West Palm Beach Electric Scooter Accident Lawyers
Florida doesn’t require insurance on most electric scooters, so after a scooter crash the money for your medical care and lost income has to come from another source. A West Palm Beach scooter accident lawyer who identifies every policy and company connected to your crash, and proves each one applies, gives you more sources of compensation to recover from. Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel has represented injured Floridians since 1927 and has recovered millions for clients, and several of our attorneys spent years defending insurance companies before representing injured people, so we know the arguments an adjuster can raise against a scooter rider and how to answer them. Our team takes over the insurance calls and forms so your attention can stay on your recovery.
Call a West Palm Beach scooter accident attorney at (561) 655-2028 for a free case review. You pay no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you.
Florida Law Treats an E-Scooter Like a Bicycle
Florida Statute 316.003 defines a motorized scooter as a vehicle or micromobility device “powered by a motor” that is designed to travel on not more than three wheels and “is not capable of propelling the vehicle at a speed greater than 20 miles per hour on level ground.” Florida Statute 316.2128 gives the rider “all of the rights and duties applicable to the rider of a bicycle,” and it exempts a motorized scooter from Florida’s registration and insurance requirements and from any driver license requirement.
Bicycle-rider rights mean our attorneys hold a driver who fails to yield to you, or who cuts across a bike lane in front of you, to the traffic rules that protect cyclists. Section 316.2128 also lets cities and counties set their own scooter rules, so whether you could legally ride on a sidewalk depends on where the crash happened. The Town of Palm Beach, for example, bans micromobility devices on its sidewalks, and our attorneys check the local rule that applied at your crash location.
Mopeds and gas scooters that exceed the motorized scooter definition fall outside the Section 316.2128 exemption, so Florida’s registration and driver license rules can apply to them. We identify which rules applied to the scooter you were riding before an insurance company uses the wrong ones against you.
Rider Duties an Insurance Company Can Use to Argue Fault
Florida Statute 316.2065 sets bicycle duties that carry over to scooter riders, other than the rules on riding position and carrying child passengers. An adjuster can point to one of those duties to argue you share the fault for the crash.
- A front light and rear light after dark are required between sunset and sunrise, with a white front lamp visible from 500 feet and a red rear lamp and reflector visible from 600 feet.
- A bike lane or the right-hand edge of the road is where a rider going slower than traffic has to ride, with exceptions for passing, preparing for a left turn, and avoiding hazards and lanes too narrow to share.
- A bicycle helmet for riders under 16 is required, and the helmet has to be properly fitted and fastened.
A missed duty does not end a scooter case. Florida’s comparative fault law, Florida Statute 768.81, reduces your compensation by your percentage of fault and bars recovery only if you are found more than 50 percent at fault. Adjusters apply the rule in settlement negotiations as well, and our attorneys answer a duty argument by tying fault back to what the driver did and how the crash happened.
Who Can Be Responsible for a Scooter Crash in West Palm Beach
A car is not part of every scooter crash, and our attorneys investigate every driver, rider, and company connected to your injuries.
- A driver can be responsible for failing to yield to you, turning across your path, or opening a car door into your lane of travel.
- A scooter or battery manufacturer can be responsible for a brake, frame, or controller defect that caused a crash, and for a lithium-ion battery that catches fire while you charge or store the scooter. Our attorneys can pursue a product liability case against the company that made the scooter or its battery.
- A scooter rental company can be responsible if it put a scooter with a brake, throttle, or battery problem into service that its inspections and maintenance should have caught.
- A city, county, or property owner can be responsible for a dangerous road or path condition it knew about and did not repair, and a case against a Florida city or county comes with written notice requirements under Florida Statute 768.28.
- Another scooter or bicycle rider can be responsible when careless riding caused the collision.
Rental Scooter User Agreements
Rental scooter companies have riders accept a user agreement in the app before a ride, and those agreements can contain an arbitration requirement and a release of the company’s liability. The Florida Supreme Court has enforced pre-injury releases whose wording makes clear to an ordinary reader what the signer is giving up, even when the release never uses the word “negligence,” and the Court also calls those releases disfavored and refuses to enforce one that violates public policy. A rental agreement binds only you and the rental company, so it does not stop a case against the driver who hit you. Our attorneys review the version of the agreement you accepted to see which claims against the rental company remain open and where those claims would be heard.
