Business Interests May Win Lawsuit Limits

Both the state House and Senate are friendly to legislation long sought by pro-business interests that want to limit three main types of consumer lawsuits.

By Erika Bolstad
The Miami Herald
April 18, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - As the Legislature heads into its final weeks, pro-business interests that have sought for years to limit consumer lawsuits may see some victories this session.

With a national climate favoring lawsuit limits and led from the top of the Republican Party by President Bush, businesses seeking more immunity from lawsuits are getting a favorable reception in Tallahassee.

''We're in much better shape in this state than we have ever been before,'' said Pam Philp, executive director of the Florida Justice Reform Institute, an organization backed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

Lawmakers are heading toward putting limits on three areas as part of what's known in legislative shorthand as ''tort reform.'' They include limits on:

•• When people can sue because they were injured as a result of poor streetlighting.

•• Who can sue when they are exposed to asbestos, and what rules courts should follow to handle the lawsuits.

•• How a jury handles the case of someone who is injured or is the victim of a crime committed on business property.

Such changes are an especially high priority for House Speaker Allan Bense, a Pensacola Republican, who has given a green light to almost all House legislation that limits lawsuits. So far, those three areas are the only ones that Senate President Tom Lee, a Brandon Republican, has said he will consider.

''I think there's an appetite down here for tort reform. Just how big it is we'll know in a week or two,'' Lee said Thursday. ``The devil is in the details, and I might like any of them when they're in their final form, but those are the ones we'll make an honest effort at advancing.''

Almost all of the legislation limiting lawsuits is opposed by the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, which successfully countered some of the efforts of business groups to limit lawsuits by placing two constitutional measures on the ballot in November.

One requires doctors and hospitals to release reports about medical mistakes; the other requires the state to repeal the medical licenses of doctors who are found guilty of or who plead guilty to three or more incidents of malpractice.

Other opponents include consumer advocates, who fear people won't have a remedy against companies that make dangerous or defective products, and environmental activists, who are concerned they will have limited power to sue polluters who endanger people's health or the environment.

''This is a terrible, terrible bill for families and consumers,'' said Weston trial lawyer Gary Farmer, who was speaking Friday against a House bill that would put limits on what are known as class-action lawsuits, where many people with a common complaint join together in one suit against a company.

''You are hurting consumers and you're hurting families,'' Farmer said, ``and you're helping businesses for no good reason.''

So far, putting limits on class-action lawsuits has limited appeal in the Florida Senate. But it has sailed through the House, including passing through a committee on Friday where the bill's sponsor, Rep. David Simmons, a Longwood Republican, reminded fellow Republicans that the national party has made such reform a priority.

Congress recently passed legislation that gives federal courts jurisdiction over class-action lawsuits with defendants in multiple states.

Such limits haven't had as warm a reception in the Senate, and putting additional checks on class-

action lawsuits isn't on the list of tort reform ideas that the Senate is likely to consider.

Business groups aren't giving up, though. In 1999, Florida lawmakers passed a massive overhaul of the state's laws about suing businesses. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that some of the guidelines, including caps on damages awarded by juries, were unconstitutional.

Since then, businesses have been back every year asking legislators to continue to make it harder for people to sue them. Philp said that the business groups seeking additional lawsuit limits in Florida will continue to plug away.

''We obviously have a really broad range of proposals out there this year,'' Philp said, acknowledging that not all of them will pass. ``But we're in much better shape in the state than we have ever been before.''

Herald staff writers Gary Fineout and Mary Ellen Klas contributed to this report.