Difference Between Bodily Injury and Personal Injury

October 25, 2024 | Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers | Personal Injury

“Bodily injury vs personal injury” might seem like an arcane distinction. Although these two legal concepts overlap, there are significant differences. In a nutshell, all bodily injuries are personal injuries, but not all personal injuries are bodily injuries. The term “bodily injury” is used primarily with respect to Florida’s no-fault auto accident insurance system.

Context: Florida’s No-Fault Auto Accident Insurance System

Florida is one of only a dozen states that operates some form of a “no-fault” auto accident insurance system. Anyone with a vehicle registered in Florida who drives it on Florida roads must purchase $10,0000 worth of personal injury protection (PIP) insurance and $10,000 worth of property damage liability (PDL) insurance. PDL insurance is fault-based. Other forms of auto insurance are optional, including liability insurance.

PIP insurance covers bodily injury. If you suffer bodily injury in a Florida car accident, your own insurance typically pays your medical expenses, even if the accident was the other driver’s fault. Normally, you can’t even sue the at-fault driver or file a claim against their liability insurance (assuming that they have any). PIP does not cover anything but bodily injury.

So what if your injuries are so severe that your $10,000 in PIP insurance cannot cover your medical expenses? One method is to hope these injuries will qualify as “serious” under Florida law. If they do, you can exit the no-fault system and sue the at-fault driver. Since liability insurance is optional in Florida, the at-fault driver might not carry any.

Fortunately, about 80% of Florida drivers carry auto liability insurance despite the fact that it’s optional. That means it’s likely that the at-fault driver’s liability insurance policy will pay your damages.

Bodily Injury vs. Personal Injury

According to Florida statute, “serious bodily injury” means an injury to a person, including the driver, which consists of a physical condition that creates a substantial risk of death, serious personal disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member or organ. On the contrary, “personal injury” includes every variety of injury to a person’s body, emotions, or reputation, as contradistinguished from injury to property rights.

Examples of Common Bodily Injuries That Occur in Car Accidents

Following are some examples of bodily injuries that frequently occur in car accidents:

Abdominal injuries
Aggravation of pre-existing conditions
Broken bones
Burns
Chest injuries
Brain injuries
Lacerations
Neck injuries
Paralysis
Scarring
Shoulder injuries
Spinal cord injuries
Death

All of these injuries qualify as both personal injuries and bodily injuries. Both PIP insurance and liability insurance will pay claims based on these injuries.

Examples of Common Personal Injuries That Do Not Qualify as Bodily Injuries

All of the following qualify as personal injuries even though they are not bodily injuries:

Anxiety
Depression
Emotional distress
Loss of consortium (loss of companionship with a spouse)
Loss of enjoyment of life
Pain and suffering (not directly related to a physical injury)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

It is possible, but very difficult, to recover for any of these non-bodily injuries without an accompanying bodily injury. Remember, Florida’s PIP insurance covers only bodily injuries, not the types of intangible personal injuries listed above.

As stated above, to escape PIP limitations, your injuries must be “serious,” as Florida law defines the term. Non-bodily injuries almost never qualify as “serious” injuries, but once in a while, they do. A rare exception is the tort of “negligent infliction of emotional distress.” Once you suffer a bodily injury, however, you become eligible to claim damages for the non-bodily personal injuries listed above.

Contact a Tampa Personal Injury Lawyer from Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today

Most Florida personal injury attorneys are happy to offer a free initial consultation. This meeting allows the attorney to assess whether your claim is strong enough to pursue, which is valuable information for you as well. Under the contingency fee system used by nearly all personal injury lawyers, you don’t pay any attorney’s fees unless they win your case. Even then, their fee is based on a percentage of what they recover for you. Contact Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers today to schedule your free consultation and learn how we can assist with your case.

For more information, please contact Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer in Tampa today. We have five convenient locations in Florida, including Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, New Port Richey, and Lakeland.

We proudly serve Hillsborough County, Pinellas County, Pasco County, Polk County, and its surrounding areas:

Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers – Tampa Office
601 W Swann Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
(813) 223-6200

Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers – Clearwater Office
600 Bypass Dr Suite 224-D, Clearwater, FL 33764
(727) 493-4418

Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers – St. Petersburg Office
111 2nd Ave NE Suite 350, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
(727) 314-5988

Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers – New Port Richey Office
5006 Trouble Creek Rd Unit #200, Port Richey, FL 34652
(727) 910-5060

Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers – Lakeland Office
1543 Lakeland Hills Blvd Suite 18, Lakeland, FL 33805
(863) 251-6196