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A FEW BIG CHANGES IN THE LAW
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published March 27, 2023
Believe
it or not, it’s getting harder to sue someone or to sue a
business in the State of Florida.
First,
it’s more risky now to sue your insurance company. The typical
case that comes to mind is the one where a condominium
association sues its own insurance company for failing to pay
for roof damage because the insurance company does not believe
the storm caused all that damage. Until now, there was no risk
for the condominium association. The attorney took the case on
a contingency and, if the association won the case the
association would be entitled to an award of attorney’s fees
against the insurance company. And, even if the association
lost, the association did not have to pay attorney’s fees to the
lawyers for the insurance company. In other words, the risk of
paying attorney’s fees only ran one way. No longer. Now the
association has no right to collect attorney’s fees against
their insurer even if the case is settled or won. The
association bears the risk of not having their fees paid by
their carrier which should ultimately result in a smaller
recovery.
Perhaps
the biggest change to the law since I’m in practice went into
effect last week. The statute of limitations regarding
negligence actions went from four (4) years to two (2) years.
That is a bombshell.
The law
is primarily intended to go after personal injury lawyers and
prevent personal injury cases from winding up in the courtroom.
From a condominium and HOA perspective the change in the law
will also have major effects. For example, all claims for
damages to condominium or HOA property caused by someone else
now have to be filed in two years and not four. This could be
damage caused by contractors the association hire, or unit
owners who live or rent on the property.
There are
some other bills of interest that may pass during the
legislative session and if they do, I’ll let you know.
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated
from the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for three decades and is the owner of
Glazer and Sachs, P.A. a five attorney law firm with
offices in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
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Eric is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in
Condominium and Planned Development Law.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host of Condo Craze
and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs at 11:00 a.m.
each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
Eric is the first attorney in the State of
Florida that designed a course that certifies condominium and
HOA residents as eligible to serve on a Board of Directors and
has now certified more than 20,000 Floridians all across the
state. He is certified as a Circuit Court Mediator by The
Florida Supreme Court and has mediated dozens of disputes
between associations and unit owners. Eric also devotes
significant time to advancing legislation in the best interest
of Florida community association members.
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