Tampa · Hillsborough County
Where a Tampa medical malpractice case is filed
A medical malpractice case from Tampa generally belongs in Hillsborough County’s circuit court, and sometimes in a federal court. This page sets out those courts, the limits on damages that remain, and the records you can obtain.
The short answer
Where is a medical malpractice case from Tampa filed?
Tampa is in Hillsborough County (opens in a new tab), and the county is, by itself, Florida’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (opens in a new tab). Claims above $50,000 go to the circuit court. County courts hear cases up to that amount (opens in a new tab), and circuit courts hear the actions at law the county courts cannot (opens in a new tab).
Which court hears a medical malpractice case from Tampa?
The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit lists the Edgecomb Courthouse, 800 E. Twiggs Street (opens in a new tab) among its court locations in Tampa. Circuit civil cases are filed with the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court and Comptroller, which gives medical and professional malpractice as an example of a circuit civil case (opens in a new tab).
A case is generally brought in the county where the defendant resides or where the cause of action accrued (opens in a new tab). So the county where the care was given is one place a case can be filed, and it may not be the only one.
A claim starts before any lawsuit: the patient’s side must investigate, obtain a medical expert’s verified written opinion (opens in a new tab) and serve a notice on each provider, and then generally cannot sue for 90 days (opens in a new tab). The notice must be served within the deadline (opens in a new tab), and the Florida law page sets out each step.
Which court hears an appeal, and when is a case in federal court?
Appeals from Hillsborough County go to the Second District Court of Appeal, whose district is composed of the Sixth, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Judicial Circuits (opens in a new tab). Its courthouse is at 525 Mirror Lake Drive North, St. Petersburg (opens in a new tab).
When no defendant is from Florida, none is from the patient’s own state, and more than $75,000 is in dispute (opens in a new tab), the defendants can ask to move the case to federal court (opens in a new tab). Hillsborough County is in the Middle District of Florida, and federal law lists Tampa among the places where that court is held (opens in a new tab).
A claim over care at a federal hospital or clinic is the other kind that can reach federal court. It goes to the agency first, and an active-duty service member’s claim stays there, as the page on veterans’ and military care explains.
What can a claim recover, and what limits still exist?
In a medical malpractice case the verdict must set out separately past and future economic losses and past and future noneconomic losses (opens in a new tab).
The 2026 statutes still print dollar limits on noneconomic damages (opens in a new tab), defined as nonfinancial losses such as pain and suffering, mental anguish and loss of capacity for enjoyment of life (opens in a new tab). The Florida Supreme Court held the cap unconstitutional in wrongful death cases in 2014 (opens in a new tab) and, addressing the general limits for practitioners and other defendants, in personal injury cases in 2017 (opens in a new tab). Neither opinion rules on the statute’s separate limits for emergency care and for the care of Medicaid recipients (opens in a new tab), and neither says whether those limits still apply.
Limits still apply through the statute’s voluntary arbitration of damages. Under the 2026 statutes, where a provider offers that arbitration and the patient rejects the offer, noneconomic damages at trial may not exceed $350,000 per incident (opens in a new tab). A Florida appellate court enforced that limit in 2019, holding that the 2014 and 2017 decisions did not reach it (opens in a new tab).
Where both sides do arbitrate, the 2026 statutes limit noneconomic damages to a maximum of $250,000 per incident (opens in a new tab), and the Florida Supreme Court held in 2000 that the limit applies to each claimant individually (opens in a new tab). What a government body can be made to pay is limited, in the 2026 statutes, by a different statute (opens in a new tab), as the page on university doctors explains.
Who can recover when a patient dies?
When a patient dies, the claim is brought by the personal representative of the person who died (opens in a new tab), for the survivors and the estate. The survivors are the spouse, children and parents, and dependent blood relatives and adoptive brothers and sisters (opens in a new tab).
One restriction applies only to medical negligence. As the statute stood on October 13, 2026, adult children cannot recover for lost parental companionship, instruction and guidance or for mental pain and suffering (opens in a new tab), and the parents of an adult child cannot recover for mental pain and suffering. Children under 25 count as minor children (opens in a new tab).
A repeal bill was vetoed on May 29, 2025 (opens in a new tab), and another died in the Senate on March 13, 2026 (opens in a new tab).
What records can you obtain?
A Florida health care practitioner must, on request of the patient or the patient’s legal representative, furnish copies of the records in a timely manner, without delays for legal review (opens in a new tab).
A hospital must also furnish copies in a timely manner, on a written request made after discharge (opens in a new tab). If there is no guardian or personal representative, the next of kin of a patient who has died (opens in a new tab) may ask.
The Florida Constitution reaches further than a patient’s own chart. It gives patients a right to have access to any records made or received in the course of business by a health care facility or provider relating to any adverse medical incident (opens in a new tab). The Florida Supreme Court held in 2008 that the right is self-executing (opens in a new tab), and in 2017 described it as reaching incidents involving other patients (opens in a new tab), whose identities are not disclosed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if the hospital is in Brandon, Riverview or Plant City?
They are in the same county and circuit. On October 13, 2026 a search of the State’s hospital licence records for Hillsborough County returned 20 open hospital entries (opens in a new tab), some of them in those places.
Does a hospital have to tell a patient when something goes wrong?
For serious harm, yes. A licensed facility must have a trained person inform each patient in person about adverse incidents that result in serious harm to the patient (opens in a new tab), and that notification is not an admission of liability.
How long do I have to bring a claim?
The lawsuit must be started within 2 years of the incident, or of when it was or should have been discovered, and in no event later than 4 years after the incident (opens in a new tab). The notice of intent must be served within those time limits (opens in a new tab). Where fraud or concealment prevented discovery of the injury, the period runs 2 years from when the injury was or should have been discovered, and in no event beyond 7 years from the incident (opens in a new tab). For a child, the statute says only that the 4-year and 7-year limits do not bar a claim brought on or before the child’s eighth birthday (opens in a new tab), and that clause does not mention the 2-year period.
What does it cost to have a case reviewed?
Nothing. The case evaluation is free, and there is no fee unless we win.
Keep reading
- 01
Florida law
The steps before a lawsuit, the deadlines, what must be proved, what can be recovered, and the rules for government and federal providers.
Florida law page - 02
University doctors
State university doctors: who the claim is against, the limits and the notices
Explore university doctors - 03
Cancer care
The two deadlines, what must be proved, and a cancer center created by statute
Explore cancer care - 04
Veterans’ and military care
Federal rules for veterans and for service members
Explore veterans’ and military care