Navigation Florida bill seen as ploy by trial bar to recover more attorney fees in insurance litigation
Tort-reform supporters continue to sound alarm bells about bills before Florida lawmakers that business and free-market advocates say would reverse legal reforms enacted in recent years that have helped to stabilize the state’s property insurance market.
Of particular concern is House Bill 947, which Doug Wheeler, director of the George Gibbs Center for Economic Prosperity at the James Madison Institute, said would make it easier for insurance policyholders to recover attorney fees in claims litigation by changing the definition of “prevailing party.”
“You’re going to allow these exorbitant attorney fees to be included in these judgments where if you win a settlement of $1 more than the highest offer from an insurance settlement, you’re the prevailing party,” Wheeler told the Florida Record.
