Tom Gaitens
In a message for Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week, a tort reform advocate warned of potential economic burdens created by litigation filed on Florida’s behalf by law firms seeking a share of damages awards.
Tom Gaitens, executive director of Florida Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA), said that while tort reform often focuses on private lawsuits, state filings based on contracts with private law firms are growing and often carry high stakes for the parties.
“Lawsuits brought by the state also carry economic costs,” Gaitens said. “Legal fees are often reflected in the prices consumers pay. That’s one more reason the decision to bring these cases, and the terms on which outside firms are hired, deserve close scrutiny.”
Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week was October 5-9.
He also pointed to how such legal contracts can raise potential pay-to-play concerns. A Sept. 1 article by the Florida politics newsletter Seeking Rents reported that law firms and vendors that received contracts from the Florida Attorney General’s office have donated more than $300,000 to the election campaign of Attorney General James Uthmeier.
In one instance, the Chicago law firm Keller Postman LLC gave the Uthmeier campaign $50,000 only months before the firm was hired on a contingency basis to handle a Florida lawsuit against Open AI, the newsletter said.
Such state contracts are only one of the legal-reform issues Florida CALA continues to work on.
In an email, Gaitens told The Florida Record that two key bills aimed at bringing more transparency to third-party litigation financing – House Bill 1157 and Senate Bill 1396 – stalled in committee during the last legislative session as a result of trial attorney lobbying and a lack of interest from the former Florida House speaker, Danny Perez.
“(Florida CALA hopes) the new leadership team sees the practical necessity of protecting the courtroom from foreign actors and those who only have an investment interest in a case rather than a personal interest,” he said. “These bills aimed to mandate transparent disclosures of funding agreements, prohibit financiers from controlling or directing the strategy of lawsuits and block foreign sovereign wealth funds from funding predatory frivolous lawsuits.”
In addition, Gaitens said state lawmakers should upgrade the state’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act to address a “growing organized fraudulent network of bad actors.”
“This network uses coordinated ‘frequent-flyer’ medical clinics, corrupt public adjusters and predatory law firms that collude to manufacture massive waves of frivolous lawsuits,” he said. “Florida’s civil RICO statute becomes the ultimate countermeasure, but it needs reinforcement.”
Florida CALA also pointed out during Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week that excessive tort costs in Florida place burdens on the state’s families, workers and businesses, to the tune of $20.3 billion in yearly direct costs to the Florida economy. In turn, the lawsuit-abuse toll on Florida’s gross product comes to $30.5 billion, with job losses numbering more than 250,000 and lost state revenues estimated at $1.6 billion, according to the Texas-based Perryman Group.
The recent Perryman study concludes that the state’s overall annual tort tax is $1,306 for every resident, but the tax expands to $2,347 in South Florida.
“Floridians deserve a civil justice system that protects legitimate claims while discouraging abusive lawsuits, excessive damages and unpredictable outcomes,” Gaitens said. “The goal should be a fair, predictable and economically sustainable system that puts Floridians, consumers and job creators ahead of those who seek to exploit the courts.”
