Drew Wilson
Former Rep. David Santiago is the new head of Floridians for Lawsuit Reform.
The organization announced Tuesday that the Deltona Republican would serve as its new Executive Director, where he will lead efforts to raise public awareness about the need for reforms that will eliminate lawsuit abuse and reduce rates for Florida’s consumers.
“I am excited about this new role, which allows me to continue serving the citizens of Florida,” Santiago said. “Lawsuit abuse and fraud is rampant in our state, and the costs of excessive litigation ultimately impact Florida’s consumers. As Executive Director of Floridians for Lawsuit Reform, I’ll help play a meaningful role in helping to improve the overly litigious climate here in the Sunshine State.”
FLR cited Santiago’s legislative experience to outline why he’s a good fit for the role — his familiarity with workers compensation, property insurance, motor vehicle insurance, reinsurance, block chain technologies, autonomous vehicles, and medical malpractice are all beneficial to the group’s goals.
Santiago represented House District 27 from 2012 through this year. He served as Majority Whip in 2012 through 2016. Prior to his first election, Santiago served as a Deltona City Commissioner for four years. He left the Legislature due to term limits.
Now a private citizen, his post-legislative career is booming.
Last month, lobbying firm Colodny Fass announced he would join its government consulting team. The firm also cited his extensive experience in insurance law when it announced the hire.
Among his contributions were bills related to workers compensation, travel insurance, surplus lines insurance, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, pharmacy benefits managers, motor vehicle insurance, reinsurance, civil remedies against insurers, consumer finance loans, blockchain technologies, construction defects, insurance rate making and forms, and condominium loss assessments.
Concurrent with his legislative service, Santiago was a four-year member of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, a nonprofit organization that helps legislators make informed decisions on federal and state insurance regulation.
One comment
Bill Newton
November 12, 2020 at 5:04 pm
Santiago’s group doesn’t release who its funders are, so let’s just say some big corporations and billionaires. And whatever he does, it isn’t going to reduce rates. In fact, it will probably take away from the possibility of real reforms. We hear this every year, and remember the Republicans have controlled the Legislature for 20 years or more. They must not be really conservative then. And now they have a completely stacked Florida Supreme Court that is not going to side with the little guys.
Maybe if people could sue DeSantis over his failed die to stop the virus plan, something would get done.
If these people get their way, and it is hard to see how they can be stopped because this is who the voters elected, then insurers won’t ever have to worry about lawsuits, or settling claims. The lawmakers just make laws that we have to buy insurance and they can charge us as much as they want and give us nothing.
Comments are closed.