USA – FLORIDA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Melissa Sims and Patrick Betar, Berk, Merchant & Sims
From Courtrooms to Boardrooms: The Business and Litigation Implications of Florida’s Tort Reforms It is a situation every business dreads, but few can truly avoid: a customer suffers an injury linked to one of the business’ properties, products, or services. When this happens in Florida, time is of the essence. Following the 2023 tort reforms, the window for fil- ing a negligence lawsuit has been cut in half − from four years to just two − leaving companies with far less time to assess the incident and report it to their liability insurer. At the same time, new limits on the ability of plaintiffs to present “sticker-shock” medical bills to juries have reshaped the calculus of litigation, forcing both claimants and companies to rethink their strategies. For businesses operating in Florida, these reforms promise a more balanced environment for defending claims − a central goal behind the Legisla- ture’s actions. However, the advantages will only be realised if business leaders understand the evolving legal landscape and move quickly to adapt. This article will explore how Florida’s recent tort reforms are reshaping exposure in negligence claims and lawsuits and examine practical steps to help executives, risk officers, and in-house counsel protect their companies in Florida’s new and evolving legal terrain. What prompted Florida’s tort reforms? Florida has been viewed as one of the nation’s most challenging legal jurisdictions for defending against civil lawsuits. A combination of generous damages standards, attorney-fee incentives, and a history of “nuclear verdicts” in some areas of the state made Florida a magnet for product liability, premises liabil- ity, and auto claim litigation. Insurers regularly cited Florida as a driver of higher premiums and national corporations often factored the risk of Sunshine State lawsuits into pricing and product-distribution strate- gies. In recent years, a series of headline-grabbing jury ver- dicts have captured national attention as social media amplified emotional stories of consumers harmed by defective products and negligent business practices. In one particularly devastating case, an Orlando jury delivered a landmark USD310 million verdict against
the manufacturer of an amusement park ride after a 14-year-old boy was tragically ejected from his seat due to a faulty restraint system. Down in Key West, another jury awarded more than USD40 million to a woman who suffered permanent facial and head inju- ries after being brutally attacked with a hammer in a resort’s parking garage − an incident that exposed serious lapses in security. And a hotel restaurant in Miami faced a staggering USD95 million verdict after serving an intoxicated driver who later caused a fatal crash, killing one person and leaving another with life- altering injuries. Each of these heartbreaking cases underscored not only the human toll of negligence but also the immense financial consequences for the businesses found responsible. At the same time, supply chains grew more complex, increasing the number of potential defendants in a single case. Businesses faced not only legal costs but reputational risk whenever a product dispute went public. As supply chains grow more intricate and businesses become more interconnected, the lines of responsi- bility can become blurred. This interconnectedness means that a single lawsuit can now draw in multiple parties, especially in areas such as construction or product liability. And when a dispute spills into the public arena, the costs extend far beyond legal fees − threatening the company’s reputation and public trust. During Florida’s insurance crisis in the early 2020s, law-makers set out to rein in what they saw as an unsustainable system − starting with property insur- ance and claims of “bad faith” handling by insurers. But the scope of reform quickly widened. Soon, the Legislature was taking aim at medical malpractice, premises liability, and product liability cases, usher- ing in one of the most significant overhauls of the state’s civil justice system in decades. It was a defin- ing moment − the first major tort reform in years to directly reshape negligence litigation in Florida. What has changed and how does it affect injured parties and liable businesses? House Bill 837 − and the various statutes signed into law on 24 March 2023 as a result of it − is a fundamen- tal shift in how claimants and businesses must handle
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