Bill Text: FL S0720 | 2024 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Asbestos and Silica Claims

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Failed) 2024-03-08 - Died in Messages [S0720 Detail]

Download: Florida-2024-S0720-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2024                              CS for SB 720
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Judiciary; and Senator Hutson
       
       
       
       
       
       590-02909-24                                           2024720c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to asbestos and silica claims;
    3         amending s. 774.205, F.S.; revising the information
    4         required to be included in a sworn information form
    5         for asbestos or silica claims filed after a specified
    6         date; specifying that such a form is inadmissible in
    7         evidence, and may not be relied upon by a witness, at
    8         trial; requiring courts to dismiss certain claims upon
    9         a motion by a defendant; requiring motions to dismiss
   10         to include certain certifications; providing an
   11         effective date.
   12          
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. Subsection (3) of section 774.205, Florida
   16  Statutes, is amended, and subsection (4) is added to that
   17  section, to read:
   18         774.205 Claimant proceedings.—
   19         (3) All asbestos claims and silica claims filed in this
   20  state on or after July 1, 2024, the effective date of this act
   21  must include, in addition to the written report described in
   22  subsection (2) and the information required by s. 774.207(2), a
   23  sworn information form.
   24         (a) The sworn information form must specify the evidence
   25  that provides the basis for each claim against each defendant
   26  and must contain all of containing the following information:
   27         1.(a) The exposed person’s claimant’s name, address, date
   28  of birth, and marital status, and smoking history, and the name
   29  and address of each person who is knowledgeable regarding the
   30  exposed person’s exposure to asbestos or silica.;
   31         2.(b) If the exposed person claimant alleges exposure to
   32  asbestos or silica through the testimony of another person or
   33  alleges other than direct or bystander exposure to a product,
   34  the name, address, date of birth, and marital status for each
   35  person by which the exposed person claimant alleges exposure,
   36  hereinafter the “index person,” and the exposed person’s
   37  claimant’s relationship to each such person.;
   38         3.(c) The specific location of each alleged exposure for
   39  each defendant.;
   40         4.(d) The beginning and ending dates of each alleged
   41  exposure as to each asbestos product or silica product for each
   42  location at which exposure allegedly took place for the exposed
   43  person plaintiff and each index person.;
   44         5.(e) The occupation and name of the employer of the
   45  exposed person and each index person at the time of each alleged
   46  exposure.;
   47         6.(f) The specific condition related to asbestos or silica
   48  claimed to exist.; and
   49         7.(g) Any supporting documentation of the condition claimed
   50  to exist.
   51         (b) The sworn information form is inadmissible in evidence
   52  at trial and may not be relied upon by a witness, including an
   53  expert witness, at trial.
   54         (4)(a) A court, upon motion by a defendant, shall dismiss a
   55  claimant’s asbestos or silica claim without prejudice as to:
   56         1. Any defendant whose product or premises is not
   57  specifically identified in the sworn information form submitted
   58  pursuant to subsection (3); and
   59         2. The moving defendant or all defendants, as applicable,
   60  if the claimant fails to comply with this section.
   61         (b) The motion to dismiss must include a certification that
   62  the movant, in good faith, has conferred or attempted to confer
   63  with the claimant’s counsel or the self-represented claimant, as
   64  applicable, to have the challenged claim dismissed or to have
   65  the challenged sworn information form appropriately corrected
   66  without court action.
   67         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.