In the five years since Florida lawmakers decided to insert a provision into the insurance law calling for the repeal of Florida's motor vehicle no-fault law, it was clear as of Oct. 1, 2007, that the deadline was arbitrary and nothing more than a means for lawmakers to sidestep the issue.

At the time, the legislature was engaged in more pressing debates, which involved reforming the homeowners', workers' compensation, and medical malpractice markets. Therefore, the legislature was more than content to push the no-fault debate far from the maddening crowd. And lawmakers, carriers, attorneys, and health-care providers were more than willing to follow the legislature's lead and all but ignore the pending decision of whether to reinstate the law or jettison it in favor of a tort system.

Then as the October deadline grew closer, the legislature finally faced that moment when they could no longer avoid their own self-imposed deadline. This gave rise to a fundamental public policy question: Were there enough lawmakers willing to stand on the courage of their convictions and allow no-fault to sunset?

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.