and generates coverage. It advances through a committee and generates more. Those articles are written in the future tense and describe a proposed effective date. Then the bill dies, and nothing is published about the death, because a bill dying is not news. What remains online is a body of confident, future-tense writing that reads like settled law once the conditional language is stripped out by summarizing and rewriting.

The second pattern is simple recency drift. A real reform that took effect in January of one year gets described as new the following January. Both failure modes are easy to check, and the check takes about a minute: find the bill number and read its last action, or find the Supreme Court case number and read the effective date in the opinion.

What This Means If You Were Injured in Florida

  • Your deadline is two years, and it has not moved. FL § 95.11 governs most negligence claims. Assume the clock started on the date of the injury and act accordingly.
  • PIP still applies, including the 14-day rule. See a doctor within 14 days of a crash or you forfeit those benefits entirely. No 2026 legislation relaxed this.
  • If you lost a family member to medical negligence, ask about § 768.21(8) specifically. Whether you can recover noneconomic damages may turn on the decedent's age and your relationship to them.
  • Litigation moves faster than it used to. The 2025 case management framework front-loads disclosure obligations and tightens continuances, which is a reason to involve counsel early rather than after a suit is filed.

None of this is a substitute for advice about your specific situation. Deadlines, coverage, and the identity of the right defendant all turn on facts that a general article cannot know.

Florida Injury Law in 2026 — FAQ

What changed in Florida injury law in 2026?

Less than most articles suggest. The one change that took effect on January 1, 2026 is a Florida Supreme Court amendment to the Rules of Civil Procedure in case SC2025-0045, which amended rule 1.442 (Proposals for Settlement) along with form 1.902 (Summons) and form 1.938. The 2026 regular legislative session, which adjourned sine die on March 13, 2026, did not pass a bill repealing PIP or a bill repealing the medical-negligence wrongful death restriction. For most injured people, the rules that govern a claim in 2026 are the same rules that governed it in 2025.

Did Florida repeal PIP or no-fault insurance in 2026?

No. Senate Bill 522 died in the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee on March 13, 2026, and its House companion, House Bill 769, died in the House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee the same day. March 13 was the 60th and final day of the regular session, and a bill still sitting in committee at sine die dies there. FL § 627.736 is unchanged, including the $10,000 limit, the 14-day treatment rule, and the emergency-medical-condition tiers.

Did Florida repeal the free kill law in 2026?

No. House Bill 6003 would have removed the provision in Florida's Wrongful Death Act that bars adult children 25 and older, and parents of a decedent 25 or older, from recovering noneconomic damages in a medical negligence death case. It cleared the House and then died in Senate Rules on March 13, 2026. The restriction in FL § 768.21(8) remains law.

What is the 60-day disclosure requirement in Florida civil cases?

Amended rule 1.280 requires a party to provide initial discovery disclosures, without waiting for a discovery request, within 60 days after service of the complaint or joinder, subject to exemptions for the actions and claims listed in rule 1.200(a). This is frequently described as a 2026 change. It is not. It took effect on January 1, 2025 under Florida Supreme Court case SC2023-0962.

Is the statute of limitations for a Florida injury case still two years?

Yes. The deadline for most negligence actions is two years under FL § 95.11. That is not a 2026 change either — it came from CS/CS/HB 837 in the 2023 session, which became Chapter 2023-15 and cut the negligence limitations period from four years to two. Nothing in 2026 altered it. Because the deadline is jurisdictional in practice, missing it generally ends a claim no matter how strong the underlying facts are.

Did Florida change its comparative negligence rule in 2026?

No. Florida still applies modified comparative negligence under FL § 768.81, which bars recovery entirely for a claimant found more than 50 percent at fault and reduces the award in proportion to fault below that threshold. That framework also came from the 2023 civil remedies legislation, not from anything passed in 2026.

Why do so many articles claim big Florida injury law changes in 2026?

Two reasons. First, bills generate coverage when they are filed and when they advance, and that coverage is written in the future tense; when the bill later dies, the earlier articles remain online without correction. Second, the sweeping civil procedure reforms that genuinely did change Florida litigation took effect on January 1, 2025, and are close enough in time that they get restated a year later as though they were new. Checking the bill number and its last action, or the Supreme Court case number and its effective date, resolves almost every one of these claims.

How can I check whether a Florida law actually changed?

For legislation, look up the bill on flsenate.gov or flhouse.gov and read the last action. "Filed," "favorable," and "reported out of committee" are not law; "died in committee," "died in Senate Rules," and "indefinitely postponed" are the end of the road. A bill is law only if it passed both chambers, was signed or became law without signature, and has reached its effective date. For court rules, find the Supreme Court case number and read the effective date stated in the opinion.

Sources

Every claim on this page traces to an official record. Check them yourself.

Not Sure Which Rules Apply to Your Claim?

The law that governs your case is the law in effect when you were injured, not whatever a headline says changed this year. HOV Law represents injured people across Central Florida. The consultation is free and there is no fee unless we win.

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Related Guides

Did Florida Repeal PIP in 2026?

The bill numbers, the final actions, and where the false date came from

Florida's Free Kill Law Explained

Who is barred from recovering, and why repeal keeps failing

Florida Comparative Negligence: The 51% Rule

How shared fault reduces or eliminates a recovery

Florida No-Fault & PIP Insurance Explained

The $10,000 benefit, the 14-day rule, and the EMC tiers