Key West Injury Lawyer Blog
While 2025 showed overall Monroe County crashes were down from 2024, roadway deaths almost doubled, according to data from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ Crash Dashboard.
Monroe County crashes were down from 1,732 in 2024 to 1,600 in 2025, the data, published regularly online, showed. Despite this slight decline in overall accidents, deaths in the area from motor vehicle crashes doubled from six fatalities in 2024 to 12 in 2025.
In 2023, at least 18 people died as the result of tragic crashes in the area. There were approximately 1,400 crashes recorded for that year.
In all, there were nearly 70 people killed in the area on local roadways in the last five years.
Leesfield & Partners, a personal injury law firm with a long history of representing Monroe County crash victims and their families, knows just how quickly a simple drive can turn dangerous. The firm has represented individuals impacted by the negligence of government officials failing to adhere to safety protocols on the road to negligent and/or intoxicated drivers. The careless actions of these individuals have had devastating and long-lasting impacts on the lives of Leesfield & Partners clients.
As a result of representing accident victims, our attorneys have consistently spoken out about road safety and sober driving. The firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, Ira Leesfield, has specifically discussed the dangers of texting while driving and driving under the influence and has partnered with agencies dedicated to improving road safety such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Friends of The Underline in Miami, where the firm has one of two Florida offices.
In joining the Board of Directors of Friends of The Underline, Mr. Leesfield has backed their mission of transforming the previously unused land underneath Miami’s Metrorail system into a 10-mile linear park. This admirable project, started by Meg Daly in 2013, has created safe spaces for bicyclists and pedestrians in a city rife with traffic, road rage, and other incidents.
A Look at the Numbers in Monroe County
The data showed that there were 1,732 crashes on Monroe County roads in 2024. At least six people were killed and 1,252 were injured. Of these incidents, at least 161 were bicycle crashes and 60 involved pedestrians. At least one bicyclist died and two pedestrians were killed. In 2024, there were 63 Monroe County motorcycle crashes, none of which were fatal.
At least 468 of the 1,732 crashes were hit-and-run incidents that killed one person and injured 87 others.
March, a month when many colleges and universities are off for spring break, was the month with the highest number of crashes overall, according to the numbers.
In 2025, the area had 1,600 crashes with 12 deaths and 981 injuries. There were 127 bicycle crashes, 53 motorcycle crashes, and 47 crashes involving pedestrians in 2025. At least two bicyclists and three pedestrians were killed. The area had 452 hit-and-run crashes. Thankfully, no one was killed in these incidents. At least 64 people were injured. March 2025 was the month for that year with the most crashes at 179, according to the data.
Just a few days before Christmas, a tragic crash in the Florida Keys made headlines, reporting the death of a 7-year-old bicyclist. The girl was allegedly wearing a helmet and had been pedaling with her mother at the Valero Gas Station, located at 7301 Overseas Highway in Marathon, when she died. The incident happened around 2:50 p.m. and involved a Ford F-250 that was allegedly coming out of the gas station to make a right turn when the child and her mother were crossing the entrance.
The 7-year-old girl died on impact.
One week into the New Year showed that Florida had a total of 85 crashes as of Wednesday, Jan. 7. Thankfully there have been no deaths yet in 2026 but at least 51 people were injured.
Leesfield & Partners: 50 Years of Representing Motor Vehicle Crash Victims
Since 1976, Leesfield & Partners has represented thousands of clients and their grieving families throughout motor vehicle accident cases that have yielded historic and record-breaking results in Florida. In a case that involved the death of a family’s medical-school-bound daughter and permanent injury to their son, Leesfield & Partners attorneys obtained a $95 million verdict for the family. In that case, the family was on their way to drop off their daughter at her medical school’s orientation when a drunk driver was speeding down the wrong side of the road on I-95. The result was a head-on collision that killed their daughter, 23, and caused severe injuries to their 21-year-old son. Following the crash, the young man was left needing a wheelchair and unable to speak. Additionally, he required round-the-clock care due to his injuries.
At trial, the jury awarded $57 million to the son and $38 million to the parents, marking the largest verdict in Miami-Dade County history for a motor vehicle accident case.
“The result in this case shows what hard work and creative lawyering can do for clients with devastating injuries,” Mr. Leesfield said. “Along with co-counsel Aaron Davis, we are happy to settle with two defendants and to obtain this record verdict for them.”
The firm also recovered over $36 million for a family who lost their loved one in a fatal motor vehicle accident case.
Leesfield & Partners obtained over $29 million in another crash case that resulted in severe injuries to our clients. The crash in this instance was caused by road construction.
Partner Justin B. Shapiro and Trial Attorney Eric Shane are representing a man whose live was forever changed after a crash in Key West. Our client, who was driving a motor scooter the day of the crash, was hit by a negligent driver who failed to yield at an intersection and caused a horrific collision. Our client was ejected from his scooter and hit the driver’s windshield with such a force that it was significantly cracked.
