House Bill hb1853

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HB 1853

        By the Committee on Judicial Oversight and Representative
    Goodlette





  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to claims by foreign

  3         governments; providing legislative findings and

  4         intent; creating s. 69.20, F.S.; defining the

  5         term "foreign government"; creating s. 69.21,

  6         F.S.; specifying procedures to be followed by a

  7         foreign government in a civil court action to

  8         recover certain costs; creating s. 69.22, F.S.;

  9         providing applicability; creating s. 69.23,

10         F.S.; providing grounds for nonrecognition of a

11         foreign judgment; providing severability;

12         providing an effective date.

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14         WHEREAS, the Legislature has observed a growing number

15  of lawsuits being brought in state courts by foreign

16  governments against business defendants seeking to recover the

17  costs of benefits or services allegedly paid for by the

18  foreign governments, directly or indirectly, on behalf of

19  their citizens, and

20         WHEREAS, these governments seek to recover these costs

21  on an aggregated basis, without even identifying the

22  individuals to whom the benefits or services were provided,

23  and

24         WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that these lawsuits pose

25  significant risks to the substantive legal rights of

26  defendants and absent third parties and threaten to undermine

27  fundamental principles of fairness and equality under law, and

28         WHEREAS, the Legislature intends that established legal

29  principles that govern actions for the reimbursement of costs

30  afford no greater rights to foreign-government plaintiffs than

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HB 1853

    687-159-01






  1  are afforded to any other litigants in the courts of this

  2  state under similar situations, and

  3         WHEREAS, to the extent that foreign governments are

  4  permitted to maintain such actions, the Legislature affirms

  5  its commitment to their evenhanded adjudication and to the

  6  availability of justice to all litigants on the same terms,

  7  including adherence to fair court procedures uniformly applied

  8  to all parties to avoid multiple liability and the waste of

  9  court resources, and

10         WHEREAS, the Legislature does not intend to create by

11  this act any right to reimbursement for costs of any kind on

12  the part of any person or entity, and

13         WHEREAS, the Legislature does not intend to create by

14  this act any new cause of action not already recognized under

15  the laws of this state, NOW, THEREFORE,

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17  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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19         Section 1.  Section 69.20, Florida Statutes, is created

20  to read:

21         69.20  Foreign government; definition.--As used in ss.

22  69.20-69.23, the term "foreign government" means the

23  government of any politically sovereign entity other than the

24  United States or any state thereof, the District of Columbia,

25  the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands,

26  the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or any other

27  territory or possession of the United States and includes any

28  political subdivision or agency of such entity.

29         Section 2.  Section 69.21, Florida Statutes, is created

30  to read:

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HB 1853

    687-159-01






  1         69.21  Claims by foreign governments.--In any civil

  2  action in which a foreign government seeks to recover from any

  3  defendant costs related to any benefits or services the

  4  foreign government has provided or paid for or is obligated

  5  directly or indirectly to provide or pay for, the foreign

  6  government shall proceed by way of subrogation and shall:

  7         (1)  Identify all individuals whose expenses it has

  8  paid and seeks to recover;

  9         (2)  Establish every element that each such individual

10  would be required to establish in an action by such individual

11  to recover medical expenses;

12         (3)  Be subject to the same defenses that would apply

13  to such individual; and

14         (4)  Be subject to the same discovery obligations that

15  would apply in an individual action.

16         Section 3.  Section 69.22, Florida Statutes, is created

17  to read:

18         69.22  Choice of law requirements.--The provisions of

19  ss. 69.20-69.23 apply to claims subject to this act whether or

20  not this state's law would otherwise provide the prescribed

21  rules of procedure.

22         Section 4.  Section 69.23, Florida Statutes, is created

23  to read:

24         69.23  Grounds for nonrecognition of foreign

25  judgment.--A foreign money judgment awarded to a foreign

26  government based on the payment for benefits or services or

27  the value thereof is not enforceable by the courts of this

28  state if the foreign judgment was rendered in favor of the

29  foreign government in a proceeding that did not satisfy the

30  requirements under ss. 69.20-69.22.

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HB 1853

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  1         Section 5.  If any provision of this act or its

  2  application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the

  3  invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of

  4  the act which can be given effect without the invalid

  5  provision or application and to this end the provisions of

  6  this act are declared severable.

  7         Section 6.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2001,

  8  and apply to any civil action pending on or after July 1,

  9  2001.

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12                          HOUSE SUMMARY

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      Specifies procedures to be followed by a foreign
14    government in a civil action to recover costs related to
      any benefit or services the foreign government has
15    provided or paid for or is obligated to provide or pay
      for. See bill for details.
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