Where Port Richey’s serious crashes happen
Pasco County averages roughly 100 traffic deaths and more than 1,000 serious injuries a year in the five-year figures the Pasco County MPO reports from FLHSMV data, and the US-19 corridor from New Port Richey to Hudson, which runs straight through Port Richey, produces more of them than any other stretch of the county. The roads that fill our Port Richey files:
- US-19 at Ridge Road: the signal where traffic from the Suncoast Parkway, the hospital district and the shopping centers meets six lanes of highway. Left-turn and red-light crashes here produce the fractures and head injuries that become the largest claims.
- US-19 from Scenic Drive to Fox Hollow Drive: the old mall stretch, with the Gulf View Square redevelopment, the dealerships and the plazas on both sides, pedestrians crossing between distant signals and drivers forcing left turns against oncoming traffic. More than 150 people have died on US-19 in Pinellas and Pasco since 2020.
- Ridge Road from US-19 to Little Road: the plazas, the medical offices and the county government traffic on a road built for less.
- Scenic Drive and Washington Street: the cut-throughs to the river and the neighborhoods, with stop-controlled side streets and bicycle traffic.
- Grand Boulevard and Old Post Road: the back roads to New Port Richey, narrow and unlit, with pedestrians and golf carts.
- Bayview Street and the waterfront: the marina and restaurant traffic, with pedestrians and the occasional boat-trailer crash.
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 Port Richey
Car accidents
US-19 left turns and merge crashes at Ridge Road, rear-end chains along the shopping corridor and uninsured drivers. Florida’s no-fault rules, the permanent-injury threshold and comparative fault decide these cases, and we explain each below. See the Florida car accident practice page.
Truck and commercial vehicle accidents
Delivery fleets on US-19 and Ridge Road, the dealership transporters, and the construction trucks serving the Gulf View Square redevelopment. 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
US-19 puts riders next to drivers who turn without looking. Drivers who “didn’t see” a motorcycle are still responsible for the injuries they cause. Motorcycle accidents.
Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
Pedestrians crossing US-19 to the plazas and cyclists on the back roads to the river. 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 plazas along US-19, the dealerships, restaurants, apartment complexes, parking lots and the redevelopment site itself. 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 a Port Richey injury claim
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 Port Richey, Pasco County, FDOT or another 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 a Port Richey 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 the city’s and the Sheriff’s Office’s call 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.
Port Richey resources after an accident
In an emergency, call 911. These are the agencies and facilities a Port Richey injury claim runs through.
Courthouse
Civil cases from West Pasco are heard in the Sixth Judicial Circuit at the West Pasco Judicial Center, 7530 Little Road, New Port Richey, FL 34654, with the Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller’s records office in the same complex, ten minutes from Port Richey. Most of our cases settle without a lawsuit; the ones that do not are filed here, before judges our attorneys appear in front of regularly.
Crash reports and police
Crashes inside the city are investigated by the Port Richey Police Department, 6333 Ridge Road, Port Richey, FL 34668; crashes in the unincorporated areas around it by the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, 8700 Citizen Drive, New Port Richey, FL 34654; crashes on US-19 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
BayCare Morton Plant North Bay Hospital, 6600 Madison Street, New Port Richey, FL 34652, the closest hospital; HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital, 14000 Fivay Road, Hudson, FL 34667, the Level II trauma center where the most serious US-19 crash victims are taken; and HCA Florida Trinity Hospital, 9330 State Road 54, Trinity, FL 34655, a few minutes from our office.
Fire and EMS
Pasco County Fire Rescue responds countywide, including inside Port Richey, and its 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 Pasco 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 motorcyclist hit by a truck that failed to yield
- $1,150,000 for a passenger in a pickup struck by a semi on State Road 56 in Pasco County
- $1,102,000 for a driver hit by a landscaping company’s vehicle
Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a particular outcome. See more case results.
Who handles your Port Richey case
Stacy Kemp Ferrari founded Kemp Law Group in 2008 and owns it today. A graduate of Saint Leo University and Stetson University College of Law, admitted to The Florida Bar in 2008, she has spent her career representing injured people in Pasco County 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 Port Richey, New Port Richey, Hudson and Bayonet Point.
Port Richey personal injury questions
Where is your office from Port Richey?
At 11567 Trinity Boulevard in Trinity, 15 minutes south on US-19 or Little Road. Most Port Richey 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.
How long do I have to file a claim in Pasco County?
Two years from the date of injury for negligence and wrongful death claims. Claims against the City of Port Richey, Pasco County 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.
I was hit on US-19. Is the state responsible for the road?
Usually the claim is against the driver, but where a known-dangerous intersection lacked lighting, signals or crossings that FDOT or the county had been told it needed, a claim against the agency can exist, with the notice rules and damage limits of § 768.28. We review that in every US-19 case.
Where would my case be filed?
In the Sixth Judicial Circuit at the West Pasco Judicial Center on Little Road. Most cases settle without a lawsuit, and most lawsuits settle before trial; we prepare every case as though a Pasco County jury will hear it.
What does a Port Richey 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 a Port Richey 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 Port Richey, New Port Richey, Hudson, Bayonet Point, Jasmine Estates, Elfers and all of West Pasco County, 15 minutes from our office, with 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.