Insurance That Can Pay for a Scooter Accident Injury
Florida requires car owners to carry personal injury protection (PIP) and $10,000 in property damage liability coverage, and it does not require most drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage. A driver who hits you on a scooter may have little or no coverage for your injury, and a crash caused by a defective scooter, a poorly maintained rental, or a dangerous road can happen with no driver at fault, so our attorneys look at every policy that can apply.
The Driver’s Bodily Injury Liability Coverage
Bodily injury liability coverage on the driver’s policy pays for injuries the driver causes to a scooter rider, up to the policy limit. Our attorneys confirm whether the driver who hit you bought this coverage and how much it pays. When the driver was working at the time of the crash, the employer’s commercial auto policy can also pay for your injuries.
Your Own Personal Injury Protection
Florida Statute 627.736 requires PIP to pay 80 percent of reasonable medical expenses and 60 percent of lost income, up to $10,000 in medical and disability benefits. Section 627.736 covers a policyholder and relatives who live in the policyholder’s household and are hurt “while not an occupant of a self-propelled vehicle if the injury is caused by physical contact with a motor vehicle.” A motorized scooter has a motor, so an insurance company can argue you were an occupant of a self-propelled vehicle and deny PIP benefits.
Whether PIP applies also changes what you need to prove against the driver. When PIP benefits are payable, Florida Statute 627.737 allows a claim against the driver for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and inconvenience only for an injury that meets a threshold, which covers significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement and “permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability.” Our attorneys review your policy wording and your medical records together before you accept a PIP denial or a settlement offer.
Your Own Uninsured Motorist Coverage
Uninsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy pays when the driver who caused your scooter injuries has no bodily injury coverage. Florida Statute 627.727 also treats a driver as uninsured when the driver’s bodily injury limits are less than your total damages, so this coverage can add to what the driver’s policy pays. Florida requires insurance companies to include uninsured motorist coverage with any auto policy that has bodily injury liability coverage unless the named insured rejected it in writing. Our attorneys check every auto policy in your household, since a policy held by a relative you live with can also cover you on a scooter.
Coverage Held by a Company, Government, or Another Rider
When a party other than a driver caused your scooter crash, that party’s coverage becomes a source of payment.
- A scooter or battery manufacturer’s liability coverage can pay for injuries from a brake, frame, or controller defect and for burns and property damage from a battery fire.
- A scooter rental company’s commercial liability coverage can pay when the company put a rental scooter into service with a brake, throttle, or battery problem that its inspections and maintenance should have caught.
- A property owner’s liability coverage can pay when a dangerous condition on a parking lot, private path, or other private property caused your scooter crash.
- A city or county pays for injuries from a dangerous road or path condition it knew about and did not repair, and Florida Statute 768.28 limits that payment to $200,000 per injured victim and $300,000 per crash unless the Legislature approves more.
- Another rider’s homeowner’s or renter’s liability coverage can pay when careless riding by a cyclist or scooter rider caused the collision, and our attorneys check whether the policy excludes motorized vehicles before relying on it.
Scooter Crash Injuries and the Compensation Available
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that an e-scooter’s small wheels can stop the scooter suddenly and throw the rider off, and that motor vehicles are part of most micromobility deaths. Scooter riders can suffer head and brain injuries, broken wrists and arms from bracing a fall, facial and dental injuries, and deep road rash that needs ongoing wound care, and a battery fire can cause burns and smoke injuries.
Compensation in a scooter accident case can cover:
- Medical bills for treating the injuries from the scooter crash or battery fire, plus the future care your doctors expect you to need
- Income you lost while recovering and reduced earning ability if your injury limits the work you can do
- Pain, emotional distress, scarring, and the loss of activities you enjoyed before the crash
- Replacement of your scooter and repair of your home and belongings when a scooter battery fire spreads
Steps to Protect Your Scooter Accident Case
- Get medical care within 14 days. Florida’s PIP law pays medical benefits only when you receive initial care within 14 days after the crash, and your doctor’s records connect your injuries to the scooter crash.
- Photograph the scooter’s lights and damage. Pictures of the front and rear lights, the brakes, and the damage give our attorneys evidence to answer a lighting argument and to support a defect case.
- Keep the scooter, battery, and charger as they are. If you own the scooter, hold all three without repairs so an engineer can inspect them for a defect.
