Where Oldsmar’s serious crashes happen
Pinellas County averages more than 14,000 crashes and about 120 traffic deaths a year, roughly two people a day killed or seriously injured, and pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists are 61 percent of the dead. Oldsmar’s share comes from a few roads:
- Tampa Road (SR 584) and State Road 580 through the city to Hillsborough Avenue: the commuter spine, six lanes of retail driveways and left turns, with the worst crashes where Curlew Road, Forest Lakes Boulevard and Racetrack Road meet it.
- Hillsborough Avenue (SR 580) east of the county line toward Westchase and the Veterans Expressway: 50 mph traffic, driveway turns and the Double Branch Road signals.
- Forest Lakes Boulevard: the industrial and office corridor, with truck traffic and the Forest Lakes Park entrance.
- Racetrack Road toward Citrus Park: two lanes carrying four lanes’ worth of cut-through traffic, with head-on and run-off-road crashes.
- Curlew Road (CR 586) from US-19 to Tampa Road: the East Lake commuter route, with school zones and stop-controlled side streets.
- State Street, Bayview Boulevard and the downtown grid: slow speeds, the trail and park traffic, pedestrians and golf carts.
If you were hurt on one of these roads, cameras, event data and witnesses exist for days, not months. Contact us as soon as you can so we can preserve them.
Personal injury cases we handle in Oldsmar
Car accidents
Tampa Road left turns, Hillsborough Avenue rear-end chains, Racetrack Road head-on collisions and uninsured drivers. Florida’s no-fault rules, the permanent-injury threshold and comparative fault decide these cases, and we explain each below. Oldsmar car accidents and the Florida car accident practice page.
Truck and commercial vehicle accidents
The Forest Lakes industrial parks and the Hillsborough Avenue corridor put delivery fleets and semis on every Oldsmar road. These cases turn on federal hours-of-service and maintenance records and on reaching the truck’s data before it is overwritten. Truck accidents.
Motorcycle accidents
Hillsborough Avenue and Racetrack Road are fast and poorly lit, and drivers turning across them are the riders’ main danger. Motorcycle accidents.
Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
The Oldsmar Trail, the bayfront parks and the Tampa Road crossings put walkers and cyclists in front of six-lane traffic. Pedestrians and cyclists have the same right to recover as anyone else, and your own PIP policy covers you on foot. Pedestrian accidents.
Rideshare, hit-and-run and drunk-driving crashes
Uber and Lyft crashes, hit-and-run claims paid through uninsured motorist coverage, and drunk-driving cases that can include a dram shop claim against the bar.
Slip and fall and premises injuries
The shopping centers along Tampa Road, restaurants, hotels, the industrial parks, apartment complexes and parking lots. Florida requires proof the business knew or should have known of the hazard, and surveillance video is overwritten within days. Slip and fall accidents.
Negligent security
Assaults and shootings at apartment complexes, gas stations, bars and motels where the owner ignored known crime and skipped basic lighting, cameras or staffing. Negligent security.
Dog bites
Strict liability for the owner, usually paid by homeowner’s insurance. Dog bites.
Wrongful death
When a crash or a fall takes a family member, Florida’s Wrongful Death Act allows the estate and the surviving spouse, children and parents to recover lost support, funeral and medical expenses and the loss of companionship. Wrongful death.
Insurance and PIP disputes
Carriers that cut off benefits, deny treatment as unrelated or lowball uninsured motorist claims. Insurance claims and personal injury protection.
The Florida law that decides an Oldsmar injury claim
Two counties, one set of rules. Florida law is the same on both sides of the county line; what changes is where the case is filed and who investigated the crash. A crash inside Oldsmar or west of the line is a Pinellas County case in the Sixth Judicial Circuit; a crash on Hillsborough Avenue east of the line is a Hillsborough County case in the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in Tampa. We handle both, and we know which one your crash falls under before the insurer does.
Two years to file. Florida’s statute of limitations for negligence is two years from the injury (Florida Statutes § 95.11), the same as for wrongful death. Claims against the City of Oldsmar, Pinellas County, Hillsborough County, PSTA or a state agency carry separate notice requirements under § 768.28 and should be opened early.
Modified comparative negligence. Under § 768.81 a jury’s finding that you were 50 percent or less at fault reduces your award by that share; 51 percent or more bars recovery. Insurers build your share in recorded statements. Do not give one without counsel.
No-fault first. Florida requires $10,000 of personal injury protection on every registered car (§ 627.736). It pays 80 percent of medical bills and 60 percent of lost wages up to that limit, only if you are seen by a medical provider within 14 days, and only $2,500 of it unless a physician documents an emergency medical condition.
Pain and suffering needs a permanent injury. Non-economic damages against the at-fault driver require proof of a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability, significant scarring, or death (§ 627.737). Consistent treatment and imaging supply that proof.
Uninsured drivers. Florida does not require bodily injury coverage and roughly one driver in five carries none. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy, and on the policies of relatives in your household, is often the largest source of recovery in an Oldsmar crash. We read every policy in the household before we value a case.
Premises and security cases. A business owes its customers reasonable care; for a fall on a transitory substance, § 768.0755 requires proof the business knew or should have known of it, which is why video, inspection logs and incident reports matter. For negligent security, prior crime at and around the property is the evidence, and both counties’ public records make it available.
What changed in 2023. Juries now hear what was paid or owed for treatment rather than billed charges; letters of protection are disclosed with the referral; and bad-faith claims against insurers require the insurer to have been given a fair chance to pay. Cases built correctly from the first appointment do well under these rules.
What you can recover. Medical expenses past and future, lost wages and earning capacity, out-of-pocket costs, property damage, and, where the injury is permanent, pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life. Florida places no cap on these damages in an ordinary negligence case. A spouse may claim loss of consortium.
