Where Zephyrhills’ 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 east county’s arterials, built for the Zephyrhills of twenty years ago, contribute more every year. The roads that fill our east Pasco files:
- US-301 (Gall Boulevard) through the city, from SR 54 to Chancey Road: six lanes of retail driveways, the hospital, the Walmart and Publix plazas, with left turns across them at every signal and pedestrians crossing between distant lights.
- State Road 54 from Wesley Chapel to US-301: the county’s busiest east-west road, now four lanes to the city limits, with intersection crashes at Morris Bridge Road, Eiland Boulevard and Wesley Chapel Boulevard.
- State Road 56 from I-75 to US-301: the new extension that brought interstate traffic to Zephyrhills, with the kind of truck traffic behind the firm’s $1,150,000 State Road 56 case, a semi running into stopped vehicles.
- Eiland Boulevard and Fort King Road: the commuter connectors toward Dade City and the subdivisions, with school traffic and stop-controlled side streets.
- Chancey Road, Morris Bridge Road and SR 39 to Crystal Springs and Plant City: two-lane roads at country speeds, with head-on and run-off-road crashes.
- US-98 and the Dade City approach: the route to the county seat, with truck traffic from the quarries and the packing houses.
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 Zephyrhills
Car accidents
US-301 left turns, SR 54 and SR 56 intersection crashes, two-lane 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. Zephyrhills car accidents and the Florida car accident practice page.
Truck and commercial vehicle accidents
US-301 and SR 56 carry freight between I-75, I-4 and the quarries and packing houses of east Pasco, and the firm’s own $1,150,000 recovery came from a semi that plowed into stopped traffic on SR 56. 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
The roads to San Antonio, Dade City and the lakes are popular rides, and drivers turning out of driveways and side streets are the riders’ main danger. Motorcycle accidents.
Pedestrian, bicycle and golf-cart accidents
The retirement communities along US-301 run on golf carts and bicycles, and the arterials have 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 grocery and big-box stores along US-301, restaurants, the medical offices around the hospital, 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, and a frequent case on east Pasco’s large lots. 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 Zephyrhills 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 Zephyrhills, Pasco County, the 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.
Trucking cases run on federal rules. A commercial carrier must keep hours-of-service logs, inspection and maintenance records, driver qualification files and the truck’s electronic data, and must preserve them once it knows a claim is coming. Our first letter in every truck case demands that preservation; the second asks for the records. Motor carriers also carry higher minimum coverage than private drivers, which is why the SR 56 case resolved for seven figures.
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 Zephyrhills 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 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.
Zephyrhills resources after an accident
In an emergency, call 911. These are the agencies and facilities a Zephyrhills injury claim runs through.
Courthouse
Civil cases from east Pasco are heard in the Sixth Judicial Circuit at the Robert D. Sumner Judicial Center, 38053 Live Oak Avenue, Dade City, FL 33523, with the Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller’s east-side office in the same building. It is the same circuit, and often the same judges, that hear our West Pasco cases. Most of our cases settle without a lawsuit; the ones that do not are filed here.
Crash reports and police
Crashes inside the city are investigated by the Zephyrhills Police Department; crashes in unincorporated east Pasco by the Pasco Sheriff’s Office (headquarters 8700 Citizen Drive, New Port Richey, FL 34654, with deputies based in the east county); crashes on US-301, SR 54 and SR 56 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
AdventHealth Zephyrhills, 7050 Gall Boulevard, Zephyrhills, FL 33541, the east county’s main hospital, on US-301; AdventHealth Dade City, 13100 Fort King Road, Dade City, FL 33525; AdventHealth Wesley Chapel and BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard; and, for the most serious injuries, Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, the region’s Level I trauma center, or Lakeland Regional Health to the east.
Fire and EMS
Zephyrhills Fire Rescue inside the city; Pasco County Fire Rescue countywide, 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:
- $1,150,000 for a passenger in a pickup stopped in traffic on State Road 56 when a utility company’s semi plowed into multiple vehicles; the truck driver was cited and was driving on a suspended license
- $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
- $1,019,000 for a driver struck by a semi whose motor carrier accepted liability
- $993,058 for a driver in a severe crash with a construction company’s truck, recovered across several policies
Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a particular outcome. See more case results.
Who handles your Zephyrhills case
Stacy Kemp Ferrari founded Kemp Law Group in 2008 and owns it today. A graduate of Saint Leo University, a few miles north in St. Leo, and of 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 Zephyrhills, Dade City, Wesley Chapel and San Antonio.
Zephyrhills personal injury questions
Do you have an office in Zephyrhills?
Our office is at 11567 Trinity Boulevard in Trinity, 45 minutes west on SR 54, in the same county. We meet Zephyrhills clients by appointment, 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 Zephyrhills, Pasco County, the school district or a state agency have earlier notice deadlines, so call sooner if a government vehicle or property was involved.
I was hit by a commercial truck on US-301 or SR 56. How is that different?
The trucking company and its insurer start investigating within hours, and federal rules require them to keep logs, maintenance records and the truck’s electronic data once they know a claim is coming. We send a preservation demand the same day and obtain those records; the carrier’s higher coverage limits are why these cases can resolve for seven figures.
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 Robert D. Sumner Judicial Center in Dade City. 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 Zephyrhills 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 Zephyrhills 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 Zephyrhills, Dade City, San Antonio, Crystal Springs, Wesley Chapel and all of east Pasco County, 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.
