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A late amendment to a phosphate mine bill has set off alarm bells among some in the Florida insurance industry, with concerns that it could cut out the heart of 2022 and 2023 legislative changes that disincentivized excessive claims litigation.

“This new legislation, stealthily snuck in as amendment to a bill about phosphate mining lands, would return to the old days of frivolous lawsuits increasing costs to insurers, which will ultimately be passed on to consumers,” said Don Moser, president of Amwins Specialty Auto Insurance of Florida. “All of this to line the pockets of injury attorneys. The consumer should be the primary concern.”

Senate Bill 832 passed the Senate in mid-April. In its original form, the bill would provide some defense from lawsuits by requiring landowners and developers of former phosphate mining lands to show that a notice of radiation levels from the phosphate had been recorded at the county courthouse.

But late last week, state Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, offered a short to the bill. The amendment, originally part of another House bill, would require that attorney fees be awarded to the prevailing party in insurance litigation.

“Except as otherwise provided by law, in any civil action between an insurer and a named or omnibus insured or the named beneficiary under an insurance policy or contract executed by the insurer, the court shall award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party,” reads Jacques’ amendment.

That could undo part of the 2022 Legislature’s historic reform law, which ended “one-way” attorney fees. Insurance industry advocates had blamed those fees for fueling thousands of unnecessary claims suits and bad-faith litigation against insurance carriers. In some cases, Florida courts had required insurance companies to pay all of the insured’s legal costs, even if the plaintiff’s jury award was only slightly higher than an insuer’s settlement offer.

The levels of litigation, unique to Florida, led to unprecedented loss adjustment expenses and multiple insolvencies for Florida property insurers from 2019 to 2023, insurers and regulators have said.

Jacques’ amendment does not mention attorney-fee multipliers, which had also contributed to plaintiffs’ awards of legal fees, some of which exceeded the damage award. Those multipliers were greatly limited in most cases by the 2022 Florida reforms.

Supporters said on the House floor last week that Jacques’ amendment would bring balance to the legal system, and make it easier for policyholders to find lawyers and file suit in claims disputes. Several homeowner advocates and plaintiffs’ lawyers in and out of Tallahassee have said the playing field was tilted too far in the insurance industry’s favor in 2022 and 2023.

But Moser and others in the industry said the “prevailing party” wording would upset the effect of the reforms and could lead to higher costs for insurers and higher premiums for consumers.

“SB 832 is terrible public policy,” said former Florida Deputy Insurance Commissioner Lisa Miller. “The only balance is it tips the scales toward the trial lawyer profession.”

Rep. Michael Gottlieb, a Democrat from Broward County, objected to the change, noting that House rules bar inclusion of unrelated or non-germane subject matter into legislation. But the chamber’s rules expert disagreed and the amended language was adopted.

“The rules regarding amendments are meant to protect the work of our committees and not to allow the Senate to dictate the conversation about which policies get included,” said Rep. Sam Garrison, chair of the House Rules and Ethics Committee.

The full House approved the amended SB 832 by a vote of 80 to 20 on Friday.

The modified bill also would allow litigants to offer evidence of what a plaintiff’s health insurance would cover as the result of an injury, and evidence of customary fees for medical treatment – information that 2023’s sweeping tort reform law put limits on in lawsuits.

It’s far from certain if the Senate will adopt the amendment’s wording when the measure returns to the upper chamber. The Senate’s agenda this week leaves little room for reviewing changes to the Senate’s earlier version, and time is running out on the 60-day session.

And Gov. Ron DeSantis has vowed to veto any bill that seeks to roll back the 2022-2023 reforms. DeSantis has had his differences with House leaders this year and in a post last week on X, formerly known as Twitter, the governor put it bluntly:

“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,” in a recorded TV news interview.

He was referring to the Orlando-originated injury law firm that calls itself the largest in the country. “I mean you might as well as put the billboard on the top of the Florida House of Representatives,” DeSantis added.

Supporters of the amended bill did not address those comments Friday. Opponents spoke about the bill’s potential impact on property insurance premiums, which have begun to level off this year after the years-long property insurance crisis in Florida.

“This amendment and this bill will raise insurance rates for Floridians,” Rep. Michael Caruso said on the House floor. “Why the hell would any of you vote for it?”

“The reforms passed in 2023 under HB 837 have been working and savings are being passed to consumers,” Amwin’s Moser said. “In our program we have lowered PIP rates by more than 25%. Other programs are passing along similar savings.”

Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky said in an email to the governor’s legislative affairs director that the SB 832 amendment could dismantle the progress made by the 2022-2023 reforms, according to a report by the South Florida Sun Sentinel news site.

Others, including the head of Citizens Property Insurance Corp., have decried similar attorney fee language found in other House bills.

The amendment’s supporters billed the attorney fee and other proposed modifications as “consumer friendly” for Florida policyholders. But on the phosphate mine question, the House chamber voted down another consumer-helpful amendment: It would have required direct disclosure to buyers or renters if the residential land had once been the site of a potentially radioactive phosphate mine.

Jacques’ amendment and the House version of the SB 832 can be . The 2025 session is set to end May 2.

Top photo: State Rep. Berny Jacques speaking in support of his amendment on Friday. (The Florida Channel)

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