If you were hurt in Surfside, Bal Harbour or Bay Harbor Islands, your first questions are practical: who pays the hospital bill, whose insurance is involved, and how long you have to act. The answers depend on how you were hurt and, for a visitor, on where you live. I have represented injured people in South Florida since 2014, and these three towns are close to our North Miami Beach office.
Questions about your case? Call (305) 257-9464 for a free consultation. You pay no attorney fee unless we recover money for you.
Three small towns, one busy corridor
Surfside, Bal Harbour and Bay Harbor Islands are separate municipalities, each with its own police department. So the report you need may come from Surfside Police (9293 Harding Avenue), Bal Harbour Police (whose station is inside the Bal Harbour Shops at 9700 Collins Avenue) or Bay Harbor Islands Police, not from Miami Beach.
- Surfside is an oceanfront town of nearly 6,000 residents, with hotels and condominium and apartment buildings along Collins Avenue. Harding Avenue runs parallel to Collins, immediately to the west, and is the center of the town’s business district.
- Bal Harbour sits at the north end of the barrier island, with the Baker’s Haulover bridge at its northern border. The Bal Harbour Shops are at 9700 Collins Avenue.
- Bay Harbor Islands is two small islands covering less than half a square mile. Its business district runs along Kane Concourse, which is 96th Street. The town owns and operates the Broad Causeway, the toll bridge between the beaches and the mainland.
Shoppers, hotel guests, beachgoers and commuters share the same few streets. FDOT’s 2024 project on Collins Avenue (State Road A1A) in Bal Harbour called for raised crosswalks and rectangular rapid flashing beacons, with the stated goal of improving safety for pedestrians and motorists. For neighboring areas, see our Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach and North Miami Beach pages.
Hit by a car: who pays your medical bills
Florida is a no-fault state: the first money for medical care usually comes from personal injury protection (PIP), not from the driver who hit you. PIP pays 80% of reasonable medical expenses and 60% of lost income. You must get initial care within 14 days from a qualifying provider, such as a hospital, physician, dentist, chiropractor or ambulance crew. Medical benefits reach $10,000 only if a physician, dentist, physician assistant or advanced practice registered nurse finds an emergency medical condition. If a provider finds there was none, medical benefits stop at $2,500.
If you were on foot when a car hit you, your own PIP pays. If you don’t own a car that requires PIP, the PIP of a relative you live with can pay. If you live in Florida, don’t own a car that requires PIP and have no PIP through a relative, the PIP on the car that hit you can pay. A visitor from another state who was on foot gets no Florida PIP from that car, which makes the at-fault driver’s coverage more important. See our pages on pedestrian accidents and bicycle accidents.
Beyond PIP, you can claim against the at-fault driver for medical bills and lost income PIP did not pay. Pain and suffering is limited: it is recoverable only for a significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability (other than scarring or disfigurement), significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death.
When the driver has little or no insurance
Most Florida drivers are not required to carry bodily injury liability coverage. The required minimum is $10,000 in property damage coverage, plus PIP. So the driver who hit you may have nothing that pays for your injuries. Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage on your own policy can fill that gap, but a policyholder can reject it in writing, so check your policy. More in our car accident guide.
When a repair shop was driving the car
If a repair or service business was driving the car that hit you, is the owner responsible? Florida’s Supreme Court has held that an owner who leaves a car with a repair or service business generally is not liable for that business’s negligent driving during servicing, testing or transport, unless the owner controlled that driving or was otherwise negligent. The court left open other situations where someone else drives the car without the owner’s control.
Falls at a store, hotel or condo building
If you slipped on a spill or other temporary substance in a business, Florida law puts the burden on you to prove the business knew about it or should have known, and should have acted to fix it. Knowledge can be shown with evidence that the substance was there long enough that the business should have found it, or that the condition happened regularly. Photos, the names of employees and witnesses, and a prompt request to preserve video all help.
For falls in hotel lobbies and on pool decks, in condominium garages and walkways, and in shopping centers, see our pages on hotel injuries, mall injuries, condo accidents and slip and fall claims.
Nearby hospitals
Emergency departments to the south and north include Mount Sinai Medical Center’s main campus at 4300 Alton Road in Miami Beach, which runs a 24-hour emergency center, and HCA Florida Aventura Hospital at 20900 Biscayne Boulevard, a state-designated Level II trauma center.
Surfside and Bal Harbour injury questions
How long do I have to act?
For negligence claims that arose after March 24, 2023, the deadline to file a lawsuit is generally two years, though some claims have different deadlines. The 14-day PIP treatment rule comes much sooner, so see a doctor right away. If a family member was killed, our wrongful death page explains how those claims work.
Can I still recover if I was partly at fault?
Yes, if you were not more than 50% at fault. Your recovery is reduced by your share of the fault. Above 50%, you recover nothing.
My Uber crashed on 96th Street. Whose insurance pays?
If you have PIP of your own or through a relative you live with, it generally pays first for medical bills. From the moment the driver accepts the ride until the last rider gets out, Florida law requires at least $1 million in primary liability coverage, plus uninsured motorist coverage under the same rules that apply to other auto policies. That $1 million is a coverage limit, not what a claim is worth. Our Uber and Lyft accident page has more.
What if I tripped on a town sidewalk or other public property?
If the property belongs to a town, the county or the state, the claim is against a government body. Before a lawsuit can be filed, Florida law requires the claim to be presented in writing to that agency (and, unless the claim is against a town, city or county, also to the Florida Department of Financial Services) within three years after the claim arises.
If you or a family member was hurt in Surfside, Bal Harbour or Bay Harbor Islands, call our North Miami Beach office at (305) 257-9464 for a free consultation.
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