USA – FLORIDA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Stuart Davidson and Nicolle Brito, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
commits a public nuisance can be ordered to pay into a fund, overseen by a receiver, to remedy or eliminate the hazard complained of rather than being ordered
Gonzalez Rogers. These suits, like the Breathitt case scheduled as the first bellwether trial, seek econom - ic damages to recover the costs the districts have incurred due to the mental health crises they allege are directly attributable to the social media companies’ platforms. Robbins Geller represents both the Miami- Dade County School District and the Broward County School District, the two largest in Florida and the third and sixth largest in the United States, respectively. Tobacco Moment for Big Tech? The parallels to 1990s tobacco litigation are increas - ingly difficult to ignore. In R . J . Reynolds and Philip Morris , the courts concluded that decades of internal research and external denial established systemic cor - porate misconduct. The US Surgeon General likened tobacco to social media companies when calling for social media platform warning labels in June 2024, cit - ing the success of Surgeon General’s warning labels on cigarette packs introduced by Congress in the 1960s. He went on to state that “[social media] harms are not a failure of willpower and parenting; they are the consequence of unleashing powerful technology without adequate safety measures, transparency[,] or accountability.” See Murthy above. If juries find that social media companies knowingly engineered com - pulsive engagement systems harmful to minors, the financial exposure could be extraordinary. A plaintiff verdict in Breathitt County (on top of New Mexico’s and P.F.’s recent victories) would not merely resolve one school district’s claims ‒ it could establish a litigation template for thousands of public entities nationwide and potentially catalyse a global settle - ment fund for youth mental health initiatives. For the first time, courts are confronting whether the architecture of the digital world itself can be a legally cognisable product defect. The outcome may redefine not only Section 230 jurisprudence, but the contours of modern products liability law in the algorithmic age.
to clean up the nuisance themselves.”). The Los Angeles, California P.F. trial
Just 24 hours after the verdict in New Mexico, and on the ninth day of deliberations, a jury in a Los Angeles, California state court rendered a verdict in a bellweth - er personal injury trial, P . F . v Meta Platforms , Inc ., No. 23SMCV03371 (Cal. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cnty.), involving a young woman alleging severe psychologi - cal harm from early Instagram and YouTube exposure. The jury awarded the plaintiff USD3 million in compen - satory damages, with another USD3 million in puni - tive damages, finding that Meta and Google acted with malice, fraud, or oppression. Although this case centred around personal injury harms and defences, it served as a one-two punch against two of the world’s largest, most powerful technology companies and a stark warning that its arguments that its social media platforms are social “goods” and “not addictive” are falling flat. Impact on Florida The State of Florida is also the epicentre of the litiga - tion. In October 2023, before her appointment to the US Senate by Florida Governor DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a civil enforcement action against Meta under Florida’s consumer protection law, alleging that Meta “knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and its other social media platforms that purposefully addict children and teens.” Press Release, Off. of the Att’y Gen., Attorney General Moody Takes Legal Action Against Meta to Protect Children (Oct. 24, 2023), see My Florida Legal. Following already established precedent from around the country, a Florida state court trial judge denied Meta’s motion to dismiss on both Section 230 and First Amendment grounds. Meta has appealed that ruling. In the meantime, the 45 Florida school district lawsuits are largely pending in the MDL before Judge
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