Port Richey personal injury lawyer

You went to the ER. The other driver's insurer has already called. Your car is in a tow yard off US-19 and you have no idea what happens next. This page is the map.

Conde-Huggins Accident Injury Lawyers is a personal injury firm at 6609 Ridge Road, Suite 4, in Port Richey, between US-19 and Little Road. Our attorney, Clementine L. "CC" Conde, has practiced in Florida courts since 1992 and is responsible for every case we take. We handle injury and wrongful death claims across Pasco County and the Tampa Bay area, and we meet clients at home or in the hospital. Call (240) 421-5511 any time for a free consultation. No attorney's fee unless we win. Se habla español.

How a Florida personal injury claim works, start to finish

Every case is different, but the path is the same.

1. Medical care, within 14 days. If a motor vehicle was involved, your own PIP coverage pays the first $10,000 of medical bills and lost income, but only if you receive initial treatment within 14 days of the crash (Fla. Stat. § 627.736). Go to HCA Florida Bayonet Point, Morton Plant North Bay, HCA Florida Trinity, an AdventHealth ER in Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills or Dade City, or an urgent care, and tell them what happened.

2. The report. FHP Troop C investigates most Pasco crashes; the Pasco Sheriff's Office and city police handle the rest. Get the officer's name and the report number. For a fall, make sure an incident report is written and get a copy.

3. Hire a lawyer and stop the clock on lost evidence. Once you retain Conde-Huggins, we send preservation letters for vehicles, event data recorders, store and intersection video and maintenance records, and we take over every insurer phone call.

4. Investigation. We obtain the report, 911 recordings, photographs, witness statements and, when needed, an accident reconstruction. We identify every responsible party and every policy, including your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.

5. Treatment and documentation. You treat until your doctors reach a permanent prognosis. Since HB 837, Fla. Stat. § 768.0427 controls what medical-expense evidence a jury may see, so we make sure every bill is itemized and coded and every letter of protection is handled the way the statute requires.

6. The demand. We send a complete demand package to each liability and UM carrier: liability evidence, medical records, bills, wage loss, and a statement of how the injury has changed your life.

7. Negotiation. Under Fla. Stat. § 624.155, an insurer that tenders its policy limits within 90 days of notice of a claim avoids bad-faith liability, which gives carriers a reason to pay clear cases promptly. Those that do not, we pressure with the lawsuit.

8. The lawsuit. A negligence suit must be filed within two years of the injury under § 95.11(5)(a). We file in Pasco County circuit court when the offer does not match the evidence.

9. Discovery and mediation. Depositions, written questions, subpoenas and a court-ordered mediation. Many cases settle here, once the insurer has seen the case it would face at trial.

10. Trial. A Pasco County jury decides fault and damages. Every file is prepared as if it will reach this step.

If you are somewhere in that sequence and not sure what comes next, call (240) 421-5511. We will tell you where you are and what to do today.

The four Florida rules every Pasco County injury claim runs into

The two-year deadline. HB 837 cut the negligence statute of limitations from four years to two for claims accruing after March 24, 2023 (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a)). Wrongful death has its own two-year rule (§ 95.11(5)(e)). Government claims add a written-notice requirement under § 768.28(6).

The 51 percent bar. Under § 768.81(6), a person found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing. Below that, damages are reduced by your share of fault. Expect the adjuster to argue fault in every case.

PIP and the permanent-injury threshold. PIP pays first and pays little. To recover pain and suffering from an at-fault driver you must show a permanent injury, significant scarring or death under § 627.737(2). The medical records decide this, which is why treatment gaps hurt.

Why UM/UIM coverage matters. Florida requires PIP and property damage coverage, but not bodily injury liability. A driver who hits you on SR-54 may carry nothing to pay for your injuries. Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage under § 627.727, on your own policy or a resident relative's, is often what actually pays. Bring your declarations page to the consultation.

The cases we handle

Each practice area has its own page with the specific law and local detail. Start with the one that matches what happened.

• Car accidents on US-19, SR-52, SR-54, Little Road and every other Pasco road, including rear-end, intersection and hit-and-run crashes.
• Truck accidents involving tractor-trailers, dump trucks and delivery vehicles on I-75, the Suncoast Parkway and US-301.
• Motorcycle accidents, where riders have no PIP and insurers blame the rider by reflex.
• Uber and Lyft accidents, with the layered coverage rules in Fla. Stat. § 627.748.
• Pedestrian accidents, especially on US-19, in a metro area ranked among the most dangerous in the country for people on foot.
• Bicycle accidents on county roads and the Suncoast Trail.
• Bus accidents involving GOPasco, school buses and charter coaches, with the sovereign immunity caps and notice rules under § 768.28.
• Drunk driving accidents, where the civil claim runs alongside the criminal case.
• Brain injuries, from concussion to severe TBI.
• Spinal cord injuries and paralysis.
• Catastrophic injuries: amputation, burns and permanent disability, with the life-care planning they require.
• Wrongful death under the Florida Wrongful Death Act, §§ 768.16–768.26.

