But Leon County Judge Terry Lewis ruled these provisions violate the Florida Constitution. He says these parts of the law “violate the right of the people to have access to the courts to seek redress for their injuries.”

In his opinion, Lewis says Florida lawmakers have had a history of straying from “libertarian principles of individual liberty and personal responsibility,” and, in some cases, have “replaced a pure free market approach with a government-controlled system (such as the no-fault auto insurance system) in order to address a perceived problem.”

The judge goes on to say the revised law breaks through the limits of constitutionality. Past challenges of no-fault, PIP reform from the time it was adopted in 1971 have failed, but these specific provisions in the latest revision “severely limits what can be recovered under the policy, i.e., what is specifically excluded,” says Lewis, and they give no reasonable alternative to the right afforded to citizens under the constitution.

“This is the first time a court has called into question the constitutionality of the new PIP statute,” says attorney Michael J. McQuaide of law firm Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman and Goggin. “This ruling opens the door to a Florida Supreme Court review of the constitutionality of the new statute.”

The group of acupuncturists, massage therapists and chiropractors failed to convince a state district court judge on the same merits. In January Judge Richard Lazzara, in the U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida, denied the group an injunction.

Gov. Scott says the PIP reforms he signed into law last May “are working to lower insurance costs for Florida families and we will continue to fight special interest groups to keep them in place.”