Yahoo Autos Fear of new limits prompts flood of lawsuits before DeSantis signed restrictions into law
TALLAHASSEE – Tens of thousands of lawsuits – an almost 700% increase – flooded the offices of court clerks across Florida days before Gov. Ron DeSantis signed sweeping new business-backed legal restrictions which help shield insurance companies, property owners and others accused of wrongdoing.
The law went into effect with DeSantis’ signature on Friday. But the lawsuit logjam will take months for clerks and later judges to sort out, officials say.
Critics said that there’s no shortage of irony in that the push by the state’s biggest business associations to limit lawsuits first spawned a tidal wave of litigation.
The crush was prompted by attorneys seeking to have cases heard under less-restrictive laws that were in place before Friday. The host of legal changes would apply only to lawsuits filed after that day,
“There are many cases that would’ve been turned down or would’ve been settled pre-suit. But given the deadline, you have to file a suit to protect your client,” said Todd Michaels, a Coral Gables lawyer and secretary of the Florida Justice Association.
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Who's to blame?
“They brought this upon themselves,” Michaels said of insurance companies, seen as a key driver of the legislation. “They were just in such a rush to take people’s rights away so completely and as soon as possible.”
But the Senate sponsor of what many call the biggest civil justice overhaul in Florida history, said the cascade of lawsuits merely shows that the changes are needed.
“I think it proves to us that the system is kind of broken and we need to reform it,” said Sen. Travis Hutson, R-St. Augustine. “You’re seeing all these lawsuits being filed now and it’s going to shock the system for a little bit, but eventually it will work itself out and we’ll be able to move forward under the new provisions.”
The legislation was signed by DeSantis within hours of receiving the bill.
What the overhaul means
It revamps attorney fees, the time frame for filing negligence lawsuits, “bad faith” cases against insurers, premises liability and comparison of fault, an issue which brought a parade of motorcyclists to the Capitol during earlier committee hearings concerned it limits their ability to sue when injured in accidents.
In mostly party line votes in the Republican-controlled Legislature, the measure (HB 837) was approved 23-15 in the Senate after sailing 80-31 through the House last week.
