Jacksonville · University hospital care
Care at Jacksonville’s university hospital: who is sued and what can be paid
A hospital in Jacksonville is licensed to a corporation that Florida law treats as an instrumentality of the State (opens in a new tab) when a claim is brought against it. This page sets out who is sued, what can be paid, and the steps and deadline.
The short answer
What rules apply to a claim over care at the university hospital in Jacksonville?
A negligence claim against the corporation that holds the hospital’s license falls under Florida’s statute for claims against the State and its agencies. The State’s license record names Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, Inc. as the owner and licensee of UF Health Jacksonville (opens in a new tab), and a Florida statute says that corporation and its parent shall be conclusively deemed corporations primarily acting as instrumentalities of the state (opens in a new tab) for purposes of sovereign immunity. What it can be made to pay is limited, and before suit a written claim must be presented to the agency and to the Department of Financial Services (opens in a new tab).
Who runs the university hospital in Jacksonville?
Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration records Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, Inc. as the owner and licensee of UF Health Jacksonville (opens in a new tab), and UF Health North is licensed to the same company (opens in a new tab).
A Florida statute names that corporation. It describes Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, Inc., and its parent, Shands Jacksonville HealthCare, Inc., as private not-for-profit corporations (opens in a new tab). It also says that, for purposes of sovereign immunity, both shall be conclusively deemed corporations primarily acting as instrumentalities of the state (opens in a new tab).
The second statement decides which rules a claim against them follows, and it applies to causes of action accruing on or after July 1, 2011 (opens in a new tab).
Who employs the doctors and the staff?
One visit can involve three bodies. The hospital is licensed to the corporation above. The physicians’ side is University of Florida Jacksonville Physicians, Inc., a faculty practice plan whose 2025 audited statements say it includes physicians who are employees of the University (opens in a new tab) and support staff employed by the plan itself.
The University of Florida is on the education code’s list of state universities (opens in a new tab). A state university’s employee or agent treating patients at an affiliated hospital is not deemed to be an agent of any person other than the university board (opens in a new tab), if the patient acknowledged separate written notice, unless an emergency made that impractical.
The plan’s statements describe physicians as a group. Whether the doctor who treated you was a University employee that day has to be established.
Who is sued, and what can be paid?
Florida has one statute for claims against the State, its agencies, counties and cities. It waives the government’s immunity from injury claims only to the extent the statute says (opens in a new tab), and the bodies it covers include state university boards of trustees (opens in a new tab).
The claim is against the body: an officer, employee or agent acting within the scope of the job generally may not be held personally liable or named as a defendant (opens in a new tab). That body is the hospital corporation for its own employees, and the university’s board of trustees for a state university’s employee.
What a body covered by that statute can be made to pay is limited, in the 2026 statutes, to no more than $200,000 to one person or $300,000 for one incident (opens in a new tab) without a further act of the Legislature.
Court decisions on damage caps concern a different statute. The Florida Supreme Court held the statute’s general caps on noneconomic damages unconstitutional in wrongful death cases in 2014 (opens in a new tab) and in personal injury cases in 2017 (opens in a new tab). The limits the Supreme Court struck are a different matter and do not apply to actions governed by the government claims statute (opens in a new tab).
What has to happen before a lawsuit?
Two sets of steps come before suit. The presuit investigation that every medical claim needs applies to claims against the State and its agencies and subdivisions (opens in a new tab). The government claims statute adds a claim in writing to the agency and, unless the body is a county, a city or the Florida Space Authority, to the Department of Financial Services as well, within 3 years after the claim accrues (opens in a new tab), or 2 years in a wrongful death case. That period is for the written claim only.
In a medical malpractice action the agency has 90 days after the claim is filed to make a final disposition (opens in a new tab) before it is deemed denied. Meanwhile the limitation period is tolled for the time taken to deny the claim (opens in a new tab).
Notice does not change when the claim arose: by statute, notice to the agency and denial of the claim shall not affect the date on which the cause of action accrues (opens in a new tab).
Where is a case from here filed?
Jacksonville is in Duval County (opens in a new tab), which with Clay and Nassau counties makes up Florida’s Fourth Judicial Circuit (opens in a new tab).
A claim against a state university board of trustees has a venue rule of its own (opens in a new tab), so which county applies is a question for an attorney.
The page on Duval County courts and deadlines covers the court and the steps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the City of Jacksonville run the hospital?
The City’s auditor describes a landlord and a funder. A January 2024 report says City-owned hospital facilities are leased to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, Inc. under a 1987 lease at an annual rent of $1 (opens in a new tab), and that the City has a contract with Shands Jacksonville to provide indigent care to residents of Duval County (opens in a new tab). The corporation holds the license.
Do the same rules apply to every facility that carries the university’s name?
A name does not settle it. The State’s license record for UF Health Rehabilitation Hospital - North shows Duval Rehabilitation, LLC as the owner and licensee (opens in a new tab). That is a different company from the two the statute names, and which rules apply is answered provider by provider.
How long do I have to bring a claim?
The lawsuit must be started within 2 years of the incident, or of when it was or should have been discovered, and in no event later than 4 years after the incident (opens in a new tab). The notice of intent must be served within those time limits (opens in a new tab). Where fraud or concealment prevented discovery of the injury, the period runs 2 years from when the injury was or should have been discovered, and in no event beyond 7 years from the incident (opens in a new tab). For a child, the statute says only that the 4-year and 7-year limits do not bar a claim brought on or before the child’s eighth birthday (opens in a new tab), and that clause does not mention the 2-year period. Against a government body, too, a medical malpractice action must be commenced within the limitations for such actions (opens in a new tab).
What does it cost to have a case reviewed?
Nothing. The case evaluation is free, and there is no fee unless we win.
Keep reading
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Florida law
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Courts and deadlines
The steps before a lawsuit, in order, then the circuit court, the appeal and the federal court
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