He was left with a traumatic brain injury, a crushed left tibia and fibula. Since the tragic incident, he has remained at a long-term care and rehabilitation facility.
“Sadly, our client’s life has been destroyed by this crash and he remains in in-patient rehabilitation,” Mr. Shane said. “We are aggressively pursuing all avenues of recovery under the law.”
That case is ongoing.
Previous Cases
Mr. Shapiro previously represented a family in a wrongful death motor vehicle case involving a pedestrian. A verdict of over $36 million was obtained for the family in that case.
In a motor vehicle accident involving negligent road construction, Leesfield & Partners attorneys obtained over $29 million for the injured clients.
Ira Leesfield, the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, obtained a $19.8 million verdict against Honda in a design defect case involving a motorcycle kickstand. In that case, our client was in the middle of a ride when the kickstand deployed and caused his motorcycle to spin out of control. He was paralyzed as the result of this violent collision.
This was the start of litigation against multiple manufacturers involving the same dangerous design defect handled by Mr. Leesfield on behalf of injured clients.
A $15.4 million recovery was obtained for a Fort Lauderdale handyman who was injured as a backseat passenger in a high-speed motor vehicle accident. The man in that case was in a car that was stopped at a drawbridge when another car hit it from behind, causing skull fractures, frontal lobe brain damage and facial fractures.
As a result of his injuries, our client developed a seizure disorder that could not be controlled by medication. This ended the then-22-year-old’s career as a handyman in the area.
Leesfield & Partners previously represented the families of three teenage girls after they were struck by a commercial truck driver making an illegal U-turn on the turnpike. The girls in that case were on their way to the library when the driver turned directly into their path. Tragically, one girl was killed and the other two sustained serious injuries.
Our attorneys worked tirelessly to settle the case for over $8.6 million for the families. The firm also obtained an over $7.6 million arbitration award for the family who lost their daughter.
In the case of a woman who was walking back to her office following a midday break, Mr. Shapiro secured the maximum recoverable amount set forth in the defendant’s insurance policy limits. The woman was crossing the street in a marked crosswalk when a pickup truck driver made an illegal left turn, claiming to not have seen her. Injuries to our client included skull fractures and brain hemorrhages in addition to injuries to her left leg.
A $6 million settlement was secured for the client in that case.
Previously, the firm represented a bicyclist who was injured when she was hit by a car while stopped off the shoulder of the Overseas Highway. The driver in that case hit our client after losing control of the vehicle while fiddling with the GPS.
Leesfield & Partners obtained $5.35 million for the bicyclist’s multiple, life-threatening injuries.
In another pedestrian-involved case, Leesfield & Partners obtained a $2.9 million recovery our client who was injured due to a driver’s negligence.
Leesfield & Partners client represented a well-known businessman and restauranteur in Key West involved in a crash with an ambulance that left him permanently injured and disfigured. The driver of the ambulance in that case claimed he was on his way to an emergency but did not have on his lights or signals when he ran through an intersection in which he had the red light. Due to the lack of emergency signals, our client, who was riding a scooter, had no way of knowing that the ambulance would not stop as he crossed the intersection.
A jury awarded our client a $2.1 million verdict.
The firm represented injured clients in a case involving an officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who was driving a truck towing a 31-foot fishing boat near Marathon, Florida. The officer was going the speed limit when the trailer began to fishtail from side-to-side and went into oncoming traffic. A driver in a van tried to avoid a collision but couldn’t.
At least two people died, and catastrophic injuries were suffered by multiple others. The driver of the van survived but had nine broken bones, numerous lacerations to her face and was left traumatized by the ordeal. An investigation from the Florida Highway Patrol concluded that the combined weight of the trailer and the boat exceeded the maximum towing capacity of the trailer hitch on the truck, causing the crash.
Leesfield & Partners settled the case for above the available insurance coverage.
In a Monroe County case, this time involving a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Deputy, the firm secured the entirety of insurance policy limits. In that case, the deputy was driving a car with his son, a minor, when another car failed to yield the right-of-way when pulling onto the Overseas Highway. The other driver, who was speeding, pulled out directly in front of the deputy, causing the inevitable crash.
A child who was crossing the street suffered a traumatic brain injury after a driver hit him. In that case, Leesfield & Partners secured a $1.2 million settlement for the Fort Lauderdale family.
Bernardo Pimentel II, a Trial Attorney at the firm, secured a $1 million recovery for a family involved in a fatal car crash at the hands of a negligent driver.
Mr. Shane obtained a confidential amount for a young passenger who was injured in a severe Florida crash.
Mr. Pimentel obtained a confidential settlement for a family whose young son was severely injured when a car slammed through a Florida discount store’s windows.
Trial Attorney Evan Robinson secured a six-figure settlement for a client injured in a Monroe County crash.
In an ongoing case, Carlos A. Fabano, a Trial Attorney at the firm, is representing a pedestrian who was severely and permanently injured by a negligent driver.
