Florida Senate - 2024                                     SB 720
       
       
        
       By Senator Hutson
       
       
       
       
       
       7-01355-24                                             2024720__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to asbestos and silica claims;
    3         amending s. 774.205, F.S.; revising the information
    4         required to be included in a sworn information form
    5         for asbestos or silica claims filed after a specified
    6         date; specifying that such a form is inadmissible in
    7         evidence at trial; requiring courts to dismiss certain
    8         claims upon a motion by a defendant; requiring motions
    9         to dismiss to include certain certifications;
   10         providing an effective date.
   11          
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Subsection (3) of section 774.205, Florida
   15  Statutes, is amended, and subsection (4) is added to that
   16  section, to read:
   17         774.205 Claimant proceedings.—
   18         (3) All asbestos claims and silica claims filed in this
   19  state on or after July 1, 2024, the effective date of this act
   20  must include, in addition to the written report described in
   21  subsection (2) and the information required by s. 774.207(2), a
   22  sworn information form.
   23         (a) The sworn information form must specify the evidence
   24  that provides the basis for each claim against each defendant
   25  and must contain all of containing the following information:
   26         1.(a) The exposed person’s claimant’s name, address, date
   27  of birth, and marital status, and smoking history, and the name
   28  and address of each person who is knowledgeable regarding the
   29  exposed person’s exposure to asbestos or silica.;
   30         2.(b) If the exposed person claimant alleges exposure to
   31  asbestos or silica through the testimony of another person or
   32  alleges other than direct or bystander exposure to a product,
   33  the name, address, date of birth, and marital status for each
   34  person by which the exposed person claimant alleges exposure,
   35  hereinafter the “index person,” and the exposed person’s
   36  claimant’s relationship to each such person.;
   37         3.(c) The specific product and specific location of each
   38  alleged exposure for each defendant.;
   39         4.(d) The beginning and ending dates of each alleged
   40  exposure as to each asbestos product or silica product for each
   41  location at which exposure allegedly took place for the exposed
   42  person plaintiff and each index person.;
   43         5.(e) The occupation and name of the employer of the
   44  exposed person and each index person at the time of each alleged
   45  exposure.;
   46         6.(f) The specific condition related to asbestos or silica
   47  claimed to exist.; and
   48         7.(g) Any supporting documentation of the condition claimed
   49  to exist.
   50         (b) The sworn information form is inadmissible in evidence
   51  at trial.
   52         (4)(a) A court, upon motion by a defendant, shall dismiss a
   53  claimant’s asbestos or silica claim without prejudice as to:
   54         1. Any defendant whose product or premises is not
   55  specifically identified in the sworn information form submitted
   56  pursuant to subsection (3); and
   57         2. The moving defendant or all defendants, as applicable,
   58  if the claimant fails to comply with this section.
   59         (b) The motion to dismiss must include a certification that
   60  the movant, in good faith, has conferred or attempted to confer
   61  with the claimant’s counsel or the self-represented claimant, as
   62  applicable, to have the challenged claim dismissed or to have
   63  the challenged sworn information form appropriately corrected
   64  without court action.
   65         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.