The Florida Senate passed a no-holds-barred tort reform package on Thursday, which may be signed into law as soon as Friday.
The law, which would expand prohibitions on one-way attorney fees, assignments of benefits, and other conditions to the majority of insurance claims, would take effect as soon as the governor's signature was dry.
According to a statement issued Thursday by insurance industry advocates, plaintiffs' attorneys have hurried to file tens of thousands of claims cases before the new limits take effect.
Cole, Scott & Kissane, one of Florida's largest insurance defense legal firms, wrote an email to its attorneys that was shared all across the state. It covers a phone chat with Matt Morgan, a partner at Morgan & Morgan, one of the nation's largest plaintiffs' litigation companies. According to Morgan, the Orlando-based firm will have submitted 25,000 insurance claims by this week.
The email from Richard Cole, managing partner at Cole, Scott & Kissane, indicates that while the carriers will be served, the defendants will not be served at first.
Insurance firms will have five days to react. According to Morgan, if the policy limitations are not given, full litigation will ensue.
Cole stated in the email that "the call was friendly but direct." Please feel free to inform your client carriers about Morgan and Morgan's current situation and future goals.
According to the firm's managing partner, John Morgan, in a statement to Insurance Journal on Thursday, "At this time, we are doing what all lawyers should be doing: protecting the interests of our clients."
The sponsor is the A.M. Best Company.
He went on to say that there is no insurance issue in Florida. Rates will not fall. They haven't, and they never will. This year's tort reform motto should be "F*** the People."
Cole projected that additional plaintiffs' companies would follow suit and that the state may get up to 100,000 cases by today when reached by phone on Thursday.
Insurance companies agreed, stating that the governor should approve House Bill 837 as quickly as possible owing to the deluge of lawsuits.
According to Michael Carlson, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of Florida, which represents some of the state's largest property insurers, "I expect to see a tidal wave of lawsuits filed by today, frankly." The trial lawyers are seeking to He pointed out that HB 837’s goal going forward is to prevent an excessive number of lawsuits. Carlson and Cole anticipated that insurance companies and county clerks of the court would likely be overworked until the law took effect.
The entire system will be under a great deal of stress, according to Cole.
Carlson continued, “Giving five days to respond and having no settlement for less than the policy limits is just ridiculous.”
The legal efforts of the claimants’ attorneys drew criticism from other professionals in the field.
“For precisely this reason, Florida needs this tort reform legislation. By rushing to file 25,000 cases before the law was passed, these opportunistic attorneys are acting in bad faith, according to Neil Alldredge, president, and chief executive officer of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. This desperate maneuver is yet another illustration of how abuse of the legal system has made it more difficult to offer insurance coverage in the state and raised consumer costs.
After clearing the entire House last week, HB 837 was adopted by the Senate on Thursday afternoon by a vote of 23-15. The vote was less contentious than some other insurance sector bailout measures passed during last year's special sessions. One Democrat voted in favor of the bill, while four Republicans voted against it.
Democratic senators attempted a last-minute adjustment on Wednesday to mitigate the impact on policyholders and their attorneys. That amendment was not approved on the Senate floor. The proposal has essentially stayed unchanged since it was proposed by Sen. Tommy Gregory, R-Lakewood Branch. According to business lobbyists, Governor Ron DeSantis was expected to approve it by Friday.
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