Florida’s “Impact Rule” and Recovering Non-Economic Mental or Emotional Damages

Florida follows the impact rule when it comes to a plaintiff pursuing non-economic emotional distress type of damages. The impact rule “bars recovery when the plaintiff claims mental or emotional damages but has not sustained any physical impact or contact.” Murphy v. Heritage II Holdings, LLC, 50 Fla.L.Weekly D1300c (Fla. 5th DCA2025) (internal citations omitted). “A plaintiff who suffers a physical impact may recover emotional distress stemming from the incident during which the impact occurred, and not merely the impact itself.” Murphy, supra, (internal citations omitted). Notably, the physical impact can be slight – “the essence of impact…is that the outside...