Legal reform is gaining momentum in the South—from Mississippi, to Georgia, and South Carolina, which is on the verge of enacting historic legal reform. Now Florida is moving in the same direction with a Florida Justice Reform Institute rally this week where Governor Bush announced the legislation he will support to improve the state’s civil justice system.

 

While federal efforts to change the country’s legal system have attracted much attention this year, state-level reform is also critical in the battle to rein in frivolous lawsuits and outlandish awards against companies that create jobs and drive our economy.

 

Unfortunately, instead of improving its business climate, Florida has been on a steady decline. South Florida has attracted a flood of asbestos cases over the last decade, leading the American Tort Reform Association to name it as one of America’s nine “judicial hellholes.”

 

Lawyers round up tens of thousands of “plaintiffs” who aren’t really sick and file suit at the expense of the truly ill. In Palm Beach County, one circuit judge who presides over the court’s asbestos division has questioned the thousands of claims showing up in South Florida with no local connection. A Miami law firm, which represents many of those asbestos plaintiffs, has been unsuccessful in having the judge removed.

 

To put an end to this abuse of Florida’s legal system, Gov. Bush will ask the legislature to limit class actions to Florida residents, tighten the criteria for establishing a “class” of plaintiffs, give judges more authority to throw out frivolous lawsuits, stop venue shopping, and make wrongdoers pay for their share of fault instead of only the defendant with the deepest pockets.

 

That “deep pocket” syndrome hit Marianna business owner Eddie Hopkins head-on. Hopkins was sued when a customer got involved in a traffic accident in his brand new car that he had just bought from Hopkins’ car dealership. The other driver died, and despite the fact that the accident was the deceased driver’s fault, the family sued the dealership for wrongful death. Hopkins’ attorneys advised him to settle the suit for $750,000 instead of risking a much higher jury award. The customer, who was also listed as a defendant, didn’t have to pay anything.

 

The trial lawyers industry likes to paint itself as modern-day Robin Hoods, who take from the rich and redistribute to more deserving members of society. Never mind that Robin Hood didn’t fly in a private jet, or own mansions or private golf courses in Sherwood Forest.

 

The trial lawyers industry is wealthy and powerful, and you can bet they won’t want to lose any of the $40 billion they rake in each year. To put that amount in perspective, consider that last season’s hurricane season cost an estimated $42 billion in damages, much of that in Florida.

 

Out of the money spent on litigation in the U.S., only 46 cents of every dollar actually goes to the plaintiffs. Recognizing that the lawyers are making out like bandits and keeping the money for themselves, Florida voters overwhelmingly passed an amendment last November to limit trial lawyers’ contingency fees. But some trial attorneys have indicated they would sneak around that law and ask prospective clients to waive their rights under the amendment. Gov. Bush supports legislation that would put an end to the end-run around the amendment.

 

The irony of the Robin Hood myth is that it is the legal system itself (not the sheriff of Nottingham) that extracts a “tort tax” of $3,380 a year from the average American family of four. Floridians pay this in the form of higher consumer prices, higher insurance rates, and higher health care costs.

 

With nearby states enacting meaningful reforms, it’s even more important for Florida to act. It cannot afford to stand idly by while neighbors make their states better places to live and do business.

 

Frivolous lawsuits clog our legal system, damage our economy, and make it more difficult for any deserving claimants to have their day in court. Everyone loses but the lawyers.

 

True tort reform in Florida will mean a more balanced civil justice system for the state’s consumers—one that recognizes the difference between Robin Hood and a wolf in sheep’s clothing.