The only Level II trauma center in Pasco County is on Fivay Road in Hudson. That means a Hudson family whose relative was hurt on US-19 or SR-52 is treated a few minutes from home, and it also means that when the injuries are fatal, the death happens here, among neighbors, sometimes days or weeks after the crash. The District Six Medical Examiner counts deaths by the county in which they occur, and Hudson's hospital is where many of Pasco's crash victims die.
Conde-Huggins Accident Injury Lawyers represents Hudson families in wrongful death claims under Florida law. Our office is at 6609 Ridge Road in Port Richey, a few miles south on US-19 and a few minutes from Bayonet Point. We meet families at home, on their schedule. The consultation is free and private, and there is no attorney's fee unless we recover compensation. Call (240) 421-5511 when you are ready.
When the death happens at Bayonet Point
A death that follows a hospitalization raises questions a death at the scene does not.
The hospital bill and the lien. Days or weeks in the trauma unit produce a bill that the hospital will pursue against the estate, and it may assert a lien on any recovery. Those charges are recoverable damages under Fla. Stat. § 768.21(6), and we handle the billing office directly.
Medicare. For most Hudson residents, Medicare paid for the care before death, and federal law gives Medicare a right to be repaid from the settlement. That reimbursement is negotiated and resolved as part of closing the case, not left for the family afterward.
The medical examiner. Pasco deaths are handled by the District Six Medical Examiner's Office in Largo, which serves both Pasco and Pinellas. The autopsy report establishes the cause of death and, through toxicology, becomes evidence insurers use to argue the decedent's own fault. We obtain it and are ready to answer it.
The investigation. Hudson has no police department. FHP Troop C's traffic homicide investigators handle fatal crashes on US-19, SR-52, Little Road and Hudson Avenue, and the Pasco Sheriff's Office may handle a death on a neighborhood street. A homicide investigation includes reconstruction and vehicle inspection and can take months. We do not wait for it to begin preserving evidence.
Survivors in a retirement community
Hudson's median age is 57 and nearly four in ten residents are 65 or older. The families who call us about a death here are most often a surviving spouse of many decades and adult children who live in another state. Florida's Wrongful Death Act, Fla. Stat. §§ 768.16–768.26, assigns recovery by category, and for a retired decedent the categories matter more than usual.
The claim is brought by the personal representative of the estate under § 768.20, on behalf of every survivor at once. Survivors under § 768.18(1) are the spouse, children, parents and dependent blood relatives.
What each may recover under § 768.21:
- The surviving spouse recovers lost support and services, the loss of companionship and protection, and mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. For a couple married 40 or 50 years, this is the center of the case.
- Adult children recover for lost parental companionship, instruction and guidance and their own mental pain and suffering only when there is no surviving spouse. If a spouse survives, those non-economic damages belong to children under 25, whom the Act calls minor children.
- The estate recovers medical and funeral expenses and, where the statute allows, lost prospective net accumulations. For a retiree with no earnings, that element is often small, which is why insurers argue the whole claim is small. It is not; the spouse's and children's losses are measured by the relationship, not the paycheck.
We go through these categories with the family in the first meeting, in plain terms, so no one is surprised later by what the law allows. Call (240) 421-5511.
Insurance and the arguments that follow a Hudson death
Who pays. Florida requires no bodily injury liability coverage on most private vehicles, and the driver who caused the death on US-19 may have carried none. The decedent's own PIP pays a $5,000 death benefit under Fla. Stat. § 627.736(1). After that, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage under Fla. Stat. § 627.727 on the decedent's policy, or on the policy of a household member, is often the main source of recovery. A commercial or rideshare policy applies when the at-fault driver was working, and a claim involving a county vehicle or GOPasco bus falls under the caps and notice rules of Fla. Stat. § 768.28.
The fault argument. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6), if the decedent is found more than 50 percent at fault, the survivors recover nothing from the other driver. In a death case the insurer makes this argument freely, because the one person who could contradict it is gone. In an older decedent's case the argument is often about reflexes, eyesight or a left turn across the highway. The reconstruction evidence, the vehicle data and the witnesses are what answer it, and we gather them before they are lost.
The age argument. Insurers price a death claim partly on the decedent's life expectancy. Life expectancy affects how long future losses would have continued, but the loss of a spouse's companionship and a parent's guidance is measured by the relationship, not discounted because the decedent was retired. We present the decedent's life, health and role in the family as they were.
