Florida Tort Reform Changes
Tort reform has finally arrived as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping tort reform bill into law on March 24, 2023 and it has an immediate effective date.
Let’s take a brief look at these new changes and then explore how this should help trucking companies.
The Florida Tort Reform bill, House Bill 837, makes significant changes to the state’s civil litigation system, including:
- Modified comparative negligence: Florida’s pure comparative negligence system has been replaced with a modified comparative negligence system. Under this system, a plaintiff can recover in proportion to the defendants’ percentage of responsibility only if the plaintiff’s own share of responsibility is 50 percent or less. If a plaintiff bears more than 50 percent liability, the plaintiff cannot recover from the defendant.
- Statute of limitations: The statute of limitations for general negligence cases has been reduced from four years to two years.
- Bad faith insurance claims: The bill also makes changes to the law regarding bad faith insurance claims. Under the new law, insurance companies are required to act in good faith in all aspects of their dealings with insureds. If an insurer is found to have acted in bad faith, it may be liable to the insured for damages.
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Florida Tort Reform: Fee Multipliers and Attorney Fees
The Florida tort reform bill has had a significant impact on fee multipliers in Florida.
Under the old law, a court could award a contingency fee multiplier of up to 2.0, which meant that a lawyer could recover up to twice the amount of lodestar attorney fees if the case was successful.
However, the new law limits contingency fee multipliers to 1.5, and only in exceptional cases. This change makes it much more difficult for lawyers to recover large fees in contingency fee cases and will likely cut down on frivolous lawsuits.
The bill’s supporters argue that this change will reduce the cost of litigation and make it easier for businesses to operate in Florida.
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The Florida tort reform bill has been praised by business groups (including trucking companies) and insurance companies, who say it will reduce the cost of doing business in Florida.
However, its opponents argue that it will make it more difficult for injured people to get justice and will discourage lawyers from taking on contingency fee cases.
This criticism has been mainly brought by trial lawyers and consumer groups, who say it will make it more difficult for injured people to recover damages.
Florida Tort Reform: Medical Payments
Florida’s tort reform law change will also have a significant impact on medical payments in the state.
The new Florida tort reform law limits the amount of damages that can be recovered for past medical care.
It’s now limited to the amount actually paid by or on behalf of the plaintiff to the health care provider as verified by actual medical bills, plus the amount of charges for medical services that are owed at the time of trial.
More importantly, the law also prohibits an award of damages from exceeding the sum of amounts actually paid, amounts necessary to satisfy charges due and owing, and the amounts necessary for reasonable and necessary future medical treatment and services.
Florida Tort Reform Impact on Trucking Companies
The recent Florida tort reform law that was passed will impact trucking companies in a number of ways, regardless if you’re based there or simply operating in the Sunshine State.
The new tort reform law reduces the statute of limitations for negligence claims to two years, which means that trucking companies will have less time to worry about defending themselves against claims as the time limit to file a suit is cut in half.
The new law also makes it more difficult for plaintiffs to recover punitive damages, which are damages that are intended to punish the defendant rather than compensate the plaintiff.
This could also make it more difficult for plaintiff attorneys to secure outrageous nuclear verdicts against trucking companies involved in crashes on Florida’s roadways.
It’s important to note that the largest nuclear verdict (defined as having a verdict of over $10 million) was issued by a Nassau County, FL jury in 2021 against two trucking companies.
The Florida tort reform law now makes it more difficult for plaintiffs to recover attorney’s fees. This means that the chances of “bilboard lawyers” or other attorneys engaged in a personal injury legal practice should now lack incentive from taking questionable truck accident cases.
In turn, it should also become less expensive for trucking companies to defend themselves against claims and there should be fewer lawsuits to have to defend against.
Finally, the newly enacted law makes it more difficult for plaintiffs to recover damages for pain and suffering, which could make it less attractive for plaintiffs to file lawsuits against trucking companies.
This could reduce the number of lawsuits that are filed against trucking companies and could also reduce the amount of money that trucking companies have to pay in damages.
Wrapping Up
Hopefully, with the passage of the new Florida tort reform law, the State will be able to shed it’s past reputation as a “judicial hellhole”. Even more importantly, we hope that other states (Looking at you, Georgia) will also follow Florida’s lead in helping to reduce lawsuit abuse and nuclear verdicts against trucking companies.
Based on the new law, liability truck insurance premiums for those companies based in Florida should also begin to decrease as well. But, this will take some time to happen as insurance companies digest and react to the shifting legal climate there.
Unfortunately, the news of this new tort reform law was met with strong opposition in some corners. I’m sure that the new changes will be challenged in court shortly, but they will hopefully stand the test of time.
Evidence should show that these needed changes will benefit both Florida citizens and the trucking companies doing business there for many years to come.
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