Orlando Personal Injury & Accident Lawyer Blog

Agreement on PIP?

I recently received word that House and Senate negotiators have reached an agreement in principal on legislation that would extend the current PIP law through the end of 2007.  The full details of an agreement have not yet been released, but the proposal would apparently extend the existing system until the end of 2007, and then certain other reforms would be introduced that would prevent fraud.

Consumer advocates and most legislators have been excluded from the negotiations, which raises concerns that the proposed legislation will benefit special interest groups and could potentially hurt consumers.

However, I have been informed by the Florida Justice Association that several anti-consumer provisions that were previously in play will NOT be included in the proposal.  Some of these provisions include:

• Caps on attorney’s fees;
• Anti-consumer changes to the current bad faith statute;
• Elimination of the contingency fee multiplier;
• Additional optional managed care policies; and
• Allowing each insurance company to create its own documentation requirements.

CIVIC Concern has asked that all concerned citizens to call the offices of Speaker Rubio and President Pruitt at the numbers below and ask them to do the right thing.

• Call a special session to extend PIP before the law sunsets on October 1 or expand the scope of the special session scheduled to begin October 3;
• Ensure an open dialogue and no secret deals; and
• Pass consumer-friendly PIP legislation

Speaker Marco Rubio
(305) 442-6939
(850) 488-1450
speaker@myfloridahouse.gov

President Ken Pruitt
(772) 344-1140
(850) 487-5088
pruitt.ken.web@ flsenate.gov

Email Your Legislators
If you haven't yet, contact your state senator and state representative and urge them to pressure legislative leadership to address PIP in a special session. Email Your Legislators

A copy of the memo from the FJA to its members can be found by clicking here.

For more information, contact Orlando Auto Accident and Personal Injury Attorney James Hart.

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