Deadlines and probate
A Florida wrongful death action must be filed within two years of the date of death under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(e). A personal representative must first be appointed by the circuit court in Pasco County through probate, which for a Hudson resident is filed in Pasco. Many families have not opened an estate when they first call; we coordinate the probate filing so the appointment and the investigation move together. A claim against a government body requires written notice within the same two years under § 768.28(6).
Evidence has its own timeline. Vehicles are salvaged within weeks. Plaza and gas station video along US-19 and SR-52 overwrites in days. Witnesses who were on their way to the hospital or the beach leave the area. We send preservation letters in the first week after a family retains us.
How we work with Hudson families
- We come to your home in Hudson, Beacon Woods, Heritage Pines or wherever you are, and explain the process once.
- We obtain the FHP homicide file, the medical examiner's report, the 911 audio and the Bayonet Point records, and we preserve the vehicles and video.
- We help open the estate and have a personal representative appointed.
- We document each survivor's loss, with testimony from family and friends and, where needed, an economist.
- We locate every policy, present the claim, and file at the West Pasco Judicial Center on Little Road when the offers do not reflect the loss.
Clementine Conde, a Florida Bar member since 1992 with decades of trial experience in Pasco and Pinellas courts, handles every case personally. Our countywide wrongful death page explains the Act in more detail, our Hudson page covers the other claims we handle in the community, and our Port Richey wrongful death page addresses deaths on the corridor south of SR-52. When the decedent was a rider, our Hudson motorcycle accident page explains the rules that apply.
Talk to a Port Richey wrongful death lawyer about your Hudson loss today
When your family is ready, Conde-Huggins is a few minutes away and will come to you. Call (240) 421-5511, any hour, or contact us online. The consultation is free, and there is no attorney's fee unless we recover compensation for your family. Se habla español.
Free consultation, no attorney's fee unless we win. We meet Hudson clients at home, in the hospital, or at our office on Ridge Road. (240) 421-5511
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Questions people ask us about hudson wrongful death cases
My wife and I were married 52 years. She was killed on US-19 in Hudson. What can I recover as her husband?
Under Fla. Stat. § 768.21, a surviving spouse may recover the value of lost support and services, the loss of the decedent's companionship and protection, and his own mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. For a retired couple, the companionship and mental pain and suffering elements are usually the heart of the claim, and an insurer will try to minimize them because there are no lost wages. The estate separately recovers medical and funeral expenses. The claim is filed by the estate's personal representative on your behalf.
Our father was 80 and widowed. Can his adult children recover for losing him?
Yes. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.21(3), all children of the decedent may recover for lost parental companionship, instruction and guidance and for their own mental pain and suffering when there is no surviving spouse. If a spouse had survived, that non-economic recovery would be limited to children under 25, which the Act defines as minor children. Each child's relationship with your father is documented separately, and the estate recovers the hospital and funeral bills.
She died at Bayonet Point three weeks after the crash. Do the hospital bills come out of the family's recovery?
The hospital bills are part of the claim, not a deduction from the family's share. Under Fla. Stat. § 768.21(6), the estate may recover medical and funeral expenses that became a charge against the estate or were paid on the decedent's behalf, and a survivor who paid them may recover them directly. Medicare, if it paid for the three weeks of care, has a federal right to reimbursement from the settlement, and the hospital may assert a lien for any balance. We resolve both as part of the case.
Where do we get the autopsy report and the crash investigation for a Hudson death?
The District Six Medical Examiner's Office in Largo, which serves Pasco and Pinellas counties, performs the autopsy and issues the report and toxicology results. FHP Troop C's traffic homicide investigators handle fatal crashes on US-19, SR-52 and in unincorporated Hudson, and their file can take months to close. The standard crash report is available sooner through the Florida Crash Portal, restricted for 60 days to the parties and their attorneys under Fla. Stat. § 316.066(2). We request all of it for the family.
How long does a Hudson family have to file a wrongful death claim?
Two years from the date of death under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(e). Before suit, a personal representative must be appointed through probate in Pasco County, so the two years include that step. If a government vehicle or a road defect on a county road was involved, written notice under Fla. Stat. § 768.28(6) must be presented within the same two years and suit cannot be filed until the agency denies the claim or 90 days pass. Evidence such as the vehicles and plaza video disappears much sooner.