Where South Florida’s serious crashes happen
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties together record more than 120,000 crashes and roughly 700 traffic deaths a year in FLHSMV’s figures, more than any other region of the state, and the Treasure Coast adds thousands more. The corridors that fill our South Florida files:
- I-95 from Homestead to Jupiter: the most crowded interstate in Florida, with high-speed rear-end chains, lane-change crashes and the express-lane merges from downtown Miami through Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach.
- Florida’s Turnpike and the Sawgrass Expressway: the commuter and freight routes through west Broward and Palm Beach, with the Golden Glades and I-595 interchanges among the state’s worst.
- The Palmetto (SR 826), the Dolphin (SR 836) and I-595: Miami’s and Fort Lauderdale’s expressways, ramps built for half their traffic, and the airport and port truck routes.
- US-1 and US-441 (SR 7): the north-south arterials through every city from Homestead to Jupiter, six lanes of driveways, bus stops and pedestrians crossing between distant signals.
- Okeechobee Boulevard, Southern Boulevard, Sunrise Boulevard, Oakland Park Boulevard, Hollywood Boulevard and Kendall Drive: the east-west arterials with the region’s highest pedestrian and left-turn crash counts.
- I-75 and Alligator Alley west of Weston, and Port St. Lucie Boulevard and US-1 on the Treasure Coast: long high-speed stretches with run-off-road and wrong-way crashes.
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 South Florida
Car accidents
I-95 and Turnpike rear-end chains, Palmetto and Dolphin ramp crashes, US-1 and US-441 left turns, hit-and-runs, and uninsured drivers, which means roughly one driver in five statewide and more in Miami-Dade and Broward. Florida’s no-fault rules, the permanent-injury threshold and comparative fault decide these cases, and we explain each below. See the car accident practice page.
Truck and commercial vehicle accidents
The port and airport freight, the I-95 and Turnpike semis, the construction trucks on every South Florida project and the delivery fleets on the arterials. 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
South Florida riders face the heaviest traffic in the state year round, and drivers turning across US-1, A1A and the arterials are their main danger. Drivers who “didn’t see” a rider are still responsible for the injuries they cause. Motorcycle accidents.
Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
South Florida has the state’s highest pedestrian and bicycle crash counts, on US-1, US-441, Okeechobee Boulevard, Sunrise Boulevard and the beach roads, with long blocks and few crossings. 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 malls, grocery and big-box stores, restaurants, hotels and resorts, condominium and apartment towers, cruise terminals and parking garages across the three counties. 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 South Florida 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 Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach County, a city, a transit agency, a school district, the port or airport authority 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, and in Miami-Dade and Broward the share is higher still. 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 South Florida 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 county 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.
South Florida resources after an accident
In an emergency, call 911. These are the courts, agencies and hospitals a South Florida injury claim runs through.
Courthouses
Miami-Dade County cases are filed in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit at the Dade County Courthouse, 73 West Flagler Street, Miami, FL 33130; Broward County cases in the Seventeenth Circuit at the Broward County Judicial Complex, 201 Southeast 6th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301; Palm Beach County cases in the Fifteenth Circuit at the Main Judicial Complex, 205 North Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, FL 33401; and St. Lucie and Martin County cases in the Nineteenth Circuit at the St. Lucie County Courthouse, 218 South 2nd Street, Fort Pierce, FL 34950. Most of our cases settle without a lawsuit; the ones that do not are filed in the county where the crash happened.
Crash reports and police
Crashes are investigated by the city police department where one exists (Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Coral Gables, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach and the rest), by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in the unincorporated areas and the contract cities, and on the interstates and the Turnpike by Florida Highway Patrol Troops E, L and K. 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.
Trauma centers and hospitals
The region has at least five Level I trauma centers: Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, 1611 Northwest 12th Avenue, Miami, FL 33136; Broward Health Medical Center, 1600 South Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316; Memorial Regional Hospital, 3501 Johnson Street, Hollywood, FL 33021; St. Mary’s Medical Center, 901 45th Street, West Palm Beach, FL 33407; and Delray Medical Center, 5352 Linton Boulevard, Delray Beach, FL 33484. HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce is the Treasure Coast’s Level II trauma center, and HCA Florida Kendall and Aventura hospitals are also trauma centers in Miami-Dade.
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.
How Kemp Law Group handles South Florida cases
Our office is at 11567 Trinity Boulevard in Trinity, in Tampa Bay, and we have represented clients across Florida from it since 2008. For a South Florida case that means the work you never see happens the same way it does for a client down the street: we open the claim and sign you up by phone, video and e-signature the day you call; we order the crash report, the 911 audio, the body-camera and business video and the medical records from Jackson, Broward Health, Memorial, St. Mary’s or whichever hospital treated you; our investigators photograph the scene and find the witnesses; and we negotiate with the same insurers, who are not local either. When a serious injury keeps you at home or in the hospital, we come to you. If your case has to be tried, it is filed in your county and tried there; Florida Bar admission is statewide, and our attorneys appear in every circuit. Most of our clients outside Tampa Bay never make the drive, and nothing about the case requires it.
Results for injured clients 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 South Florida case
Stacy Kemp Ferrari founded Kemp Law Group in 2008 and owns it today. A graduate of Stetson University College of Law, admitted to The Florida Bar in 2008, she has represented injured people across Florida for her whole career; the firm is based in Tampa Bay and handles cases in every Florida circuit. Florida Bar admission is statewide, so the firm’s attorneys appear in your county’s courts the same as in ours; 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, from clients across Florida.
South Florida personal injury questions
Do you have an office in South Florida?
No. Our office is in Trinity, in Tampa Bay, and we represent clients throughout South Florida from it by phone, video and e-signature, with home and hospital visits for serious injuries; if a case is tried, it is tried in your county, where our attorneys appear the same as in ours. Nothing about a personal injury case requires you to come to us, and none of our South Florida clients pay more because of the distance.
How long do I have to file a claim in Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach County?
Two years from the date of injury for negligence and wrongful death claims, anywhere in Florida. Claims against a county, a city, a transit agency, the port or airport authority 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, or drove off.
Common in South Florida, where the share of drivers with no bodily injury coverage is among the highest in the state and hit-and-runs are a daily event. 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.
Will I have to travel to Tampa Bay?
No. The consultation, the paperwork, the updates and the settlement are all handled by phone, text, video and e-signature; our investigators and records requests go to your area, not the other way round. If a case is tried, the trial is in your own county.
Where would my case be filed?
In the circuit court of the county where the crash happened: the Eleventh Circuit in Miami for Miami-Dade, the Seventeenth in Fort Lauderdale for Broward, the Fifteenth in West Palm Beach for Palm Beach, or the Nineteenth in Fort Pierce for the Treasure Coast. Most cases settle without a lawsuit, and most lawsuits settle before trial.
What does a South Florida 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 South Florida 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 Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Kendall, The Hammocks, Doral, Homestead, Miami Gardens, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Davie, Plantation, Sunrise, Weston, Tamarac, Lauderhill, Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, West Palm Beach, Jupiter, Port St. Lucie and all of South Florida and the Treasure Coast, by phone, video and e-signature, with home and hospital visits for serious injuries.
The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
