| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to apportionment of damages; providing |
| 3 | findings and intent; amending s. 768.81, F.S.; requiring |
| 4 | division of total fault for an occurrence only among the |
| 5 | claimant and those who may be held legally liable; |
| 6 | deleting provisions providing for allocation of fault to |
| 7 | nonparties; providing an effective date. |
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| 9 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
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| 11 | Section 1. Findings and intent.--The Legislature finds |
| 12 | that frivolous accusations against nonparties deny justice to |
| 13 | victims and add unnecessarily to the expense and complexity of |
| 14 | legal actions. The intent of the Legislature is to curtail the |
| 15 | incidence of such accusations by requiring the trier of fact to |
| 16 | apportion the total fault for the occurrence giving rise to a |
| 17 | legal proceeding only among the claimant and those defendants to |
| 18 | the action who may be held legally liable. |
| 19 | Section 2. Subsection (3) of section 768.81, Florida |
| 20 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 21 | 768.81 Comparative fault.-- |
| 22 | (3) APPORTIONMENT OF DAMAGES.--In cases to which this |
| 23 | section applies, the trier of fact shall apportion the total |
| 24 | fault for the occurrence giving rise to the legal proceeding |
| 25 | only among the claimant and those defendants to the action who |
| 26 | may be held legally liable, and the court shall enter judgment |
| 27 | against each party liable on the basis of such party's |
| 28 | percentage of fault and not on the basis of the doctrine of |
| 29 | joint and several liability. |
| 30 | (a) In order to allocate any or all fault to a nonparty, a |
| 31 | defendant must affirmatively plead the fault of a nonparty and, |
| 32 | absent a showing of good cause, identify the nonparty, if known, |
| 33 | or describe the nonparty as specifically as practicable, either |
| 34 | by motion or in the initial responsive pleading when defenses |
| 35 | are first presented, subject to amendment any time before trial |
| 36 | in accordance with the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. |
| 37 | (b) In order to allocate any or all fault to a nonparty |
| 38 | and include the named or unnamed nonparty on the verdict form |
| 39 | for purposes of apportioning damages, a defendant must prove at |
| 40 | trial, by a preponderance of the evidence, the fault of the |
| 41 | nonparty in causing the plaintiff's injuries. |
| 42 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |