Legally Reviewed by Frank P. Marsalisi on July 8, 2026
Being hurt in a car accident in Largo puts you in an immediate and unfamiliar position. Medical bills arrive before you have had any chance to recover, and the adjuster representing the at-fault driver may call within days asking questions specifically designed to reduce what they will pay. What you say in those first conversations, how quickly you seek treatment, and how soon you connect with a Largo car accident lawyer can all shape the monetary compensation you may be able to recover. Florida law changed significantly in March 2023, shortening the deadline to file a lawsuit and adjusting how fault is calculated, and many accident victims in Largo are unaware of what those changes mean for their claim.
At Marsalisi Law, Frank P. Marsalisi has represented car accident victims throughout Largo, Seminole, Pinellas Park, and the broader Pinellas County area for more than 18 years. Unlike high-volume firms that route clients through paralegals or rotate them between staff members, Frank handles every case personally from the first call through resolution. Our firm has earned more than 300 five-star Google reviews, a record built on close personal attention and a commitment to pursuing every dollar of monetary compensation available to each client. Frank is bilingual in English and Spanish, offering Largo clients the comfort of discussing their case in the language they prefer. This page is part of our broader Largo personal injury practice, which extends to motorcycle accidents, rideshare collisions, pedestrian accidents, and other traffic-related cases throughout Pinellas County.
TIME-SENSITIVE: Florida Law Limits Your Window to File
Largo Car Accident Victims Have Only Two Years to File a Lawsuit Under Florida Law
Florida law reduced the deadline to file a car accident lawsuit in Largo for most Florida car accident lawsuits was cut from four years to two. Missing this deadline eliminates your right to seek monetary compensation, regardless of how clear the other driver’s fault may be. Frank P. Marsalisi offers 18-plus years of experience handling Largo accident cases, a contingency fee structure (no recovery, no fee), and 24/7 availability. If you are unable to travel, Frank will come to your home or hospital.
Get a Free Case Review☎ (727) 800-5052The actions you take in the hours and days after a car accident in Largo can have a lasting impact on your ability to recover monetary compensation. Moving through each of these steps in order gives your claim the strongest possible foundation.
Call 911 or go directly to an emergency room, even if you feel relatively fine. Many serious injuries, including traumatic brain injuries and internal bleeding, do not produce obvious symptoms right away. A medical record created close in time to the crash becomes one of the most important pieces of evidence in your claim. Under Florida law, you also must seek treatment within 14 days of the accident to preserve your Personal Injury Protection benefits.
Request a law enforcement response regardless of how minor the crash appears. A Florida Traffic Crash Report documents the scene, records witness statements, notes weather and road conditions, and often includes a responding officer’s preliminary assessment of fault. This report is a foundational document in virtually every car accident claim in Largo.
Photograph vehicle positions, road conditions, traffic signals, skid marks, debris, and any visible injuries. Collect the other driver’s name, insurance information, and license plate number. Obtain names and contact information from witnesses before they leave the scene. The more documentation you gather immediately, the more difficult it becomes for an insurance company to dispute what happened.
Notify your own insurer that the accident occurred, but do not provide a recorded statement to any adjuster, including your own, before consulting a lawyer. Insurance adjusters are trained to ask questions that can later be used to argue that your injuries are less severe than you claim or that you bear some responsibility for the crash. You have no legal obligation to give a recorded statement before speaking with a lawyer.
The sooner you involve a lawyer, the more effectively your claim can be built. Early legal representation allows for the preservation of surveillance footage, timely witness interviews, and coordination of your medical care with the documentation strategy for your case. These early steps are often what separates a strongly supported claim from one that an insurance company feels confident in underpaying.
Largo is one of the largest cities in Pinellas County, with a road network that handles substantial daily traffic across US-19, Ulmerton Road, East Bay Drive, Missouri Avenue, and Indian Rocks Road. Heavy commercial traffic on US-19 creates regular merge conflicts and rear-end collisions, particularly near the major retail corridors. Ulmerton Road, which runs east to west across the heart of Largo, has a high volume of intersection crashes related to signal timing and distracted drivers. As part of the greater Pinellas County personal injury landscape, Largo’s roads reflect the same pressures of increasing population, seasonal tourism, and commercial vehicle activity that make Pinellas one of the most accident-prone counties in Florida.
Among the most common causes of car accidents that bring Largo residents to Marsalisi Law are the following:
Each of these scenarios involves a form of negligence, meaning another party failed to exercise the level of care that a reasonable driver should. When that negligence causes an accident, the injured victim may have grounds to pursue monetary compensation for all resulting losses.
