The Florida legislature has approved a bipartisan bill that, if signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, is expected to put an end to assignment-of-benefit (AOB)-related litigation.
Senate Bill 1002, also known as the Windshield Repair Bill, is sponsored by Sen. Linda Stewart (D-Orlando) and Rep. Griff Griffitts (R-Panama City Beach).
“If it becomes law, and we hope it will, about a year from now, we'll start seeing these predatory glass behaviors vanish, and we'll see a reduction in lawsuits,” said Michael Carlson, president and CEO of the Personal Insurance Federation of Florida and a "Fix the Cracks" partner. “Then we'll start seeing a reduction in loss costs. Once we see that, then the comp coverage component of auto insurance policies will fall.”
In Florida in 2011, there were 591 windshield lawsuits filed, compared to 37,000 in 2022, according to data from Fix the Cracks, an initiative that aims to protect consumers from predatory auto glass claims and litigation.
“Other states have less generous attorney fee provisions than Florida has had historically, and so it's a little harder to take advantage of assignment of benefits just to get attorney fees because it's harder for lawyers to prove that you're entitled to fees in many other states,” Carlson told the Florida Record.
“We have had, until this year, a pretty liberal attorney fee law.”
In March, House Bill 837, which eliminated one-way attorney fee provisions, became law.
The provision allowed for an award of attorney fees to prevailing parties involved in an insurance dispute.
“That’s just been repealed,” Carlson said. “Until this year, if you filed a lawsuit against an insurance company and you either won in court, you got a jury verdict or a judgment from the judge in your favor, or if the insurance company settled the lawsuit, your attorney fees were paid by the insurer.”
The American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA), the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, the Florida Justice Reform Institute (FJRI), the International Association of Special Investigation Units (IASIU), and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) are among the organizations that support the windshield repair bill.
"In almost every case that motorists signed an AOB, they don't know what an AOB is and if there's a lawsuit, the lawsuit is in that motorist's name, and almost every time we've ever checked with anyone who's had a lawsuit filed in their name, they didn't even know they had a lawsuit filed in their name," Carlson added.
"When you sign an AOB, you're really giving away the legal rights to your claim and the person who has the AOB can do whatever they want with it, including suing but they have to sue you in your name since it's your claim."