Guest Author
We’ve all heard the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
But if something is actively fixing a problem, shouldn’t it be common sense not to break it again?
Unfortunately, some in Tallahassee seem laser-focused on undoing the tort reforms that were finally beginning to deliver real relief for Floridians.
There was a time when our civil justice laws were very broken. They incentivized lawyers to file thousands of meritless lawsuits, encouraged exaggerated claims to drive absurdly high verdicts, and fueled a legal environment best represented by a sea of billboard ads promising huge paydays. The cost? Higher insurance premiums for the people.
But thanks to the ethical and commonsense leadership of the Legislature and Governor back in 2022 and 2023, reforms brought long-overdue balance to the scales that favored litigation over fairness. For the first time in memory, we’re actually seeing both property insurance and auto insurance rates decrease.
So why on earth would we go back?
The answer, unfortunately, lies in who benefits from the chaos. Billboard trial attorneys thrive in confusion and litigation-friendly loopholes. These rollbacks aren’t about “access to courts.” They’re about access to profits.
We must not forget that before these reforms, Florida had earned a national reputation as a “Judicial Hellhole.” A coordinated network of auto accident injury clinics, lawsuit referral hotlines, and opportunistic attorneys created the perfect grift — funneling Floridians’ hard-earned money into excessive lawsuits and seeking inflated damages, driving up insurance costs for everyone. If that were my business model, I’d be nervous about seeing these reforms take hold, too.
Just a couple of years ago, we turned a corner with sweeping reforms. But now we’re seeing a coordinated push to unwind the reforms that got the ball rolling on insurance rate decreases.
HB 947 would again allow lawyers to collect large verdict awards and prevent juries from seeing the actual cost of medical damages. Worse, the Florida House is now trying to add language from HB 1551 that would let attorneys recover thousands in legal fees — even for clinics operating under assignment of benefits — after winning as little as one cent at trial. The true motivation behind this legislation is clear: to hand property and first-party insurance lawyers the tools to exploit the system once again, at the expense of Florida families.
Additionally, HB 1181 would replace Florida’s no-fault system (PIP) with bodily injury liability insurance. That may sound fair on paper — holding the at-fault driver accountable — but in practice, it means higher premiums and more lawsuits. Math tells us that a $25,000 government-mandated insurance coverage will be more expensive than a $10,000 government-mandated insurance coverage. And that’s exactly why previous efforts to make this change failed: because it’s bad for consumers.
This is a coordinated effort by the trial bar to tilt the system back in its favor, all under the guise of consumer protection. In reality, it will re-break a system that was just fixed.
The real question is: Who benefits from going backward? The answer can be found plastered on billboards up and down the interstate.
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Brewster Bevis is president and CEO of the Associated Industries of Florida.
