Florida House members thwarted from rolling back DeSantis-supported legal reforms

FLORIDA RECORD

Florida Justice Reform Institute President William Large said tort reforms signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis could be replicated by governors in other states. | Florida Justice Reform Institute

By Michael Carroll – May 6, 2025

Florida Republican representatives have made several attempts this year to roll back past tort reforms that Gov. Ron DeSantis credited for helping to stabilize the property insurance market and lower auto insurance premiums.

Recent state Senate actions, however, have blocked these legislative moves. On April 25, representatives placed provisions of a bill (HB 947) that sought to reinstate two-way attorney fees for certain insurance lawsuits into another bill containing provisions to protect the owners of former phosphate mining sites from legal liability for radiation issues (SB 832).

The modified SB 832 passed the House of Representatives on an 80–to-20 vote last month, but the Senate refused to sign off on the legislative mash-up. On Friday, the House indefinitely postponed the bill, withdrawing it from consideration.

DeSantis previously promised to veto any legislation that sought to roll back the tort reforms passed during the 2022 and 2023 legislative sessions. His allies, including the Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky, said the legal reforms contained in SB 832 and HB 947, including changes that could inflate the calculation of medical damages, would reverse progress that has been made to put the brakes on excessive legal filings.

“HB 947 threatens to dismantle the hard-won progress achieved through Florida’s historic tort reform efforts in 2022 and 2023,” Yaworsky said in an analysis of the bill. “These reforms were pivotal in stabilizing our insurance sector after years of unsustainable litigation-driven losses.”

The state Legislature had been scheduled to adjourn on May 2 but will continue meeting this week in order to finalize a state budget.

“The Florida House seemed hell-bent on undoing Gov. DeSantis’ legal reforms,” William Large, president of the Florida Justice Reform Institute told the Florida Record in an email. “I suspect the reason has to do with the fact that many governors around the country were looking at the DeSantis reforms as a template for their state to use.”

Trial attorneys wanted the Florida House to send a message to other state governors that if they tried to replicate the DeSantis reforms, they would face political repercussions, according to Large.

“However, Gov. DeSantis and the Florida Senate stood strong and would not bend to the political whims of the Florida House,” he said. “The 2023 DeSantis tort reforms remain in place; moreover, they will continue to serve as an example for other states.”

The reforms that the governor signed in 2022 and 2023 included elimination of one-way attorney fees from insurance claims litigation, a clarification of what it means for an insurer to act in “bad faith” and shortening the amount of time insurers have to respond to policyholder claims.

In a recent television interview, the governor acknowledged that he has had his share of differences with House members this year on the subject of legal reforms.

“If you didn’t know anything else about that House, and you just saw what they were pushing, you would think that they were all sponsored by Morgan & Morgan,” DeSantis said.

Commissioner Yaworsky has argued that statistics are showing that the DeSantis-signed legal reforms of past years are working. Reinsurance rates declined last year, 12 new insurers have begun to write policies in the Florida market, year-over-year lawsuit filings have decreased by 23% and 19 property insurers have signed off on rate reductions, he said.

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