Tampa hit and run lawyer

Which Florida laws apply to a Tampa hit and run claim

The rules are the same across Florida, so they are written out in full on one page rather than repeated here. They are explained on the statewide hit and run page, with the statute text linked.

Two things pay when the other driver is gone, and neither one needs that driver identified. PIP pays regardless of who caused the crash — the 14-day rule applies the same as always. Above PIP, the claim is against your own uninsured motorist coverage.

Here is the part that is usually written wrong. Section 627.727 never mentions hit-and-run or unidentified vehicles. It requires UM coverage unless there is a written rejection on a form approved by the office, and it extends "uninsured motor vehicle" to an insolvent insurer, limits below your damages, and a policy excluding a nonfamily driver. Whether a driver who fled is covered comes from your policy’s own definition, which makes the policy the document that answers it.

And the deadline is not the one people assume. A negligence claim against the driver, if identified, is two years. A UM claim is an action on your insurance policy — a contract founded on a written instrument — which § 95.11(2)(b) gives five years. That is not a reason to wait.

What follows is the part that is specific to Hillsborough County — where these claims arise, where you will be treated, which courthouse the case goes to, and how the records are obtained.

Two sources of payment that do not need the driver found

The instinct after a hit and run is that there is nobody to claim against. That is almost never true.

PIP first. Section 627.736 is no-fault: it pays regardless of who caused the crash, so a driver fleeing changes nothing about it. The 14-day rule applies exactly as in any other crash — treatment has to begin within fourteen days or PIP pays nothing at all.

Then uninsured motorist coverage, which is your own policy responding to a driver who cannot pay — or in this case cannot be found. It is where pain and suffering and the damages above PIP come from.

And a third possibility people overlook. If the vehicle was identified later — a plate from a camera, a witness, a part left at the scene — then the ordinary liability claim against that driver exists too, and the UM carrier’s position changes with it.

None of this depends on an arrest. A criminal case for leaving the scene is a separate matter with a separate standard, and a civil claim does not wait for it.

What actually decides whether a fleeing driver is covered

Most pages on this subject say the statute treats a hit-and-run driver as uninsured. It does not say that.

Section 627.727 contains no reference to hit-and-run, to unidentified vehicles, or to any physical contact requirement. What it does is require UM coverage on bodily injury policies unless an insured makes a written rejection on behalf of all insureds, on a form approved by the office — and a rejection signed by a named insured is presumed to be informed and knowing.

Subsection (3) extends the term statutorily to a vehicle whose liability insurer is insolvent, whose limits are less than your total damages, or whose policy excludes coverage for a nonfamily member driver. Those are the statutory additions, and an unidentified driver is not among them.

So the policy is the document that answers it. The definition of "uninsured motor vehicle" in your own contract is what brings a fleeing driver inside the coverage, and whether it requires contact, a report within a set time, or corroboration is written there rather than in the statute.

Which makes two requests the first practical step: the declarations page, and the complete policy including the UM endorsement. Ask for the signed rejection form too. People are told they have no UM far more often than they actually have none.

What Tampa law requires, and why it matters more here

Reporting is a legal duty, and in a hit and run it is also the evidence.

Section 316.065(1) requires the driver of a vehicle involved in a crash resulting in injury or death, or property damage of at least $2,000, to give notice immediately, by the quickest means of communication — to the local police department if it happened inside a municipality, otherwise to the county sheriff or the nearest Florida Highway Patrol station. Failing to do so is a noncriminal traffic infraction.

In Hillsborough the city line decides it. Inside Tampa it is the Tampa Police Department; outside it, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, which states that its patrol units do not respond to activity within the city. Temple Terrace and Plant City run their own. On I-275, I-4, I-75 or the Selmon it is the Florida Highway Patrol. The written report is then requested through the FLHSMV crash portal, and under § 316.066(2) the people involved and their legal representatives may obtain it immediately rather than after the 60-day confidentiality window.

In an ordinary crash the report confirms what everyone already knows. In a hit and run it is often the only contemporaneous proof that a second vehicle existed at all, which matters because a UM carrier is entitled to be satisfied that it did.

Then go looking for cameras the same day. Businesses, doorbells, parking structures, buses and traffic cameras all overwrite, most of them within days. A plate recovered from footage turns an unidentified driver into an identified one and changes the case entirely.

A UM claim is against the company you pay, and it is still a claim

It is worth being clear-eyed about this: a UM claim is adversarial, even though it is your own carrier.

Expect the recorded statement request early, and expect questions designed to test whether another vehicle was involved at all. That is not an accusation; it is the carrier standing in the shoes of a driver who is not there to defend the claim.

Where the fleeing driver is later identified and has insurance, there is a sequence to follow. Under § 627.727(6)(a), written notice of a proposed settlement with the liability insurer must be sent to the underinsured motorist carrier by certified or registered mail, and that carrier then has 30 days to authorize the settlement or preserve its subrogation rights. Settling without that notice can cost the UM claim.

Stacking is worth checking at the same time. Where a policy covers more than one vehicle, stacked coverage adds the limits together. Section 627.727(8)(a) allows non-stacked policies but requires the rates to reflect a premium reduction of at least 20 percent — so the price of the UM line is itself a clue to what was bought.

And § 627.727(9) points to § 624.155, under which recoverable damages in such an action include total damages, interest, and attorney’s fees and costs.

Where the Tampa office is, and how to get there

DAPENALAW is at 4231 N Habana Avenue, Tampa, FL 33607, open Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00. The direct number is (813) 930-5422.

The office is on North Habana Avenue in West Tampa, a few minutes from I-275 and from Tampa General, with parking on site. A first conversation can happen by phone or video from anywhere in the county, and home and hospital visits are available when someone cannot travel.

You do not have to come in. The first conversation can be by phone or video, documents are handled electronically, and where an injury makes travel difficult the meeting happens where you are. The Habana Avenue office serves Hillsborough County generally, and most often Tampa, Westshore, Town ’n’ Country, Ybor City, Temple Terrace, Carrollwood, Brandon, Riverview and Plant City.

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