Senate Bill sb1558c1

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    Florida Senate - 2007                           CS for SB 1558

    By the Committee on Judiciary; and Senator Ring





    590-2502-07

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to apportionment of damages;

  3         amending s. 768.81, F.S.; requiring the

  4         division of total fault for an occurrence only

  5         among the plaintiff, parties who may be held

  6         legally liable, and specified nonparties;

  7         providing for joinder of additional parties and

  8         allocation of fault to certain nonparties;

  9         providing legislative intent; providing for

10         application; providing an effective date.

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

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14         Section 1.  Subsection (3) of section 768.81, Florida

15  Statutes, is amended to read:

16         768.81  Comparative fault.--

17         (3)  APPORTIONMENT OF DAMAGES.--

18         (a)  In cases to which this section applies, the trier

19  of fact shall apportion the total fault for the occurrence

20  giving rise to the legal proceeding only among the plaintiff,

21  those parties to the action who may be held legally liable,

22  and the following nonparties:

23         1.  A nonparty, whether or not previously a party, who

24  the plaintiff discharged from liability pursuant to a

25  voluntary dismissal with prejudice or a release, covenant not

26  to sue, covenant not to execute a judgment, or similar

27  agreement between the plaintiff and the nonparty;

28         2.  A nonparty who cannot properly be made a party to

29  the proceeding because the nonparty is not subject to the

30  jurisdiction of the court;

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    Florida Senate - 2007                           CS for SB 1558
    590-2502-07




 1         3.  A nonparty who cannot properly be made a party to

 2  the proceeding because the nonparty is completely immune from

 3  suit;

 4         4.  A nonparty upon whom the defendant was unable to

 5  serve process because the nonparty could not be sufficiently

 6  identified after reasonable inquiry by the defendant; or

 7         5.  A nonparty who cannot properly be made a party to

 8  the proceeding because the statute of limitations or statute

 9  of repose applicable to the nonparty expired, and the

10  defendant, despite the exercise of reasonable diligence, was

11  unable to join the nonparty as an additional party within the

12  applicable statute of limitations or statute of repose.

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14  The court shall enter judgment against each party liable on

15  the basis of such party's percentage of fault and not on the

16  basis of the doctrine of joint and several liability.

17         (b)  Any party to the action, including a defendant,

18  has the right to join as an additional party any person who is

19  or may be liable to the plaintiff for all or part of the

20  plaintiff's claim against a defendant. However, a defendant

21  must act with reasonable diligence in order to join such an

22  additional party and, if the liability of the additional party

23  is proven, the court shall enter judgment for the plaintiff

24  against the additional party based upon the additional party's

25  percentage of fault.

26         (c)(a)  In order to allocate any or all fault to a

27  nonparty under paragraph (a), a defendant must affirmatively

28  plead the fault of a nonparty and, absent a showing of good

29  cause, identify the nonparty, if known, or describe the

30  nonparty as specifically as practicable, either by motion or

31  in the initial responsive pleading when defenses are first

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    Florida Senate - 2007                           CS for SB 1558
    590-2502-07




 1  presented, subject to amendment using reasonable diligence any

 2  time before trial in accordance with the Florida Rules of

 3  Civil Procedure.

 4         (d)(b)  In order for the trier of fact to allocate any

 5  or all fault to an additional party or a nonparty under

 6  paragraph (a), the party that joined the additional party or

 7  alleged the fault of the nonparty and include the named or

 8  unnamed nonparty on the verdict form for purposes of

 9  apportioning damages, a defendant must prove at trial, by a

10  preponderance of the evidence, the fault of the additional

11  party or the nonparty in causing the plaintiff's injuries.

12         Section 2.  It is the intent of the Legislature to

13  accord the utmost comity and respect to the constitutional

14  prerogatives of the judiciary of this state, and this act is

15  not an effort to impinge upon those prerogatives. If a court

16  of competent jurisdiction enters a final judgment concluding

17  or declaring that a provision of this act improperly

18  encroaches upon the authority of the Supreme Court to

19  determine the rules of practice and procedure in the courts of

20  this state, the Legislature declares its intent that such

21  provision be construed as a request for rule change pursuant

22  to Section 2, Article V of the State Constitution and not as a

23  mandatory legislative directive.

24         Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007,

25  and applies to causes of action that accrue on or after that

26  date.

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    Florida Senate - 2007                           CS for SB 1558
    590-2502-07




 1          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
 2                             SB 1558

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 4  This committee substitute differs from the underlying bill in
    that it permits nonparties to be placed on a jury verdict form
 5  in certain circumstances. However, the bill also requires
    defendants to join nonparties as defendants or prove that the
 6  nonparty cannot be joined.

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