Florida is a no-fault state, which means that after most car accidents, your own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage pays a portion of your medical bills and lost wages regardless of who caused the crash. Florida law requires drivers to carry a minimum of $10,000 in PIP coverage, and that coverage pays 80 percent of medical bills and 60 percent of lost wages up to the policy limit. Understanding how PIP works, and when it does not work in your favor, is essential to protecting your claim.
Florida’s no-fault rules do not trap every injured driver within PIP limits. If your injuries meet the threshold of a “serious injury” under Florida law, you may be entitled to step outside the no-fault system and file a liability claim directly against the at-fault driver. A serious injury under Florida Statute 627.737 includes significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, permanent injury, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death. When your injuries qualify, you can pursue monetary compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other non-economic losses that PIP does not cover.
One of the most misunderstood rules in Florida car accident law is the 14-day treatment requirement. To receive any PIP benefits at all, you must seek medical treatment within 14 days of the accident. If you wait longer, your PIP coverage is forfeited entirely. This rule has created serious financial hardship for accident victims who delayed treatment because they believed their injuries were minor, only to discover days later that they had sustained injuries requiring significant medical care. Do not wait to be evaluated, regardless of how you feel in the immediate aftermath of a crash in Largo.
One of the most consequential changes HB 837 brought to Florida personal injury law was the shift from pure comparative negligence to modified comparative negligence, effective March 24, 2023. This change directly affects how monetary compensation is calculated in car accident cases throughout Largo and Pinellas County, and insurance companies are actively using it in their settlement negotiations.
| Aspect | Before March 24, 2023 (Pure Comparative) | After March 24, 2023 (Modified Comparative) |
|---|---|---|
| Recovery if partly at fault | Could recover even if 99% at fault (reduced by your percentage) | Barred entirely if found more than 50% at fault |
| Impact on 50% fault scenario | Recover 50% of damages | Recover 50% of damages (the threshold) |
| Impact on 51% fault scenario | Recover 49% of damages | Recover nothing |
| Insurance company behavior | Had less incentive to argue shared fault aggressively | Actively seeks to attribute 51% or more fault to the injured party |
What this means practically is that insurance adjusters in Largo now have a direct financial incentive to build a case that you were primarily responsible for your accident. They may point to your speed, your following distance, whether you were looking at your phone, or any other factor they can use to argue that you bear more than half the fault. Having legal representation from the outset of your claim gives you the best available protection against this tactic. Frank P. Marsalisi understands how insurers use the new comparative negligence standard and builds each client’s case with that defense in mind.
Florida law allows car accident victims to pursue monetary compensation for a broad range of losses, and the full scope of those losses is often larger than an insurance company’s initial offer reflects. The damages available to you depend on the severity of your injuries, your age, your earning capacity, and whether your injuries are expected to affect your life long term. Our past case results include a recovery of $150,000 for a car accident victim in Largo as recently as July 2023, as well as numerous other significant recoveries throughout Pinellas County and the greater Tampa Bay area.
| Economic Damages | Non-Economic Damages |
|---|---|
| All medical expenses related to the accident | Physical pain and suffering |
| Projected future medical bills and rehabilitation costs | Emotional distress and mental anguish |
| Lost earnings and employment benefits | Loss of enjoyment of life and favorite activities |
| Reduced earning capacity if injuries are permanent | Loss of consortium and impact on close relationships |
| Vehicle repair and property damage costs | Permanent scarring and disfigurement |
In cases where the at-fault party’s conduct was especially reckless or malicious, Florida law also allows courts to award punitive damages beyond the categories listed above. These are relatively rare in standard car accident cases, but they may be available when a driver was intoxicated at the time of the crash or engaged in other conduct reflecting a conscious disregard for the safety of others.
Under Florida Statute 95.11(4)(a), car accident victims whose injuries resulted from a crash occurring on or after March 24, 2023, have two years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit in court. This two-year deadline was established by HB 837, signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis, which cut Florida’s previous four-year personal injury filing window in half. If you were injured in a Largo car accident before March 24, 2023, the old four-year deadline may still apply, and you should confirm the applicable deadline with a lawyer as soon as possible.
Missing this deadline is not a procedural inconvenience. It is a permanent forfeiture. Courts dismiss cases filed after the statute of limitations has expired regardless of how compelling the underlying facts may be. No amount of evidence, no clear showing of the other driver’s fault, and no degree of serious injury can revive a claim filed a day after the deadline. For wrongful death claims arising from a car accident, a separate two-year deadline runs from the date of the victim’s death rather than the date of the crash.
The two-year window moves faster than most people expect. Between ongoing medical treatment, insurance negotiations, and daily life, many accident victims find that months have passed before they fully understand the seriousness of their situation. Engaging a Largo car accident lawyer early in the process protects you from this risk by ensuring that every procedural deadline is tracked from day one.