- Save your records from the rental app. If you rode a rental scooter, take screenshots of the ride receipt, the trip map, any damage report you made, and the user agreement shown in the app.
- Gather every auto insurance policy in your household. A stand-up e-scooter carries no policy of its own, and your PIP and uninsured motorist coverage, along with coverage held by a relative you live with, can pay for a scooter injury.
- Talk with our attorneys before giving a recorded statement. An adjuster can ask about your lights, your speed, and where you were riding, and then use your answers to assign you a larger share of the fault.
How Our West Palm Beach Scooter Accident Attorneys Build Your Case
Our trial team includes attorneys board certified in civil trial law by The Florida Bar and in civil trial advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and our managing partner is a past president of The Florida Bar.
Our scooter accident attorneys can send a rental company a written demand to preserve the scooter, its trip data, and its maintenance history before the company repairs the device or returns it to service. We can have an engineer examine a privately owned scooter or battery for a defect, and we compare each auto policy in your household against Florida’s PIP and uninsured motorist statutes before an adjuster’s denial goes unanswered. Our attorneys also work with your doctors to document the future care a scooter rider’s head, wrist, or facial injury requires, so a settlement demand accounts for care beyond the bills you have already received. When an insurance company will not pay what your injury requires, our trial attorneys can take your case to a Palm Beach County jury.
West Palm Beach Scooter Accident FAQs
What if I Was Hit by Someone Riding a Scooter?
Florida gives a scooter rider the duties of a bicycle rider, so a rider who hits you while you are walking can be responsible for your injuries, and a rental company can share responsibility if a defect in its scooter contributed to the crash. Our pedestrian accident attorneys represent people hurt by scooter riders as well as by drivers.
What if the Driver Who Hit My Scooter Left the Scene?
Uninsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy can pay for your injuries when a hit-and-run driver is never identified, depending on the terms of your policy. A police report supports an uninsured motorist claim, and our attorneys can also search for camera video and witnesses who can identify the driver.
How Long Do I Have to Bring a Scooter Accident Case in Florida?
Florida Statute 95.11(5)(a) sets a two-year deadline for a negligence case against a driver or another careless rider, and a scooter crash before March 24, 2023 can fall under the earlier four-year deadline. A case against a scooter or battery maker for a defect falls under the four-year deadline in Florida Statute 95.11(3)(d). Our attorneys track the two-year deadline and any notice requirement that applies to your scooter case.
How Much Does a West Palm Beach Scooter Accident Lawyer Cost?
Our scooter accident attorneys work on a No Recovery No Fee basis, which means you owe no attorney fee unless Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel recovers money for you.
Put a Century of Trial Experience Behind Your Scooter Case
Lesser, Landy, Smith & Siegel is a third-generation Florida injury firm, and other attorneys refer their own clients’ serious injury cases to us. Our electric scooter accident lawyers in West Palm Beach can retain experts and depose the driver and rental company witnesses while settlement talks continue, and an insurance company facing a trial-ready case has to build the risk of a jury verdict into its offer. Call (561) 655-2028 to speak with our team at our West Palm Beach office on Columbia Drive.
References
- Florida Statute 316.003, Definitions: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/316.003
- Florida Statute 316.2065, Bicycle regulations: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/316.2065
- Florida Statute 316.2128, Micromobility devices, motorized scooters, and miniature motorcycles: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/316.2128
- Florida Statute 324.022, Financial responsibility for property damage: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/324.022
- Florida Statute 627.727, Uninsured and underinsured vehicle coverage: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/627.727
- Florida Statute 627.736, Required personal injury protection benefits: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/627.736
- Florida Statute 627.737, Tort exemption and limitation on right to damages: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/627.737
- Florida Statute 768.28, Waiver of sovereign immunity in tort actions: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/768.28
- Florida Statute 768.81, Comparative fault: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/768.81
- Florida Statute 95.11, Limitations other than for the recovery of real property: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/95.11
- Sanislo v. Give Kids the World, Inc., 157 So. 3d 256 (Fla. 2015)
- Town of Palm Beach, micromobility device rules: https://public.alertsense.com/content/2166/117544
- S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Micromobility Information Center: https://www.cpsc.gov/Safety-Education/Safety-Education-Centers/Micromobility-Information-Center
