Miami Private InvestigationsA pre-suit investigation for a Florida personal injury case has one job above all others: secure the evidence that will not wait for discovery. Security video is overwritten, witnesses move, scenes are repaired and vehicles are sold or salvaged. After that comes the work that shapes the complaint itself — naming the correct defendant and finding out whether there is insurance or assets to pay a judgment. The checklist below is organised by how quickly each item disappears.
It is written for attorneys and their staff. For an overview of how we scope this work, see our pre-suit investigation page.
Why does timing matter more after 2023?
An action founded on negligence must now be commenced within two years (s. 95.11(5)(a), F.S.), and under s. 768.81(6), F.S. a claimant found more than 50 percent at fault for his or her own harm in a negligence action may not recover. A shorter clock and a fault threshold that can end the claim both reward early, well-documented facts. Our earlier article on what an investigator documents in a Miami injury claim covers the fault side in more detail; this checklist is about sequence.
What should be secured in the first days?
1. Every camera that may have recorded the event. Business, residential doorbell, traffic, transit, rideshare dash cameras. Many systems record over themselves on a rolling basis, and how long footage survives varies from one system to the next, so assume it is short until confirmed. The investigator canvasses the area, records each camera’s location and owner, notes who to contact, and gives the attorney what is needed to send preservation letters the same day. Where footage is released voluntarily, the investigator documents how and when it was obtained.
2. Independent witnesses. Names from the crash or incident report, from receipts and from canvassing. Statements taken early, neutrally and in the witness’s own words are worth far more than ones taken a year later. Contact details should include a second way to reach each person.
3. The crash report. Florida keeps crash reports with personal information confidential for 60 days, but makes them immediately available to the parties, their legal representatives and their insurers, among others (s. 316.066(2), F.S.). The report is a starting point — check it for witnesses not interviewed and cameras not collected.
What about the scene?
4. Scene documentation before it changes. Photographs and video from each party’s position, measurements, sight lines, lighting at the same hour, signage, and any defect with context shots and scale. Property owners repair hazards; that is their right, and the photographs taken before the repair are often the best evidence of the condition. Our article on court-admissible scene documentation sets out the method.
5. Maintenance and inspection evidence that can be requested later. Note who maintains the premises, who does the cleaning or landscaping, and which contractors were working nearby, so the attorney knows whose records to preserve.
What about the vehicles?
6. Location and status of every vehicle. Find where each vehicle is — the owner’s driveway, a body shop, a tow yard, an insurer’s salvage lot — and whether it is about to be repaired, sold or destroyed. That tells the attorney where to send a preservation letter, and to whom.
7. Event data recorders and onboard systems. Many vehicles record crash data, and commercial vehicles often carry telematics or camera systems. Retrieval of that data is a job for a qualified specialist under appropriate authority; the investigator’s role is to identify which vehicles and systems exist and who holds them, so preservation is requested before the data is lost.
Who is the correct defendant?
8. The legal entity, not the sign on the building. A store name, a truck livery or a property management sign is rarely the full legal name. Division of Corporations records on Sunbiz show the entity’s exact name, status, officers and registered agent; fictitious-name filings link trade names to owners; property-appraiser records show the owner of record of real estate. Corporations and LLCs can be served through their registered agents (s. 48.081(2); s. 48.062(2), F.S.), so confirming the agent early saves time at filing.
9. Everyone else in the chain. Property owner versus tenant versus manager; vehicle owner versus driver versus employer; general contractor versus subcontractor. The investigation lays out each relationship with the record that supports it, and the attorney decides who to name.
If any of those parties is a public body — a city that maintains the sidewalk, a county that runs the bus — the case picks up a written notice requirement and different deadlines before suit can be filed. Flag it early; our article on investigating a claim against a Florida government agency explains what changes.
10. Whether the individual defendant can be found. If a driver has moved, the locate work is the same as our skip trace services.
Is there a way to collect?
11. Insurance. A liability insurer must provide, within 30 days of the claimant’s written request, a sworn statement of the insurer, each insured, the limits, any coverage defense it reasonably believes is available, and a copy of the policy, including excess or umbrella coverage; for a self-insured corporation, the request goes by certified mail to its registered agent (s. 627.4137, F.S.). The investigator’s contribution is identifying every entity that may carry coverage, so the requests go to all of them.
12. Assets beyond insurance. Where the damages may exceed the limits, lawful public-record research — real property, business interests, vehicles, vessels, judgments and liens — tells the attorney whether a defendant is worth pursuing beyond the policy. Our asset checks page explains what can and cannot lawfully be obtained.
What should the investigator deliver?
A written report stating what was done, when and by whom; original photographs and video kept unedited with their metadata; witness statements with the date and circumstances of each interview; a camera and vehicle list showing what was preserved and what was lost; and an entity chart with the record behind each link. That is the record that lets an attorney rely on the work when drafting the complaint. For more on how we support firms, see our approach to investigating a case before filing and our personal injury investigation page.
Miami Private Investigations is licensed in Florida under agency licence A1800135. Attorneys can call (305) 686-7826 or contact us for a confidential consultation.