Where a Jacksonville medical malpractice case is filed

It begins with an investigation: before any notice goes out, the patient’s side must establish reasonable grounds to believe that a provider was negligent and that the negligence resulted in injury (opens in a new tab), corroborated by a medical expert’s verified written opinion.

By the statute’s definition, that means an attorney has reviewed the case against each and every potential defendant (opens in a new tab), consulted a medical expert and obtained a written opinion.

The records come first. Copies of any medical record relevant to a claim must be provided to the patient’s side at a reasonable charge within 10 business days of a request (opens in a new tab), or 20 days for one kind of hospital district.

A notice of intent to sue is then served on each provider the patient intends to sue (opens in a new tab), with the expert’s opinion (opens in a new tab) and a signed authorization releasing health information potentially relevant to the claim (opens in a new tab). Without the authorization the notice is void (opens in a new tab). A paragraph of the statutory form, still printed (opens in a new tab), that allows interviews of the patient’s other providers without the patient or the patient’s attorney was struck by the Florida Supreme Court in 2017 (opens in a new tab).

Once the notice is delivered, no suit may be filed for 90 days (opens in a new tab), unless the provider rejects the claim in writing sooner (opens in a new tab). The patient can be required to give an unsworn statement, answer written questions and attend an examination (opens in a new tab), and the provider must reject the claim, offer to settle, or offer to arbitrate with liability deemed admitted (opens in a new tab).

A rejection must come with the provider’s own verified written medical expert opinion (opens in a new tab), and no reply within 90 days after receipt is deemed a final rejection of the claim (opens in a new tab).

In practice the deadline is the notice, which must be served within the limitation period (opens in a new tab). Upon mailing of the notice, or a process server’s first attempt to serve it, and during the 90 days, the statute of limitations is tolled (opens in a new tab), which the Florida Supreme Court held in 2000 means suspended (opens in a new tab).

Under the court’s rule, suit must then be filed within 60 days or the remainder of the limitation period, whichever is longer (opens in a new tab), counted from the earliest of several events, one of them the receipt of a written rejection. The 60 days are a floor: where more than 60 days remained, the 2000 decision says, the claimant only has the time remaining in the original two-year period to file suit (opens in a new tab).

These steps are a condition of suing: a court must dismiss a claim (opens in a new tab) whose notice does not comply with the investigation requirements.

Jacksonville is in Duval County (opens in a new tab). Duval County is in Florida’s Fourth Judicial Circuit (opens in a new tab), with Clay and Nassau counties. Circuit civil cases are filed with the Duval County Clerk of Courts, whose Circuit Civil Department gives its mailing address as 501 West Adams Street, Room 1046 (opens in a new tab).

A case against a person is generally brought in the county where the defendant resides or where the cause of action accrued (opens in a new tab). A case against a Florida corporation is generally brought in a county where the corporation has, or usually keeps, an office for its customary business, or where the cause of action accrued (opens in a new tab). So Duval County may not be the only place a case over care in Jacksonville can be filed.

An appeal from the Duval County circuit court goes to the Fifth District Court of Appeal. By statute the Fifth Appellate District is composed of the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, and Eighteenth Judicial Circuits (opens in a new tab), and the court’s site lists Duval County in the Fourth Circuit (opens in a new tab). A 2022 act realigned the appellate districts, and that section has read as it does since January 1, 2023 (opens in a new tab).

In July 2023 the Florida Supreme Court amended its appellate rule so that a provider can appeal at once from an order that denies a motion to dismiss on the basis of the qualifications of a corroborating witness (opens in a new tab), meaning the patient’s presuit expert.

When the United States is the defendant, it has to be. Negligent care by a federal employee acting within the scope of the job is a claim against the United States, and the federal district courts have exclusive jurisdiction of civil actions on claims against the United States (opens in a new tab). A service member’s own claim over military care is heard by no court. Our page on military and VA care has the steps for each.

Duval County is in the Middle District of Florida, and federal law lists Jacksonville among the places where that court is held (opens in a new tab).

The court’s Jacksonville Division serves twelve counties (opens in a new tab), among them Duval and St. Johns, and gives its address as the Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse, 300 North Hogan Street.