Jacksonville medical malpractice lawyer.

Two years from the date of incident, or from when you reasonably should have discovered the harm. The absolute statute of repose is four years. Birth-injury claims involving a child extend to the child’s eighth birthday under Florida § 95.11(4)(b). Cases are filed in Duval County (4th Judicial Circuit) for Jacksonville-area claims; neighboring counties may file in Clay (4th), St. Johns (7th), or Nassau (4th).

Both can be defendants depending on the facts. Most attending physicians at Baptist, UF Health, Ascension St. Vincent’s, HCA, and Mayo Clinic are independent contractors, not hospital employees. That means hospital liability often turns on apparent-agency analysis (whether a reasonable patient believed the doctor was a hospital employee). Hospital nursing, triage, monitoring, and protocol failures are typically direct hospital liability.

Different rules apply. Naval Hospital Jacksonville is a federal facility governed by the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), not Florida law. You cannot sue the hospital directly. You must first file an administrative claim using Standard Form 95 with the Department of the Navy within two years of injury. We may accept some Naval Hospital cases when the case economics support the work; the procedure and timing are different from a private-hospital case.

Yes, we accept catastrophic-injury cases from across Northeast Florida (Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau, Baker, and surrounding counties) and litigate many of them in Jacksonville-area courts. We will tell you on the first call whether venue is in Duval or another circuit.

Florida § 766.102 defines medical malpractice as a breach of the prevailing professional standard of care by a healthcare provider that causes injury. The standard is what a reasonably prudent provider in the same specialty would have done. A bad outcome alone is not malpractice. There must be a breach.

Nothing upfront. We work on contingency: no fee unless we recover for you. Our fee is a percentage of any recovery, capped by Florida Bar Rule 4-1.5(f)(4)(B), which sets the maximum percentage by stage of the case. Your exact rate is fixed in writing before we start. Case costs (expert witnesses, depositions, life-care planners, trial graphics, typically $75,000 to $250,000 on a complex case) are advanced by the firm and reimbursed only out of recovery. If we don’t recover, you owe us zero.

Probably not. Most cases settle during discovery or mediation, and that is the goal: maximize value, then resolve. What drives settlement value up is the firm’s willingness to take cases to verdict, paired with the § 766.203 pre-acceptance physician screening. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in your case.

Sí. Our intake team is fully bilingual; trial work can be conducted in either language with a court interpreter when needed.