DAPENALAW offices in Florida
Three Florida offices. Miami, Homestead and Tampa.
Each office has its own phone number, its own courthouse and its own pattern of cases. Whichever one you call, the attorney who evaluates the case is the attorney who handles it.
Representation throughout Florida. Jose A. Dapena is admitted in the Florida state courts and in the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida.
01 Which office to call
Call the office nearest where it happened, not where you live
A claim is tied to the county it arose in: that is where the report was written, where the records sit, and where a lawsuit would be filed if it came to that. Someone who lives in Kendall and was hit on I-4 outside Tampa has a Hillsborough case, and the Tampa office is the one to call.
If that is not obvious — and it often is not, with crashes on the Turnpike or injuries that happened on a trip — call whichever number is easiest. It is the same attorney either way, and sorting out which county a claim belongs in is part of the first conversation rather than something to work out before it.
- Miami-Dade CountySouth Miami, Coral Gables, Kendall, Westchester, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, Coconut Grove, Hialeah, Doral and the rest of the county — the Sunset Drive office.
- South DadeHomestead, Florida City, Leisure City, Naranja, Princeton and Goulds — the Krome Avenue office, which is closer than driving north.
- Hillsborough CountyTampa, Westshore, Ybor City, Town ’n’ Country, Temple Terrace, Carrollwood, Brandon, Riverview and Plant City — the Habana Avenue office.
02 Getting there
Where each office is, and what to expect when you arrive
- South Miami · 5975 Sunset Drive, Suite 102 On Sunset Drive a few blocks west of US-1, close to the South Miami Metrorail station. Parking on site. From the Palmetto or the Dolphin it is a straight run south; from Kendall, east along Sunset.
- Homestead · 633 N Krome Avenue On Krome Avenue in the center of Homestead, a few minutes from US-1 and the Turnpike’s southern end. This is the office for south Dade, and it exists so nobody there has to drive to Miami for a first meeting.
- Tampa · 4231 N Habana Avenue In West Tampa, minutes from I-275 and from Tampa General on Davis Islands. Parking on site. Close to the Westshore corridor and a short drive from downtown.
You do not have to come to an office at all. A first conversation can happen by phone or by video, and home and hospital visits are available when someone cannot travel — which, after a serious injury, is most people.
03 The first call
What happens when you call one of these numbers
You speak with Jose A. Dapena. Not an intake department, not a case manager, and not a call center that takes a message and passes it along. The attorney who evaluates the case is the attorney who handles it, and that is true at every office.
The call costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Injury cases are handled on a contingent attorney’s fee, which means no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery; case expenses are governed by the written representation agreement, including who pays them if there is no recovery.
Bring whatever you already have — a crash report number, photographs, the name of an insurer, a hospital discharge sheet. If you have none of it, call anyway. Several of the deadlines that matter run from the date of the injury rather than from the date anyone looks into it.
Questions about the offices
Do I have to come to an office?
No. A first conversation can happen by phone or by video from anywhere in Florida, and most do.
Home and hospital visits are available when someone cannot travel, which after a serious injury is the ordinary case rather than the exception.
Which office should I call?
Whichever is nearest to where the injury happened, because the claim is tied to that county — the report, the records and any lawsuit all sit there.
Miami-Dade matters go to the Sunset Drive office in South Miami, south Dade to Krome Avenue in Homestead, and Hillsborough to Habana Avenue in Tampa.
If it is not obvious, call whichever number is easiest. It is the same attorney, and working out which county a claim belongs in is part of the first conversation.
Is there parking?
Yes, on site at the South Miami and Tampa offices. The South Miami office is also a few blocks from the South Miami Metrorail station.
What are the hours?
South Miami and Homestead are open 8:30 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday. Tampa is open 8 AM to 6 PM.
If something has just happened and it is outside those hours, call anyway and leave a number.
Will I actually speak to the attorney?
Yes. Jose A. Dapena takes the call, evaluates the case and handles it — there is no intake department between you and him at any of the three offices.
He has practiced in Florida since 1998, Florida Bar number 152358.
I was hurt in a county where you do not have an office. Can you still help?
Often yes. Representation is throughout Florida, and Jose A. Dapena is admitted in the Florida state courts and in the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida.
Where a case genuinely belongs with someone local to another county, he will say so on the first call rather than after signing you up.
What does the first conversation cost?
Nothing, and it commits you to nothing.
Injury cases are handled on a contingent attorney’s fee — no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery. Case expenses are governed by the written representation agreement, including who pays them if there is no recovery.