Florida's chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronis, is continuing his attack on what he has characterized as “assignment of benefits abuse” in Florida by asking the Florida Bar to “look into the unethical business models believed to be perpetuated by certain law firms” in the state.
In a letter to Michelle R. Suskauer, the president of the Florida Bar, Mr. Patronis said that he was writing “to bring to your attention troubling statistics impacting the affordability of insurance for families that directly involve Florida attorneys.”
Mr. Patronis said that assignment of benefits (“AOB”) lawsuits had “skyrocketed in just four years.” He pointed to what he said was a “concerning partnership” taking place in Florida:
[Q]uestionable contractors and unscrupulous attorneys are teaming up to game the system originally intended to empower and protect consumers. This unethical business model impacts every Floridian. The most shocking part is that there are a select number of law firms manipulating the system for their own gain. AOB lawsuits increase insurance rates and threaten our state's good financial standing. When lawsuits are out of control, consumers are always on the losing end.
Mr. Patronis added that his office receives service of process information on behalf of insurance companies and that, based on that data, “it appears certain law firms are working in concert with contractors to exploit AOB provisions by inflating costs for unmerited payouts.”
In his letter, Mr. Patronis said that evidence suggested that “these law firms are filing suit for the sole purpose of weaponizing the one-way attorney fee provision.” He added that because the state's legal environment regarding AOB “is so friendly to plaintiffs attorneys, we are concerned that many firms are robo-signing complaints without performing necessary due diligence.”
According to Mr. Patronis, “[g]iven the sheer number of AOB cases being pumped out,” if left unchecked these activities “threaten to have the same outcome as when certain firms took advantage of the mortgage foreclosure crisis for profit.”
He then called on the Florida Bar “to help solve this man-made one by coming to the table to help address this crisis.”
Learn more: Patronis Letter.
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].