Sunshine Sentinel

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed legislation shielding multiple businesses from COVID-19-related injury and wrongful death lawsuits, according to The National Law Review.

Supporters of Florida Senate Bill 72 (SB 72) claim the legislation would help to curb fraudulent lawsuits aimed at gaining financial settlements through the judicial system, The Florida Bar has reported.

“The health care system was operating in a fog, with inconsistent rules and changing policies,” state Rep. Ralph Massullo (R-Lecanto) told The Florida Bar. “Businesses were closing, an effective vaccine was merely a dream, and our great state was shut down ... PPE shortages got so bad, we had a black market.”

The text of the bill states that the evolving nature of public health information has made industry-specific executive orders more necessary than ever and the legislation aims to strengthen economic performance in the face of a global pandemic while also assisting in the prevention of frivolous civil suits.

"Committee substitute for SB 72 provides limited liability protection to those entities in Florida who did, day after day, what they were told they needed to do,” state Rep. Colleen Burton (R-Lakeland) told The Florida Bar.

But Burton noted that the measure will not protect the most severe offenders.

“I believe this bill achieves this very difficult balance,” she said.

The Associated Press has reported that the bill has been a priority for DeSantis and other Florida Republicans, who assert that during the coronavirus outbreak, shortages in safety supplies and accessible knowledge prompted companies to make public health policy adjustments during the last year. The AP also reported the bill would "apply retroactively to the start beginning of the pandemic."

Lawsuits relating to the coronavirus could cost the state approximately $16.1 billion and result in the loss of more than 208,000 jobs, according to Florida TaxWatch.

Florida joins a rising number of states, including Ohio, Georgia and Wisconsin, that have enacted similar legislation in response to the pandemic and is now the most populated state to do so.