thElEgislaturECrEatEsatidalwavEofnEwCasEs
Trial & litigation Section Chair : KristinA . Norse – Kynes , Markman & Felman , PA
On May 24 , 2023 , Governor DeSantis signed HB 837 into law . If your practice involves personal injury , whether for the plaintiffs or defense , you no doubt paid close attention to the progress of the Bill as it made its way through the legislature . In the days leading up to March 24th , attorneys flooded the court system with lawsuits to circumvent the limitations the Bill would retroactively apply to personal injury claims . In fact , it is estimated that well over 100,000 lawsuits were filed in under a week ’ s time .
Regardless of your view on the provisions within HB 837 , the retroactivity of the substantive changes in the Bill broke from the norm . See Bionetics Corp . v . Kenniasty , 69 So . 3d 943 , 948-49 ( Fla . 2011 ); Smiley v . State , 966 So . 2d 330 , 333-34 ( Fla . 2007 ); Walker v . Cash Register Auto Ins . of Leon County , Inc ., 949 So . 2d 66 , 71 ( Fla . 1st DCA 2006 ); Hampton v . Cale of Fort Meyers , Inc , 964 So . 2d 822 , 824 ( Fla . 4th DCA 2007 ). Typically , substantive changes in the law only apply to causes of action that accrue after a bill is signed into law . While the legislature had the power to retroactively apply the substantive changes in the Bill ,
withlittlechoiceastohowto managethevolumeofcases , thethirteenthJudicialCircuit madetheunprecedented decisiontoautomaticallystay thetensofthousandsofcases filedontheeveofhb837 becomingthelawofourstate .
the decision to do so was very consequential . These consequences will likely be felt by our court system for years to come .
Since the COVID-19 pandemic , the court system has been strained by the backlog of cases in an already over-burdened judicial system . The Supreme Court of Florida worked to manage the strain through the application of the Differentiated Case Management Order . However , what many attorneys have experienced is that the “ one size fits all ” approach to deadlines , while a good idea in theory , often requires the parties to invade the court ’ s time with requests to extend deadlines that do not work practically in many cases . Thus , the strain remains three years later .
HB 837 doubled down on that strain . The retroactive application of the Bill forced the hand of many practitioners to file cases or risk forfeiting the rights of their clients . The lawmakers were aware of the strain the Bill would cause on the court system and attorneys , but ignored the concern voiced by both the plaintiff and defense bars . One wonders whether the retroactive application of the Bill is worth the strain it has and will continue to cause . A plain reading of the changes points to nothing that mandated the break from the usual practice of applying substantive law prospectively to cases .
With little choice as to how to manage the volume of cases , the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit made the unprecedented decision to automatically stay the tens of thousands of cases filed on the eve of HB 837 becoming the law of our State . Hopefully , staggering stays will allow the courts to manage the unprecedented volume of new cases . Hopefully , many of these cases will resolve before stays are lifted . As the saying goes , only time will tell . n
Author : Jason K . Whittemore – Wagner McLaughlin & Whittemore P . A .
Join the Trial & Litigation Section at hillsbar . com .
6 2 J u l - A u g 2 0 2 3 | H C B A l A W Y E R