Tort Reform

By Frank De Varona

Up until 2023, Florida had been designated as a “Judicial Hellhole” by the American Tort Reform Association.  Why?  Because the state’s docket of frivolous lawsuits was out of control.

The court docket is wide open to almost any claim and any claimant, meaning that if someone chooses to sue an individual or a business entity, there is very little that individual or business can do other than to get “lawyered up” and prepare to fight back.  Unfortunately, facts are not really a required basis for any lawsuit as the nature of facts can fall prey to human opinion, and it is the court’s job to sort this out.  Add grief or even greed to the mix with an attorney working on a contingency, and you’ve got all the makings for a toxic litigation environment.  Lawsuits without a basis in fact or one targeting the deep pockets as opposed to the entity truly at fault is frivolous.  In fact, usually the one targeting deep pockets is simply a legal play for a quick settlement, but that settlement can bring with it additional legal fees that must be paid at the court’s direction to the prevailing party’s attorney.

In Florida, in 2023, the discussion over frivolous lawsuits and the impact they were having on our auto, home, and medical malpractice insurance was at a fever pitch, and the governor and legislature took action to put some sensible reforms in place to maintain the public’s access to the courts while also providing curbs to discourage the number of frivolous lawsuits.  The immediate result was that when the governor received the bill from the legislature, tens of thousands of lawsuits statewide were filed to take advantage of Florida’s loose laws prior to the new reforms being enacted into law.  That must mean that the arrow hit the target.

Since then, Florida’s lawsuits are down, and our economy has enjoyed some great new successes.  For instance, our property insurance market is beginning to look like a real marketplace with the number of policies being held by Citizens Property Insurance being way down and the numbers of new insurers coming into the market is beginning to tick up.  This should help with Florida’s property insurance crisis and create some long-term certainty for the small businesses that make up the backbone of our economy.  People forget that especially when it comes to insurance, that when a company gets hit with unpredictable expenses, all policyholders pay with higher rates.  We need rates to continue to go down.

The legislature is currently considering a few bills as we get late into this legislative session that would wipe away some of those reforms, and that seems insane.  We would be pushing back the very reforms they passed back in 2023 without letting them fully take hold.  It is my hope that the legislature will not pass the bills that are currently pending but instead would give our insurance market just a little more time to recover.  And if the legislature won’t do this, then I urge Governor DeSantis to veto any legislation that undercuts the tort reforms of 2023.