Supporters of civil litigation reform in Florida say they are less bullish that the state legislature will produce substantial reforms during the 2022 legislative session, which will hit its midpoint this week.
“This session is underwhelming when it comes to lawsuit abuse reform,” Tom Gaitens, executive director of the Florida chapter of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, told the Florida Record. “By and large, after three years of good movement in the Florida House and Senate, this session definitely looked underwhelming in terms of bills that were filed.”
But that less-than-optimistic assessment could change in the wake of Senate President Wilton Simpson (R-Trilby) saying last week that he would be very disappointed if lawmakers don’t produce a solution to the ongoing homeowners’ insurance crisis, according to Gaitens.
“That signaled that there may be something in the works between the House and Senate relative to a new piece of legislation that may be coming forward,” he said.
The property insurance industry in the state has been struggling with financial losses, rising premium rates and costly litigation over claims. Since 2013, $15 billion has been paid out in claims resulting from lawsuits, with 21% of the funds going to defense attorneys, 71% going to plaintiffs’ attorneys and policyholders picking up only about 8%, Gaitens said.
“The system is a failed system,” he said, adding that the public option for property insurance – Citizens Property Insurance Corp. – now holds about 1 million homeowners policies, compared to only about 400,000 a year and a half ago.
Civil litigation-related bills still in contention this year include SB 1728 by Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton), which would help to rein in property claims related to roof damage; a repeal of the state’s no-fault insurance system proposed by Sen. Danny Burgess (R-Zephyrhills); and SB 7014, which would extend COVID-19 liability protections for health care professionals to June 1, 2023.
Gaitens expressed hope that Senate President Simpson would not delay in pushing for action on property insurance reforms.
“He has the power to bring something forth,” he said, “so let’s hope that his (recent pronouncement) was not just a statement … that there is a really strong bill coming.”