Florida Senate - 2023 SB 1246
By Senator Yarborough
4-00496A-23 20231246__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to truth in legal advertising;
3 creating s. 501.139, F.S.; defining terms; specifying
4 prohibited practices relating to advertisements for
5 legal services; requiring persons and entities that
6 issue advertisements to solicit certain clients to
7 include specified information and statements in such
8 advertisements; providing for both written and verbal
9 statements in advertisements for legal services;
10 providing requirements for such written and verbal
11 statements; providing that the person or entity that
12 issues an advertisement is solely responsible for
13 ensuring its compliance with specified provisions;
14 providing media entities with immunity from liability
15 for disseminating another person’s or entity’s
16 advertisement that violates specified provisions;
17 providing applicability; prohibiting the use,
18 obtaining, sale, transfer, or disclosure of a
19 consumer’s protected health information for a
20 specified purpose without written authorization;
21 providing an exception; providing that certain
22 violations are deemed deceptive and unfair trade
23 practices; providing construction; providing an
24 effective date.
25
26 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
27
28 Section 1. Section 501.139, Florida Statutes, is created to
29 read:
30 501.139 Advertisements for legal services.—
31 (1) As used in this section, the term:
32 (a) “Advertisement for legal services” means any
33 representation disseminated in any manner through a media entity
34 for the purpose of soliciting prospective clients for legal
35 services. The term includes such solicitation by a person with
36 the intent to transfer data obtained from the consumer to one or
37 more attorneys for legal services.
38 (b) “Media entity” means a radio broadcast station, a
39 television broadcast station, a cable television company, a
40 newspaper company, a periodical company, a billboard company, an
41 advertising agency, a digital media platform, or a bona fide
42 news or public interest website operator.
43 (c) “Protected health information” has the same meaning as
44 provided in 45 C.F.R. s. 160.103.
45 (d) “Solicit” means attempting to procure a client for
46 legal services by initiating unsolicited personal, telephone, or
47 real-time electronic contact or by advertising such services
48 through print media, video or audio recorded advertisements, or
49 electronic communications.
50 (2) A person or an entity that issues an advertisement for
51 legal services may not do any of the following:
52 (a) Present the advertisement as a medical alert, health
53 alert, drug alert, or public service announcement or use any
54 substantially similar phrase that suggests to a reasonable
55 consumer that the advertisement is offering professional or
56 medical advice or advice from a state or federal governmental
57 entity or an entity approved by or affiliated with a state or
58 federal governmental entity.
59 (b) Display the logo of a state or federal governmental
60 entity in a manner that suggests to a reasonable consumer that
61 the advertisement is presented by a state or federal
62 governmental entity or by an entity approved by or affiliated
63 with a state or federal governmental entity.
64 (c) Use the term “recall” when referring to a product that
65 has not been recalled in accordance with applicable state or
66 federal regulations.
67 (3) A person or an entity that issues an advertisement for
68 legal services to solicit clients who may allege injury from a
69 prescription drug or medical device approved by the United
70 States Food and Drug Administration shall include all of the
71 following in the advertisement:
72 (a) The statement, “This is a paid advertisement for legal
73 services,” which must appear at the beginning of the
74 advertisement.
75 (b) The identity of the sponsor of the advertisement.
76 (c) Either the identity of the attorney or the law firm
77 that will be primarily responsible for providing the solicited
78 legal services to a consumer who engages the attorney or law
79 firm in response to the advertisement or an explanation of how a
80 responding consumer’s case will be referred to an attorney or a
81 law firm if the sponsor of the advertisement is not licensed to
82 practice law.
83 (d) A statement that a prescription drug or medical device
84 approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration
85 remains approved unless it has been recalled in accordance with
86 the applicable state or federal regulations.
87 (e) The statement, “Consult your physician before making
88 any decision regarding prescribed medication or medical
89 treatment.”
90 (4) The statements required to appear in an advertisement
91 under this section must be made in both written and verbal
92 formats, except that a print-only advertisement may include the
93 statements in written format only and an audio-only
94 advertisement may include the statements in verbal format only.
95 (a) Required written statements must appear in a clear and
96 conspicuous font and manner and, for visual advertisements, must
97 appear on screen for a sufficient length of time for a
98 reasonable consumer to read the statement. A written statement
99 is presumed to comply with the requirements of this subsection
100 if it appears in the same font style and size and for the same
101 duration as a printed reference to the telephone number or
102 website that a consumer is to use to contact the entity for the
103 advertised legal services, provided such duration is at least 10
104 seconds.
105 (b) Required verbal statements must be audible,
106 intelligible, and presented with equal prominence and speed as
107 the other parts of the advertisement. A verbal statement is
108 presumed to comply with the requirements of this subsection if
109 it is made at approximately the same volume and uses
110 approximately the same number of words per minute as used when
111 presenting other information in the advertisement which is not
112 required under this section.
113 (5) The person or entity that issues an advertisement for
114 legal services is solely responsible for ensuring that such
115 advertisement complies with this section, and a media entity may
116 not be held liable or subjected to any penalty for producing,
117 distributing, transmitting, displaying, publishing, or otherwise
118 disseminating another person’s or entity’s advertisement for
119 legal services which violates this section.
120 (6) This section does not apply to an advertisement that
121 has been reviewed and approved by an ethics or disciplinary
122 committee of The Florida Bar in accordance with its rules of
123 professional conduct.
124 (7) A person or an entity may not use, cause to be used,
125 obtain, sell, transfer, or disclose a consumer’s protected
126 health information to another person or entity for the purpose
127 of soliciting the consumer for legal services without written
128 authorization from that consumer. This subsection does not apply
129 to the use or disclosure of protected health information to an
130 individual’s legal representative in the course of any judicial
131 or administrative proceeding or as otherwise permitted or
132 required by law.
133 (8) A violation of this section is deemed a deceptive and
134 unfair trade practice subject to enforcement under part II of
135 this chapter.
136 (9) This section does not limit or otherwise affect the
137 authority of The Florida Bar to regulate the practice of law,
138 enforce its rules of professional conduct, or discipline any
139 person admitted to practice law in this state.
140 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.