Frank P. Marsalisi approaches every car accident case in Largo the same way he has approached cases throughout his 18-year career: personally, thoroughly, and without delegating client contact to staff who are not equipped to answer legal questions. From the moment a new client contacts our firm, Frank begins building the factual and legal record of the case rather than waiting to see whether the insurance company makes a reasonable offer.
That process begins with preservation. In the days after an accident, surveillance camera footage from Largo businesses, traffic cameras, and dashcam recordings can be overwritten or deleted. Frank’s team sends preservation letters immediately to put property owners and agencies on notice that evidence must be retained. Witnesses are contacted and their statements documented before memories fade. Medical providers are notified of the firm’s representation so that liens and records requests can be coordinated from the start.
Throughout the claims process, Frank evaluates each settlement offer against the full documented value of the client’s losses, including future costs that may not yet be fully apparent. Insurance companies frequently make early offers that account for immediate medical bills but ignore long-term consequences, reduced earning capacity, and the non-economic toll of a serious injury. Frank does not recommend a settlement until the damages picture is complete. When insurers refuse to negotiate in good faith, he is prepared to take cases to trial in Pinellas County courts.
Our firm has helped car accident victims in Largo and throughout Pinellas County recover millions of dollars in monetary compensation over more than 18 years. One recent example is a $150,000 recovery for a car accident victim in Largo in July 2023. These results reflect what is possible when a case is built correctly from the beginning, though every case is different and no specific outcome can be promised in any individual matter.
These are among the questions we hear most often from Largo car accident victims during their first conversation with our firm.
Seek medical attention immediately, even if you feel fine. Many serious injuries do not produce immediate symptoms, and the 14-day window to preserve your PIP benefits begins the moment the crash occurs. Call police, document the scene, exchange insurance information, and do not give a recorded statement to any adjuster before speaking with a lawyer. The steps you take in the first 24 to 48 hours after an accident in Largo have a direct bearing on the strength of your claim.
If your accident occurred on or after March 24, 2023, Florida law gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit under Florida Statute 95.11(4)(a). This deadline was reduced from four years by HB 837. Missing it permanently eliminates your right to seek monetary compensation through the courts. If your accident occurred before March 24, 2023, the previous four-year deadline may still apply. Contact a lawyer as soon as possible to confirm which deadline governs your specific situation.
Under Florida’s modified comparative negligence rule, effective March 24, 2023, you may still be able to pursue monetary compensation as long as you are found to be 50 percent or less at fault for the accident. If you are determined to be more than 50 percent responsible, you would be barred from recovering anything. Because insurance companies now actively build arguments that the injured party bears more than half the fault, having an experienced Largo car accident lawyer evaluate the facts of your case before making any statements is critically important.
Marsalisi Law handles car accident cases on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay no legal fees unless we recover monetary compensation on your behalf. There is no upfront cost and no charge for the initial case review. Our fee is a percentage of the recovery, meaning our interests are aligned with yours: we succeed when you do. This fee structure allows any injured person in Largo to access full legal representation without worrying about how they will pay for it while also managing medical bills and lost income.
Yes, in many cases. Once your PIP benefits are exhausted, you may be able to file a claim directly against the at-fault driver’s liability insurance for the remaining medical costs, lost wages, and non-economic losses such as pain and suffering. Whether you qualify to step outside the no-fault system depends on whether your injuries meet Florida’s serious injury threshold. This evaluation is one of the first things we assess during a case review, and the answer varies significantly from case to case depending on the nature and extent of the injuries involved.
The most significant difference is direct attorney access from the very first conversation. Frank P. Marsalisi personally handles every case our firm accepts, meaning the lawyer who reviews your claim at the initial consultation is the same lawyer who negotiates with the insurance company, prepares your case for trial if necessary, and keeps you informed at every stage. Clients are not passed off to junior staff or paralegals. Frank grew up in St. Petersburg and has practiced throughout Pinellas County for his entire career, giving him a detailed understanding of local courts, local roads, and how juries in this community evaluate car accident cases.
Frank P. Marsalisi has spent more than 18 years representing car accident victims throughout Largo and Pinellas County, recovering millions of dollars in monetary compensation for people who came to our firm after some of the most difficult experiences of their lives. He has been designated one of 2020’s Top 3 Personal Injury Lawyer honorees and has earned recognition across the Tampa Bay legal community for the personal attention and thorough preparation he brings to every case. Whether the insurance company’s opening offer significantly undervalues your injuries or you are unsure whether you even have a viable claim, Frank can evaluate your situation and help you understand every option available to you under Florida law.
There is no fee for the initial case review, and our firm operates on a contingency basis: if we do not recover monetary compensation for you, you owe nothing. If you are unable to come to our office, Frank will come to you. To speak directly with Frank P. Marsalisi about your Largo car accident claim, please contact our team through our online form. Marsalisi Law is Where Law Gets Personal!
