Fixing Florida’s Broken Legal System

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Why It Matters to Florida

Lawsuit abuse in Florida is an increasingly serious and expensive problem, and thanks to a few in Florida’s Legislature, that keeps getting worse. Florida’s bottom five legal environment is an open invitation for “gotcha” lawsuits that cost Florida families an average of $4,442 each year in lawsuit abuse costs, and the American Tort Reform Association recently ranked Florida as the worst “Judicial Hellhole” in the nation, second only to California.

Florida’s Competitiveness Agenda

While Florida boasts a growing economy and job creation numbers that out-pace the national average, in order to ensure Florida is on the right path toward becoming the number one business climate in the nation, we must fix Florida’s broken lawsuit system.

A broken lawsuit climate creates:

• Increases in claims, resulting in more than 34,000 Assignment of Benefits cases in 2018-up from 405 a decade ago.
• Unjustified lawsuits that continue to burden medical professionals, creating an unfair medical liability environment.
• Unstable insurance markets for both homeowners and auto-owners.

The Florida Chamber along with our partners at the Florida Justice Reform Institute and the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform will continue to push for common sense reforms that fix Florida’s broken legal system.

The Fight for Free Enterprise Continues

Lawyer billboards throughout Florida attest that lawsuits are big business here. But most Floridians aren’t fooled by ads proclaiming to be “for people” when in truth they usually mean “for the plaintiffs’ lawyers.” Until Florida’s courts are seen as fairer for all the people, the forecast for broader economic growth will be cloudy.

Act Now:

Join us in reforming Florida’s unfair lawsuit abuse climate by contacting Carolyn Johnson at cjohnson@flchamber.com.