JONES LAW GROUPYour Lawyers for Life! Personal Injury Law Firm in St. Petersburg
Reviewed by Bobby Jones, Personal Injury Attorney, Jones Law Group | Published | Updated
If you are reading this after losing someone, we are sorry. No lawsuit brings a person back, and nothing here pretends otherwise. What a wrongful death claim can do is hold the responsible party accountable and secure the financial future your family was supposed to have, so that grief is not compounded by the loss of the income, the support, and the plans your loved one carried. A Seminole wrongful death lawyer carries the legal weight while your family does the harder work of grieving. At Jones Law Group, we have recovered more than $50 million for injured clients and grieving families across Pinellas County and Tampa Bay, and we handle these cases on contingency, so there is never an out-of-pocket cost to you.
Florida’s rules about who may bring this claim, and who may recover from it, are specific and often surprising, so it helps to understand the structure before anything else.
A wrongful death claim is a civil action for a death caused by another’s negligence or wrongful act, from a car or truck crash to a pedestrian death, a fatal fall, or medical negligence. It is separate from any criminal case. A prosecutor pursues a criminal charge to punish; your family pursues a civil claim to be compensated, and it can succeed even if no criminal charge is ever filed, because the burden of proof is lower.
Florida channels the entire claim through the Wrongful Death Act, and that statute makes two structural choices that surprise most families. The claim is brought by one person on behalf of everyone, and the law defines precisely who counts as a beneficiary. Understanding both is the starting point.
Only the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate may file the wrongful death lawsuit. That is usually the person named in a will, or, if there is no will, someone the court appoints, often a close family member. Individual relatives do not file their own separate suits; they participate through the single action the personal representative brings. One of the first things we do is help the family identify and formalize who that representative will be.
The personal representative then pursues damages for the survivors the Act recognizes. These generally include the surviving spouse, the deceased person’s children, and the parents, and, in some circumstances, blood relatives or adoptive siblings who were dependent on the deceased for support or services. Each category of survivor may be entitled to different damages, which is one reason these cases require careful handling. The graphic below lays out the structure.
Florida law separates the recovery into what the survivors lose and what the estate loses.
Survivors may recover the value of lost support and services the deceased provided, lost companionship, guidance, and protection, and their own mental pain and suffering from the loss. A surviving spouse recovers for lost companionship and for grief; children recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance, and for their own mental pain; parents of a deceased minor child recover for their mental pain and suffering.
The estate may recover the earnings and net accumulations the deceased would reasonably have built over a normal lifetime, lost from the date of injury, along with the medical and funeral expenses the estate or a survivor paid. Together these categories can represent the financial future that was taken from the family, and valuing them properly, especially lost future earnings and net accumulations, often requires economic and vocational experts. We handle that work; the family does not have to.
Not sure whether you have a wrongful death claim? One quiet, no-pressure conversation can answer that. Call (727) 571-1333 whenever you are ready.
A wrongful death claim can arise from almost any fatal act of negligence. The ones we see most for Seminole families include:
Deaths from car, motorcycle, and truck crashes on Seminole Boulevard, Park Boulevard, and the US-19 corridor, where speed and heavy traffic make collisions deadly.
The Tampa Bay region’s danger to people on foot and on bikes too often ends in death, particularly on the wide, fast arterials that run through and around Seminole.
Fatal falls, drownings, and deaths resulting from unsafe property conditions or inadequate security at businesses and residential complexes.
Deaths caused by a serious medical error. These claims carry specialized pre-suit requirements under Florida law and demand early investigation.
Fatalities involving commercial vehicles, defective products, or dangerous job sites, which can involve multiple responsible parties and layers of insurance.
The Seminole details are the same ones that shape our injury cases, applied with more gravity. Fatal crashes are documented in Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Highway Patrol reports, since Seminole is served by the Sheriff rather than a city police department. Emergency care before a death often occurs at HCA Florida Largo Hospital or, for the most severe trauma, Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital in St. Petersburg, the county’s only Level II trauma center. Where a veteran’s death involves care through the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System in Seminole, we handle those records with particular attention. The wrongful death lawsuit itself is filed with the Sixth Judicial Circuit at the Pinellas County courthouse in downtown Clearwater. We manage all of it, including the accident investigation and the records, so the family is not the one making these calls.
Under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4)(d), a wrongful death action generally must be filed within two years of the date of death. Certain circumstances can shorten or extend that window, and cases involving government entities carry their own shorter notice requirements. Beyond the deadline, there is a practical reason to reach out sooner: the evidence that proves fault, the vehicle data, the surveillance footage, the witness memories, is the same evidence that fades in the first weeks. Acting earlier is never about rushing your grief. It is about protecting the claim while the proof still exists. Our guide to Florida’s filing deadlines explains the exceptions.
Jones Law Group is led by attorney Bobby Jones, a U.S. Air Force veteran and Stetson Law graduate with more than 20 years of personal injury and wrongful death practice in Tampa Bay. We have recovered over $50 million for injured clients and grieving families and hold a 4.9 rating on Google. We handle these cases with the patience they require and the rigor they demand, managing the personal representative process, the survivor structure, the expert valuation, and the litigation at the Pinellas County courthouse in downtown Clearwater, while your family is left to grieve. We work on contingency, so there is no cost to you unless we recover. See everything we handle on our Seminole personal injury lawyer page.
Only the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate can file the wrongful death lawsuit, under Florida’s Wrongful Death Act. That representative is usually named in a will or appointed by the court, and files a single action on behalf of the estate and all recognized survivors, rather than each family member filing separately.
The Act recognizes survivors including the surviving spouse, the deceased person’s children, and the parents, along with certain blood relatives or adoptive siblings who depended on the deceased for support or services. Different survivors may be entitled to different types of damages, which is why the claim structure matters.
Survivors can recover lost support and services, lost companionship and guidance, and their own mental pain and suffering. The estate can recover lost earnings and net accumulations along with medical and funeral expenses. Valuing lost future earnings usually requires economic and vocational experts.
Yes. A wrongful death claim is a civil action entirely separate from any criminal case, and it has a lower burden of proof. Your family can pursue and win a civil claim even if prosecutors never bring charges or a criminal case ends in acquittal.
Generally two years from the date of death, under Florida Statute § 95.11(4)(d). Some situations shorten or extend that period, and claims against government entities carry separate, earlier notice requirements, so it is wise to speak with a lawyer as soon as your family is able.
Jones Law Group handles wrongful death cases on a contingency fee. There is no up-front cost and no hourly bill; we advance the case expenses, including experts, and collect a fee only if we recover compensation for your family. The consultation is free and private.
There is no rush and no pressure in reaching out, only a quiet conversation about what happened and what your family’s options are. When you are ready, we are here to carry the legal weight. The consultation is free and confidential, and there is no fee unless we recover for your family.
Jones Law GroupDisclaimer: This page is for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The $50 million figure reflects total amounts recovered for clients over time, not a promise about any individual case. If you have a specific legal question, contact a licensed Florida attorney.
Speak with us before time runs out! In Florida, you have a limited window to file a personal injury case, so speak to an Attorney today.
Call our personal injury law office directly at (727) 512-9847
Jones Law Group is a dedicated personal injury lawyer in St. Petersburg, FL, serving the Tampa Bay area since 2006. Our experienced attorneys specialize in car accidents, slip and fall cases, employment law disputes, construction law issues, and overtime wage claims, fighting for maximum compensation on a contingency fee basis. Contact us for a free consultation to discuss your case.
Call our personal injury law office at (727) 512-9847
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