Florida Senate - 2010                             CS for SB 1964
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Regulated Industries; and Senator Negron
       
       
       
       
       580-03627-10                                          20101964c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to design professionals; amending s.
    3         725.08, F.S.; limiting the liability of design
    4         professionals for certain economic damages resulting
    5         from the performance of professional services that are
    6         the subject of a contract under certain circumstances;
    7         providing an effective date.
    8  
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. Section 725.08, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   12  read:
   13         725.08 Design professional contracts; limitations on
   14  limitation in indemnification and liability.—
   15         (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 725.06, if a
   16  design professional provides professional services to or for a
   17  public agency, the agency may require in a professional services
   18  contract with the design professional that the design
   19  professional indemnify and hold harmless the agency, and its
   20  officers and employees, from liabilities, damages, losses, and
   21  costs, including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’
   22  fees, to the extent caused by the negligence, recklessness, or
   23  intentionally wrongful conduct of the design professional and
   24  other persons employed or used utilized by the design
   25  professional in the performance of the contract.
   26         (2) Except as specifically provided in subsection (1), a
   27  professional services contract entered into with a public agency
   28  may not require that the design professional defend, indemnify,
   29  or hold harmless the agency, its employees, officers, directors,
   30  or agents from any liability, damage, loss, claim, action, or
   31  proceeding, and any such contract provision is shall be void as
   32  against the public policy of this state.
   33         (3) Notwithstanding any other law, a party to a
   34  professional services contract does not have a cause of action
   35  in tort against a design professional for the recovery of purely
   36  economic damages that are caused by the design professional’s
   37  negligence or malpractice committed in the performance of the
   38  professional services contract if the design professional
   39  maintains, as specified in the contract, insurance covering the
   40  design professional’s liability for the performance of the
   41  professional services rendered under the contract or the design
   42  professional is protected by statutory liability limitations for
   43  public agencies and their employees, and if the professional
   44  services contract does not purport to limit the liability of the
   45  design professional to less than the insurance coverage
   46  specified in the contract. This subsection does not:
   47         (a) Apply to claims for economic damages resulting from
   48  personal injury or damage to property other than the property
   49  that is the subject of the professional services contract.
   50         (b) Affect contracts or agreements entered into, or
   51  professional services performed, before the effective date of
   52  this subsection.
   53         (4) As used in this section, the term:
   54         (a)(3) “Professional services contract” means a written or
   55  oral agreement relating to the planning, design, construction,
   56  administration, study, evaluation, consulting, or other
   57  professional and technical support services furnished in
   58  connection with any actual or proposed construction,
   59  improvement, alteration, repair, maintenance, operation,
   60  management, relocation, demolition, excavation, or other
   61  facility, land, air, water, or utility development or
   62  improvement.
   63         (b)(4) “Design professional” means an individual or entity
   64  licensed by the state who holds a current certificate of
   65  registration under chapter 481 to practice architecture or
   66  landscape architecture, under chapter 472 to practice land
   67  surveying and mapping, or under chapter 471 to practice
   68  engineering, and who enters into a professional services
   69  contract.
   70         (5) This section does not affect contracts or agreements
   71  entered into before the effective date of this section.
   72         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.