Restoring No-Fault in FL Stalls on Senate Opposition to Capping Attorney Fees
A House committee in Florida when proposing to cap the amount an attorney can collect in car accident cases threatens to unravel the fragile political truce between the state Senate and House on restoring Florida's no-fault automobile insurance system.
The Senate, which earlier on Thursday, had advanced compromise legislation to restore mandatory personal-injury protections, or PIP, is strongly against the limits on lawyers' fees, setting up high-stakes political brinksmanship over the special session's final week.
"The House and Senate negotiated in good faith and reached an agreement," said Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, vice chairman of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee. "These amendments gut that agreement."
PIP in Florida expired Monday after more than three decades on the books, and legislators are trying to find common ground on emergency legislation to bring it back.
The lead House negotiator, Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, repeatedly warned members on the House Jobs and Entrepreneurship Council that adding "legal reforms," as Republicans on the panel called them, was a "nonstarter" with the Senate.
The Republican-led committee voted along party lines anyway to cap legal fees in auto accident cases at $10,000 or three times the amount of money in dispute, whichever is greater. For example, in a court battle over a $3,000 injury claim, the maximum fee for the plaintiff's attorney would be $9,000.
House members also eliminated something called a "multiplier" that would allow lawyers to double their hourly rates in complex cases.
After the meeting, Bogdanoff said the House's stance will complicate negotiations with the Senate, but won't necessarily derail the deal.
Gov. Charlie Crist was ready to make an appearance at Thursday afternoon's committee hearing to urge Republicans to advance the compromise bill.
But Crist was intercepted just before entering the committee chambers by an aide who informed him the deal was in trouble.
Capitol insiders were predicting the PIP bill would have a tough time in the Senate, not the House, but the roles were reversed Thursday. The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee unanimously supported the compromise version without changes.
The House and Senate versions could be headed to floor votes as early as today. If a compromise can't be reached quickly, the two chambers could pass separate versions and try to iron out differences in a conference committee, but time is a factor.
Source: Source: Sun Sentinel, Florida | Published on October 5, 2007
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