By Lawrence Mower, Tampa Bay Times
March 1, 2019
Last week, a House committee heard testimony from consumer advocates, academics and a lawyer for Publix, who said it’s 65 percent more expensive to settle claims in Florida than in any of the other states where the chain operates.
“Being the ‘judicial hellhole’ that we are has caused every person’s rates go up,” state Rep. Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, referring to the annual state rankings produced by a coalition of medical professional associations and other groups, such as chemical and drug industries, that aims to limit corporate liability. “I want to have balance. I want to eliminate the crazy things on each side.”