Several bills recently filed in the Florida Legislature would reverse legal reforms the state has put in place in recent years, sparking concern that litigation costs for businesses and consumers’ insurance costs could spike if the measures pass.
The Florida Chamber of Commerce recently warned about legislation such as House Bills 451, 1437 and 1551, which would re-institute attorney fee awards in insurance cases and personal injury cases, and HB 947, which would allow attorneys to define the costs of medical treatments upward, beyond the actual costs paid to plaintiffs.
“These measures aim to dismantle critical components of Florida’s recent landmark lawsuit abuse reform wins, weaken the state’s improving lawsuit abuse climate, drive up litigation costs and ultimately increase the cost of living and doing business for Floridians,” the chamber said in a recent mailing.
Tom Gaitens, executive director of Florida Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA), said the proposed changes to the calculation of medical expenses would reverse a measure passed in 2023, HB 837, to bring more transparency in litigation.
“Before HB 837, the process was murky and opaque, but the reforms in 2023 allowed for juries to review the true value of medical expenses which the claimant has incurred, is likely to incur and those estimated into the future,” Gaitens told the Florida Record in an email. “The scales of justice were in balance.”
Those who would gain from the reversal of such legal reforms are “billboard attorneys” and members of the trial bar, who seek to enrich themselves by ending the current transparency about medical expenses in the courtroom, he said.
“They would like to return to the system which denied transparency, restricted access to all the evidence available and inflated outcomes,” Gaitens said. “HB 947 proposes to delete the provision requiring common methods of valuing medical care and instead obscure from the jury view the plaintiff's use of Letters of Protection (LOPs) to access health care coverage. The LOP provides the jury with a 'sticker price' rather than the negotiated lower price with the insurer, inflating claims and rewards.”
The state’s civil justice system has seen improvements, such as a decline in excessive litigation, since reforms such as HB 837 were signed into law, according to reform supporters.
“This is no time to reward bad actors by allowing them to exclude evidence and make the system more opaque and less transparent,” Gaitens said.
HB 947, which was filed by Rep. Omar Blanco (R-Miami), would increase the costs of doing business in Florida and increase the $5,768 “tort tax” paid by Florida families, according to the chamber. That’s because it would eliminate a provision of current state law mandating that juries be informed of actual medical treatment costs rather than “reasonable and customary” costs in medical charges, the chamber reported.
It would also encourage plaintiffs’ attorneys and doctors to work together to artificially increase medical damages, which would drive up the costs of insurance premiums, the business association said.
The Florida chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) also said its top legislative priorities this year include protecting tort reforms passed in 2023
“NFIB opposes any legislation that threatens the landmark lawsuit abuse reform of 2023 and will work to defend it,” the federation said in a news release.
Supporters of the newly filed bills have said the civil litigation environment is now weighted in favor of large insurance companies and creates barriers for average Floridians to access the court system.