Judge Hears Arguments, but again
Dismisses Suit Seeking Block of Fla. PIP Law
1/17/2013
By: Phil Gusman
PropertyCasualty360.com
A Florida district-court judge again denied an injunction that would halt
implementation of Florida’s personal injury protection reform law signed in May
last year.
Judge Richard Lazzara, in the United States District Court, Middle District of
Florida, in Tampa, issued the order after a group of chiropractors, massage
therapists and acupuncturists asked him to reconsider an
earlier order he issued on Dec. 12, 2012 denying the group’s motion.Lazzara called the plaintiffs’ motion “passionate,” but said that “no matter to
what degree this court may sympathize with Plaintiffs’ plight of suffering
potential economic loss by virtue of this newly enacted legislation, the court
must be guided by the rule of law....”
To that end, Lazzara says the plaintiffs’ contention is “that they possess a
fundamental property right in their professional licenses to practice
chiropractic medicine, acupuncture medicine, and massage therapy by virtue of
their licensure by the State of Florida to practice those healing arts.”
Therefore, according to Lazzara, plaintiffs argue that “amendments to the PIP
Act which constrain, in the case of a chiropractic physician, and eliminate, in
the case of an acupuncture physician and a massage therapist, their ability to
seek reimbursement for professional services rendered to a person injured in a
motor vehicle collision under the personal injury protection provisions of an
automobile insurance policy deny them due process of law and the equal
protection of the laws under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.”
But he adds, “What Plaintiffs fail to grasp is that although they do have a
state-created property interest in their professional licenses, that interest is
only subject to procedural due process protection and not substantive due
process protection.”
Responding to the decision, R Street Florida Director Christian R. Cámara says,
“[Florida Governor Rick] Scott and the Florida Legislature heard the calls from
Florida consumers about their runaway auto-insurance costs and took action to
cut out the fraud and unscrupulous claims that were driving up rates. The
federal court did the right thing in upholding those cost-saving, pro-consumer
reforms by throwing out this lawsuit. It is unfortunate that opponents of reform
who couldn’t get their way in the Capitol last year insist on using the courts
to legislate on their behalf.”
R Street notes that Lazzara’s decision allows the
plaintiffs to proceed with a separate suit in Florida
state court. That suit, says R Street, is
Myers, et al vs. Kevin McCarty,
and was filed Jan. 9 in Tallahassee in the Second
Judicial Circuit Court for Leon County.
