Legislation designed to protect businesses, schools and houses of worship from frivolous litigation related to the COVID-19 pandemic easily passed a Florida House panel this week.
House Bill 7, authored by Rep. Lawrence McClure (R-Dover), passed the Civil Justice & Property Rights Subcommittee Wednesday by a vote of 11-6. Similar legislation authored by Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg) – SB 72 – has also been introduced in the Senate.
“We think the bill is very good and very needed and very timely,” Bill Herrle, the National Federation of Independent Business’ Florida state director, said of HB 7. “Within the confines of the 2020 legislative session, they could not be moving it more quickly.”
Only businesses and other entities that have demonstrated good-faith efforts to follow coronavirus guidelines to protect employees and customers would receive the legal liability protections, Herrle said.
“Any bad actors will still be fully vulnerable to civil remedies,” he told the Florida Record. “... We’re ready to defend that position before the Florida Senate.”
About 500 covid-related lawsuits have been filed in Florida since the pandemic began, according to Herrle, and this may be the tip of the iceberg. Many of these lawsuits relate to general workplace conditions and workplace operations, he said.
“Only an extremely small percentage of these cases relate to liability attached to the business having played a role in someone contracting the virus,” Herrle said. He added that the legislation providing liability protections would apply retroactively but not to cases that have already been filed.
Those supporting HB 7 and SB 72 see the legislation as necessary to protect the state’s economic recovery in the wake of the pandemic. Personal injury trial attorneys are primed to file such litigation, they say.
And even in circumstances when a business wins a COVID-19-related case and the complaint is dismissed in court, the cost of mounting a defense could lead to the business’ demise, according to Herrle. That’s because of the financial stress they have experienced due to coronavirus regulations, he said.
“We look forward to working with (McClure and Brandes) and leaders of both the House and Senate to pass these measures quickly and protect Florida’s job creators from overeager trial attorneys who would try to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Herrle said in a prepared statement.