Florida Injury Lawyers Support Lawsuit Legislation
For many years, Florida injury lawyers have seen defendants at trial blame non-parties for damages suffered by injury victims. Now, there is proposed legislation aimed at preventing defendants from blaming others who are not present at trial to defend themselves. Every Florida injury lawyer should support this legislation that would assist in leveling the playing field in personal injury and medical malpractice lawsuits.
As expected, pro-business groups have already attacked this legislation. Big business wants to continue the practice of juries considering the fault of others based on accusations by defendants at trial. We have certainly found that retailers, product makers and health care providers like to distract jurors by arguing that if anyone is to fault for our clients' injury, it is "someone else…anyone else, but not us."
This year's legislation (HB 733 and SB 1558) would stop juries from considering faulted parties not included in a lawsuit when deciding how to divide responsibility for paying damages. Supported by the Florida Justice Association, these bills would end false accusations against parties who are not in the courtroom to defend themselves.
Defendants should be prohibited from pointing the finger at innocent people or businesses to avoid paying for their wrongdoing, leaving victims or taxpayers holding the bag. The proposed legislation permits blame and therefore financial responsibility to be assessed only against defendants who are sued.
As a practical matter, this legislation faces an uphill battle this year. While the Florida legislature has added consumer-friendly representatives, it is still dominated by pro-business interests. For the time-being, in cases where defendants accuse non-parties of wrongdoing, we will continue to ask our jurors: Is there any more cowardous act than to blame someone who is not even present to defend himself?
