NO TOP-TIER LOBBYING FIRM IS MORE IMMERSED IN TORT REFORM EFFORTS than Capital City Consulting. Our partners work with leading employers and industry stakeholders on legislative and regulatory matters involving litigation costs within the workers’ compensation, general liability, property, and auto insurance markets. We are at the forefront of identifying legal system abuse, and corresponding opportunities for reform.
Capital City Consulting has been actively engaged in Florida’s evolving civil justice landscape and has worked alongside clients and policymakers on major efforts including HB 837 (2023), SB 2A (2022), and SB 2D (2022). Our team also led the auto glass assignments of benefits reform coalition, which resulted in the passage of SB 1002 (2023), as well as earlier legislation to address AOB abuse within the property market, such as HB 7065 (2019). Our advocacy was not limited to legislative and executive branch lobbying, but included a comprehensive research-based public relations strategy, such as compiling and publishing research regarding litigation trends through the Florida Justice Reform Institute, as well as serving as an on-the-record voice regarding examples of legal system abuse in publications like the Washington Post, the Insurance Journal, and the Auto Insurance Report.
CCC’s team of consultants includes a breadth of legal knowledge not found in other lobbying firms, with six members of the Florida Bar, as well as other members with Juris Doctor and Juris Master degrees. This expertise is dedicated to curtailing frivolous litigation, nuclear verdicts, and runaway damages in favor of a balanced, accessible, and fair civil justice system.
- Reformed Third Party Bad Faith Laws
For years, Florida was the wild west for third-party bad faith litigation. Oftentimes, insurers were liable for bad faith even when quickly tendering policy limits. In 2023, the Florida Legislature corrected years of prejudicial case law providing a safe harbor period for claims investigation, instituted a parallel duty of good faith, and created an interpleader process. Our subject matter and bill drafting expertise helped usher in these clear and sensible guardrails, which protect insurers, claimants, and policyholders alike.
- Created the foundation for one-way attorney fee reform
A decade before transformative legislation to repeal statutory one-way attorney’s fees in insurance litigation, Ashley Kalifeh co-authored a study on its abuse. Every year after, she performed extensive open-source research, which eventually formed the foundation of legislation in Special Session 2022-A and Regular Session 2023 to restrict, and then repeal, the statutory fee grant. As a result, the Florida insurance marketplace has seen significant property and auto insurance rate decreases, as well as expanded reinsurance capacity and refunded personal insurance protection premiums.
- Instituted Revolutionary Protections for Multifamily Housing (civil justice/housing)
Florida’s insurance marketplace has been historically challenging, but a relatively new feature of the common law was making it nearly impossible for owners of multifamily housing complexes to secure comprehensive liability coverage. CCC’s housing, civil justice, and insurance experience was activated to conceive and draft a first-in-the-nation safety protocol for multifamily housing. Compliance with specified safety procedures and checks, such as a full Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) audit, would provide commensurate tort law protections for housing complexes that did everything in their power to harden their property from criminal mischief and misdeeds. Florida’s proactive approach to safety has been benefitting residents in these hardened communities, incentivizing owners of multifamily complexes to invest in safety and more easily access necessary insurance coverages.