The plaintiff, a tow truck driver, sued after he suffered injury in responding to an accident involving a vehicle owned by Simon’s Trucking that had spilled battery acid onto a highway. The plaintiff filed his complaint under section 376.313(3), Florida Statutes, which imposes strict liability for the discharge of certain types of pollutants. A jury returned a verdict of $5.2 million for the plaintiff, including $4 million for past and future pain and suffering. As amicus, the Institute argued that section 376.313(3) does not authorize a strict liability cause of action for personal injury damages, as the overall purpose of the statutory chapter in which section 376.313(3) is found is to prevent and mitigate the pollution of Florida’s coastal and inland waters. The First District Court of Appeal agreed that section 376.313(3) does not permit recovery for personal injury, but certified a question of great public importance and asked the Florida Supreme Court to clarify the issue.
FJRI represented by Frank A. Shepard of Gray Robinson.