Florida tort reform tracker (HB 837)
House Bill 837 (ch. 2023-15, Laws of Fla.) took effect March 24, 2023 and rewrote the economics of Florida personal-injury litigation. Two and a half years on, several of its most consequential provisions still have no appellate interpretation, so trial judges are deciding them one case at a time. This page tracks the appellate rulings as they arrive and, for subscribers, how circuit judges have been ruling in the meantime.
What the Act changed
| Provision | Statute | In one line |
|---|---|---|
| Medical damages evidence | s. 768.0427 | Limits evidence of past and future medical expenses to amounts actually paid or, for unpaid charges, benchmarks tied to the claimant's health coverage (or 120% of Medicare / 170% of Medicaid when uninsured); requires disclosure of letters of protection and referral relationships. |
| Modified comparative negligence | s. 768.81(6) | A plaintiff found more than 50% at fault recovers nothing (medical-negligence actions excepted). |
| Negligence limitations period | s. 95.11(4)(a) | General negligence actions must be filed within two years instead of four. |
| Insurer bad faith | s. 624.155 | Negligence alone is not bad faith; a safe harbor for tendering limits within 90 days; claimant and counsel owe a duty of good faith; multiple-claimant procedures. |
| Negligent security | ss. 768.0701, 768.0706 | Fault may be apportioned to the criminal actor; a presumption against liability for multifamily owners who adopt listed security measures. |
| Attorney fees | ss. 57.104, 86.121, 627.428 (repealed) | Lodestar presumed reasonable (multipliers only in rare cases); one-way fee shifting against insurers narrowed to declaratory actions on coverage after a total denial. |
Summary only — read the chapter law and current statute before relying on it.
Open questions the appellate courts have not answered
Appellate opinions touching the Act (0 in our library · scanned from the full text of every opinion we publish)
No appellate opinion in our library has reached these questions yet. The moment one does, it appears here and subscribers are emailed the same day.
Subscribers get an email the moment any DCA or the Florida Supreme Court touches these questions, and can see — and add to — the circuit-by-circuit map of how trial judges have ruled.
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Trial-court orders aren't published anywhere, so firms learn how a judge has ruled on these questions only by asking around. The exchange pools what subscribing firms already have in their files: upload an order (they're public records), our AI pre-fills judge, circuit, posture and holding, you confirm, and after a quick review it joins the map. Every subscriber sees every ruling; names of the contributing firm are never shown.
Opening with the orders our subscribers contribute this month.