Where Southwest Florida’s serious crashes happen
Lee, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and Collier counties together record more than 35,000 crashes and roughly 350 traffic deaths a year in FLHSMV’s figures, and Lee County alone has more than 100 deaths a year. The corridors that fill our Southwest Florida files:
- I-75 from Bradenton to Naples and across Alligator Alley: the only through route, with high-speed rear-end chains at the Fruitville, Bee Ridge, University Parkway, Colonial and Daniels interchanges and run-off-road crashes in the rural stretches.
- US-41 (Tamiami Trail) from Bradenton through Sarasota, Venice, North Port, Port Charlotte and Fort Myers to Naples: the commercial spine of every city, six lanes of plazas and driveways with left-turn and pedestrian crashes at the signals.
- SR 64, SR 70 and US-301 in Manatee, and Fruitville Road, Bee Ridge Road and Clark Road in Sarasota: the east-west arterials carrying the growth of Lakewood Ranch and Parrish at speed.
- Colonial Boulevard, Daniels Parkway, Palm Beach Boulevard (SR 80) and Lee Boulevard in Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres: the widest and busiest roads in Lee County, with the Six Mile Cypress and I-75 interchanges.
- Pine Island Road, Cape Coral Parkway, Del Prado Boulevard and the Cape Coral and Midpoint bridges: Cape Coral’s connectors, a grid built for a city a third its size.
- Kings Highway, Harbor View Road and Toledo Blade Boulevard in Charlotte County and North Port, and Bonita Beach Road and Immokalee Road in Bonita Springs and Naples: two-lane roads at country speeds carrying subdivision traffic.
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 Southwest Florida
Car accidents
I-75 rear-end chains, US-41 left turns and red-light crashes, Cape Coral bridge and canal-road crashes, seasonal drivers unfamiliar with the roads, and uninsured drivers, which in Lee County means roughly one driver in five. 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 I-75 freight, the construction trucks on every Southwest Florida project since the hurricanes, the landscaping and pool-service fleets and the delivery trucks on US-41. 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
Southwest Florida is a year-round riding region, from the Tamiami Trail to the Alva and Pine Island back roads, and drivers turning across US-41 and the arterials are the riders’ main danger. Drivers who “didn’t see” a rider are still responsible for the injuries they cause. Motorcycle accidents.
Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
The Legacy Trail, the beach roads, the downtown districts of Sarasota, Venice, Fort Myers and Naples and the US-41 crossings put walkers and cyclists in front of fast traffic, and Lee and Sarasota counties have some of the state’s highest bicycle crash rates. 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 and outlet centers, grocery and big-box stores, restaurants, resorts and beach hotels, golf and country clubs, condominium and apartment communities 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 a Southwest 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 Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee or Collier County, a city, LeeTran or another transit agency, a school district 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 a Southwest 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.
Southwest Florida resources after an accident
In an emergency, call 911. These are the courts, agencies and hospitals a Southwest Florida injury claim runs through.
Courthouses
Manatee and Sarasota County cases are filed in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit at the Manatee County Judicial Center, 1051 Manatee Avenue West, Bradenton, FL 34205, and the Sarasota County Judicial Center, 2002 Ringling Boulevard, Sarasota, FL 34237; Charlotte, Lee and Collier County cases in the Twentieth Circuit at the Charlotte County Justice Center, 350 East Marion Avenue, Punta Gorda, FL 33950, the Lee County Justice Center, 1700 Monroe Street, Fort Myers, FL 33901, and the Collier County Courthouse, 3315 Tamiami Trail East, Naples, FL 34112. 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 (Bradenton, Sarasota, Venice, North Port, Punta Gorda, Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Naples), by the Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee and Collier County Sheriff’s Offices in the unincorporated areas, which include Lehigh Acres, Port Charlotte and Bonita Springs’ surroundings, and on I-75 and US-41 by Florida Highway Patrol Troop F. 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’s trauma centers are all Level II: Sarasota Memorial Hospital, 1700 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34239; HCA Florida Blake Hospital, 2020 59th Street West, Bradenton, FL 34209; and Lee Health Gulf Coast Medical Center, 13681 Doctor’s Way, Fort Myers, FL 33912. The most serious injuries from Manatee County are often flown to Tampa General Hospital, the Level I center in Tampa. Other hospitals our clients are treated at include HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte, Lee Health’s Cape Coral and HealthPark hospitals, and NCH in Naples.
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 Southwest 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 Southwest 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 Sarasota Memorial, Blake, Gulf Coast Medical Center 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 Southwest 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.
Southwest Florida personal injury questions
Do you have an office in Southwest Florida?
No. Our office is in Trinity, in Tampa Bay, and we represent clients throughout Southwest 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 Southwest Florida clients pay more because of the distance.
How long do I have to file a claim in Lee, Sarasota or Manatee 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, a school district 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 by a seasonal or out-of-state driver. Does that change anything?
The driver’s home-state policy usually applies, and some pay more than Florida minimums; a rental company’s coverage and your own uninsured motorist coverage can also apply. We identify every policy before we value the case, and the claim is filed here, where the crash happened.
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.
What does a Southwest 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 Southwest 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 Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Venice, North Port, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, Bonita Springs, Naples and all of Southwest Florida, 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.
