In March of this year, the Florida Tort Reform Act became law on the same day that the Governor signed the law. It made extensive changes to laws governing personal injury cases and how they are handled in Florida. It also applied most of these changes retroactively, meaning that it automatically applied these changes to cases that were already pending before the new law passed, unless they were already being litigated in court. The following are bullet points of some of the most significant changes that Sarah and I believe you should be made aware of.
1. THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS – meaning the time you have to bring your personal injury case and file suit is now 2 years, substantially reduced from the prior 4 years you had to resolve or file suit in your case. This is one of the only changes that was not applied retroactively, so it only applies to new cases after the legislation went into effect.
2. COMPARATIVE FAULT – meaning the degree of fault for the accident that could be alleged against or attributed to the plaintiff/the injured party. Prior to this year, the injured party could bring a case for their injuries regardless of the degree or level of fault they might have had for those injuries. Their damage recovery would have just been reduced by their degree of fault. Now, if the injured party can be found to have had greater than 50 percent of the fault for their injuries (i.e. 51% or greater), then they are barred from bringing a case forward for personal injury. This new change was applied retroactively to any cases that were not in suit at the time of the passage of the law.
3. MEDICAL BILLS AND DAMAGES – under this law, you now will only be able to collect for what health insurance would have paid towards your medical bills/damages, regardless of whether you had health insurance or not and even if the doctor or medical facility charged you more than what health insurance would have paid. This could leave you with medical debt and damages you cannot collect from an insurance company/jury. It will also potentially affect which doctors will treat you as they will be limited to what health insurance would have paid, not what they normally charge for their services. This change was applied retroactively too.
Sarah and I believe the retroactive/backward application of many of these tort reform changes are unconstitutional because they make substantial changes to people’s cases and rights without prior notice of the changes and how they will affect their cases. There are countless prior Florida Appellate cases that say that if a substantial change is made in the law that affects people’s cases and their rights and is not a mere change to the procedure, then it must be applied prospectively, meaning in the future to new cases that come after the passage of the law.
However, it does not matter what we think presently, as we have to follow the new law and apply it to our cases until, and if, the Courts decide otherwise.
If you should have any questions concerning this new tort reform law or any other legal matters, please feel free to contact us at your convenience at 727-494-2008.
We are always here for YOU!
Chuck and Sarah

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