Ryan Ray
Ahead of the 2015 Legislative Session, one of the most intriguing legislative food fights brewing was that between major tobacco manufacturers seeking to limit payouts to claimants suing them under the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement and the trial attorneys who stand to gain substantially from pursuing those claims.
The Florida Justice Association, those attorneys’ primary influence and electioneering arm, was thought to be on the ropes as the tort reform-hungry GOP House prepared to serve the lawyers’ group a hefty dose of tobacco liability restriction.
Interestingly, though, when Rep. David Santiago‘s bill to do just that — specifically to retroactively provide that tort liability shall not apply in “all civil actions in which judgment has not been entered, regardless of the date on which the cause of action arose” — made its way to its first committee stop in House Civil Justice, the bill was TP’d, never to be considered again.
According to recent campaign finance filings, trial lawyer extraordinaire and FJA stalwart Fred Levin happened to give a political committee belonging to House budget chief Richard Corcoran a check for $50,000. FJA and Levin also teamed up to donate that amount to future Speaker Jose Oliva‘s PAC.
Now, we all know that legislative business is not decided simply by campaign cash — otherwise we would have had Destination Resorts in South Florida years ago.
But the FJA’s pivot towards the Republican majority — highlighted as well by their hiring of former RPOF Senate campaigns director Brecht Heuchan — certainly may explain one aspect of where things stand vis-à-vis the once-eminent clash between Big Tobacco and their trial lawyer foes in the Legislature.