Oldsmar resources after an accident
In an emergency, call 911. These are the agencies and facilities an Oldsmar injury claim runs through.
Courthouse
Crashes in Oldsmar and the rest of north Pinellas go to the Sixth Judicial Circuit at the Clearwater Courthouse, 315 Court Street, Clearwater, FL 33756; crashes east of the county line go to the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit at the George E. Edgecomb Courthouse, 800 East Twiggs Street, Tampa, FL 33602. Most of our cases settle without a lawsuit; the ones that do not are filed in the right one.
Crash reports and police
Oldsmar contracts its policing to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, 10750 Ulmerton Road, Largo, FL 33778, whose deputies investigate crashes on city streets; crashes east of the county line are investigated by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and crashes on Tampa Road and Hillsborough Avenue often by Florida Highway Patrol Troop C. Reports are available to the people involved through FLHSMV’s Florida Crash Portal within a few days; we obtain them for every client, along with body-camera and dash-camera video.
Hospitals
Mease Countryside Hospital, 3231 McMullen Booth Road, Safety Harbor, FL 34695, the closest hospital; BayCare St. Joseph’s Hospital-North, 4211 Van Dyke Road, Lutz, FL 33558; HCA Florida Trinity Hospital, 9330 State Road 54, Trinity, FL 34655, a few minutes from our office; and, for the most serious injuries, Tampa General Hospital, the region’s Level I trauma center.
Fire and EMS
Oldsmar Fire Rescue inside the city; Sunstar Paramedics is the countywide ambulance service in Pinellas and Hillsborough County Fire Rescue responds east of the line, and their run reports are part of every file we build.
If you were treated at any of these facilities after someone else’s negligence, keep every discharge paper and bill; they are the first documents we ask for.
Results for injured clients in Pinellas County and across Florida
Kemp Law Group has recovered over $400 million in settlements since 2008. Recoveries confirmed from the firm’s case records include:
- $2,415,000 for a motorcycle rider with a traumatic brain injury struck by a car
- $2,000,000 for the family of a driver killed by a commercial carrier’s truck
- $2,000,000 for a 64-year-old pedestrian struck while crossing the road
- $1,500,000 for a driver rear-ended in stopped traffic by a commercial truck whose driver fell asleep
- $1,250,000 for a scooter passenger hit by an uninsured hit-and-run driver, recovered through a family member’s uninsured motorist coverage
- $1,010,000 for a bicyclist hit by the opened door of a rideshare vehicle on a St. Petersburg street
- $975,000 for a passenger in a rental car struck broadside, recovered from the at-fault driver’s policy and a $5 million umbrella
Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a particular outcome. See more case results.
Who handles your Oldsmar case
Stacy Kemp Ferrari founded Kemp Law Group in 2008 and owns it today. A graduate of Stetson University College of Law in Pinellas County, admitted to The Florida Bar in 2008, she has spent her career representing injured people in Pinellas, Pasco and the rest of Tampa Bay. Cases that need a courtroom are prepared by the litigation team under managing litigation attorney Ian Boettcher. From your first call, a member of our team takes the time to understand what happened, and an attorney reviews every case and stays involved from intake to resolution.
The firm’s office holds a 4.9-star rating across more than 900 Google reviews, many from clients in Oldsmar, East Lake, Safety Harbor and Westchase.
Oldsmar personal injury questions
Where is your office from Oldsmar?
At 11567 Trinity Boulevard in Trinity, 25 minutes north by East Lake Road. Many Oldsmar clients come to the office; we also meet at home or in the hospital, and handle most of the case by phone, text and video.
My crash was on Hillsborough Avenue. Is that Pinellas or Hillsborough?
The county line is just east of the city, so Tampa Road crashes are Pinellas cases filed in Clearwater and Hillsborough Avenue crashes east of the line are Hillsborough cases filed in Tampa. We confirm which from the crash report on day one; the law and your rights are the same either way.
How long do I have to file a claim?
Two years from the date of injury for negligence and wrongful death claims in either county. Claims against the City of Oldsmar, a county, PSTA or a state agency have earlier notice deadlines, so call sooner if a government vehicle or property was involved.
What if the insurer says I was partly at fault?
Florida reduces your recovery by your share of fault and bars it entirely at 51 percent or more. Adjusters assign fault to limit payouts; we investigate independently, pull camera footage and vehicle data, and advise clients not to give recorded statements before speaking with us.
The driver who hit me had no insurance.
We look first to the uninsured motorist coverage on your policy and on the policies of relatives you live with, then to any other responsible party: an employer, a vehicle owner, a bar that over-served a drunk driver.
Where would my case be filed?
In the Sixth Judicial Circuit at the Clearwater Courthouse for a Pinellas crash, or the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in Tampa for a Hillsborough one. Most cases settle without a lawsuit, and most lawsuits settle before trial; we prepare every case as though a jury will hear it.
What does an Oldsmar personal injury lawyer cost?
Nothing up front. Our fee is a percentage of the recovery set by Florida Bar rules and explained in writing before you sign, and you owe no fees and no costs unless we win. The consultation is free.
Talk to an Oldsmar personal injury lawyer today
The insurer already has adjusters, investigators and lawyers on your case. You should have the same. Call or text 727-847-4878 or contact us online for a free consultation, 24 hours a day. We will tell you honestly whether you have a case, what it is likely worth, and what happens next, and you owe no fees and no costs unless we win.
Kemp Law Group, 11567 Trinity Boulevard, Trinity, FL 34655. Serving Oldsmar, East Lake, Safety Harbor, Westchase, Citrus Park and the county-line communities of Pinellas and Hillsborough, with meetings by appointment and home and hospital visits anywhere in Tampa Bay.
The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
