TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (March 23, 2023) – The Consumer Protection Coalition (CPC) thanks Governor Ron DeSantis for signing HB 837 into law, a historic and comprehensive lawsuit abuse reform package.
Governor DeSantis has fiercely advocated on behalf of consumers and local businesses, shining a light on the need for these much-needed reforms and the significant relief they would bring to more than eight million families and 670,000 businesses that call Florida home.
“Florida has seen an explosion of litigation, driven by a small number of plaintiff lawyers, that has increased the cost of goods and services purchased by consumers and added tremendous uncertainty for local businesses,” said Carolyn Johnson, Vice President of Government Affairs at the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and a spokesperson for the Consumer Protection Coalition. “Governor DeSantis recognizes this annual ‘tort tax’ of over $5,000 for every Florida family is both wrong and unsustainable.” Johnson added. “The CPC thanks Governor DeSantis and Florida’s legislative leaders for passing historic lawsuit abuse reform and putting consumers and local businesses first.”
With his signature, Gov. DeSantis enshrined monumental reforms into Florida law, including:
Abolishing one-way attorney fees, extending the reforms passed in December beyond property insurance;
Modernizing bad faith laws to balance the scales between plaintiff attorneys and businesses;
Halting inflated jury awards by bringing transparency to the actual cost of medical care provided to injured people;
Preventing contingency fee multipliers unless under rare and exceptional circumstances;
Ensuring parties committing intentional acts are considered for liability purposes;
Improving timely resolution of claims by reducing the statute of limitations; and
Eliminating damages if an injured person is majority at fault for causing their injury.
The CPC also thanks Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, House Speaker Paul Renner, the bill sponsors, Representatives Tommy Gregory and Tom Fabricio, and Senator Travis Hutson, for championing these much-needed reforms and working together to deliver a long-awaited win for Florida’s consumers.
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The Consumer Protection Coalition is a broad-based group of business leaders, consumer advocates, real estate agents, construction contractors, insurance agents and insurance trade groups pushing for reforms to protect consumers from unnecessary high costs and abuse due to the state’s treacherous litigation environment – and advocating for sound public policy that puts consumers first. Learn more about the Coalition at www.FightFraud.Today, follow the Coalition on Twitter @CPC_FL and “like” our page at FB.com/consumerprotectioncoalition.