Slip and fall and premises liability

Property owners and businesses in Florida owe visitors a duty to keep the premises reasonably safe and to warn of dangers they know about. The common cases are falls on wet floors in grocery and big-box stores along US-19 and SR-54, broken walkways and stairs at apartment complexes, poor parking-lot lighting, and injuries at pools and short-term rentals. For a fall on a liquid or other transitory substance in a business, Fla. Stat. § 768.0755 requires proof that the business knew about the hazard or should have known because it existed long enough or happened regularly. That proof comes from video, sweep logs and employee statements, which is why we send a preservation demand the day we are hired.

Dog bites

Florida holds dog owners strictly liable. Under Fla. Stat. § 767.04, the owner is responsible when the dog bites a person in a public place or lawfully on private property, whether or not the dog had ever shown aggression before. You do not have to prove the owner was careless. Recovery may be reduced by any negligence of the person bitten, and an owner who posts a clear "Bad Dog" sign has a defense against adults, but not against children under six. Most dog-bite claims are paid by homeowner's or renter's insurance, and bites to children's faces often leave scarring that qualifies as permanent under Florida law.

What Conde-Huggins does in the first 48 hours

The first two days after you call set up everything that follows.

• Hour one: a phone call or a visit, at home or at HCA Florida Bayonet Point or Morton Plant North Bay, to hear what happened and answer your questions. You sign a fee agreement only if you decide to go forward.
• Same day: we notify every insurer that you are represented and that all contact goes through us. The adjuster's calls to you stop.
• Same day: we open your PIP claim with your own insurer and confirm your 14-day treatment is on record.
• Day one: preservation letters go to the other driver's insurer, the tow yard, the business or the trucking company, for the vehicle, the data recorder and the video.
• Day one: we request the crash report from FHP Troop C or the Pasco Sheriff's Office and the 911 audio.
• Day two: we review your auto policy and your household's for UM/UIM and medical payments coverage, and tell you what is available.
• Day two: we talk through your medical care, make sure you have a treating physician who can document permanence, and explain how the letter-of-protection rules in § 768.0427 affect your choices.

If you are more than 48 hours out, none of this is lost. It just needs to start now. Call (240) 421-5511.

Who investigates crashes in Pasco County, and how to get your report

The Pasco Sheriff's Office says the Florida Highway Patrol handles most Pasco County crash investigations. FHP Troop C covers Pasco from its Tampa headquarters and area stations. Crashes inside the city limits of Port Richey, New Port Richey, Zephyrhills and Dade City are typically worked by city police, and deputies respond to many others.

Reports are purchased through the Florida Crash Portal at services.flhsmv.gov for $10 per report plus a $2 transaction fee, and can take up to 10 days to appear. For the first 60 days after filing, the report is confidential under Fla. Stat. § 316.066(2) and available only to the parties involved, their attorneys and their insurers, who must sign a sworn statement to receive it. We obtain it for you.

Where a fatal or serious-injury crash is involved, FHP's traffic homicide investigation can take months. Our own investigation runs in parallel, and we request the file when it is complete.

How much is my Port Richey personal injury case worth?

There is no honest number on day one, and anyone who gives you one over the phone is guessing. What drives the value:

• Liability: how clearly the other party is at fault, and whether the insurer can push your share past 50 percent.
• Injury and permanence: whether you meet the § 627.737(2) threshold, and what your doctors say about the future.
• Economic losses: medical bills as proven under § 768.0427, lost wages, and the cost of future care.
• Non-economic losses: pain, the activities you have lost, the effect on your family.
• Available insurance: the at-fault party's limits, your UM/UIM coverage, commercial policies, and the government caps if a public agency is involved.

A local firm for a county that is growing fast

Pasco County grew roughly 20 percent between 2020 and 2025 to more than 670,000 people, and the roads have not kept up. The Ridge Road extension now runs from Moon Lake Road to the Suncoast Parkway and is being pushed east toward US-41, turning the road our office sits on into a cross-county arterial. More cars, more trucks, more crashes.

We are a Port Richey firm with a physical office on Ridge Road, and our attorney has spent her career in the Pasco and Pinellas courthouses. You can read more about her at /attorneys/clementine-conde/, and if you are in New Port Richey, Trinity or Holiday, see /locations/new-port-richey/.

Talk to a Port Richey personal injury lawyer today

If you were hurt in Port Richey, New Port Richey, Hudson, Holiday, Trinity, Bayonet Point, Land O' Lakes, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, Dade City or anywhere in Pasco, Hernando, Pinellas or Hillsborough counties, call Conde-Huggins Accident Injury Lawyers at (240) 421-5511 or reach us through /contact/. We answer 24 hours a day, the consultation is free, and there is no attorney's fee unless we win. We will come to you.