Florida House approves change in liability law that makes it harder to collect damages
By Jason Garcia
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Tallahassee Bureau
Posted March 17 2006
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TALLAHASSEE ยท The Florida House on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the business lobby’s top priority this year, a change in civil law that would make it harder for people to collect damages if they’re injured in an accident. By a 93-27 vote, legislators agreed to eliminate what’s known as “joint and several liability.” The centuries-old legal principle can force a company that’s just one of several parties responsible for a victim’s injury to pay most or all of a lawsuit award if other defendants can’t afford their share. |
Strongly supported by House Speaker Allan Bense, the issue now heads to the Florida Senate and a pivotal showdown between two of the state’s most aggressive interest groups — big business and trial lawyers.
Eliminating the principle, called “joint and several liability,” has been described by corporate lobbyists as the Holy Grail of efforts to make it harder to sue companies.
Opponents warned the change could have dire consequences for innocent victims of negligence. They could suddenly find themselves unable to recover enough money in a lawsuit to pay their medical bills or to cover living expenses such as food and mortgage payments if they are left incapable of working, opponents said.
If one defendant in a lawsuit cannot afford to pay his or her share of the damages — and another defendant isn’t required to make up the difference — then the victim will be left holding the bag, said Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee.
Others warned that if the victims themselves can’t afford the difference, taxpayers would wind up paying through programs such as Medicaid.
“Is it fair to a person who’s injured, a family that’s injured, to not have their medical bills covered?” Richardson asked. “I don’t see how any of us, morally, can accept that.”
Supporters say the principle encourages lawyers to sue businesses even if they are only tenuously tied to an accident in hopes of forcing them to foot the bill for the award. That forces companies to spend heavily on insurance and defending themselves in court, they say, which in turn drives up the price of the products and services those businesses sell.
“Very simply, people should pay for what they did wrong — not the wrong of another,” said Rep. Don Brown, R-DeFuniak Springs, who is sponsoring the measure (HB 145).
Only one Republican voted against the measure, and nine Democrats supported it.
