Lasky v. State Farm Insurance

37 Fla. Supp. 178
CourtBroward County Civil and Criminal Court of Record
DecidedSeptember 11, 1972
DocketNo. 72-1109
StatusPublished

This text of 37 Fla. Supp. 178 (Lasky v. State Farm Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Broward County Civil and Criminal Court of Record primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lasky v. State Farm Insurance, 37 Fla. Supp. 178 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1972).

Opinion

NELS R. PEARSON, Judge.

This cause came on for hearing on the defendant’s motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ second amended complaint (“ complaint” hereafter) and, after notice to all parties, the court heard argument from counsel.

Although the complaint does not specifically request declaratory relief, the allegations of that pleading and the statements by counsel make it clear that plaintiffs seek to test the constitutionality of certain sections of the “Florida Automobile Reparations Reform Act” chapter 71-252, Laws of Florida, commonly called the “Florida No Fault Insurance Law.” Paragraph 7 of the complaint specifically asserts that §§627.737 and 627.738, Florida Statutes, are “invalid, unenforceable and unconstitutional.” The plaintiffs base their attack on both the Florida Constitution (article I, §§2, 9, 21 and 22) and the United States Constitution (amendments VII and XIV).

Because the plaintiffs seek this declaration of unconstitutionality, all parties have agreed that the attorney general of Florida should be permitted to appear pursuant to Florida Statute 86.091. The attorney general has entered an appearance but has waived the right to oral argument on the defendants’ motion to dismiss.

The court can take judicial notice of facts known to everyone and it is well known that the sections attacked by the plaintiffs are part of a statute which attempts to deal with the mounting costs of automobile insurance. §12 of the act deals with the problem of insurance rates and requires a 15% reduction in premiums.1

Because of the importance of this law on which millions of dollars of insurance contracts now depend, the court believes that plaintiffs’ arguments should be examined in detail.

The first argument advanced by the plaintiffs is that there is a “constitutional right” to sue for personal injury and property damage and that this “right” requires the court to ignore the “No Fault Insurance Law” barrier against this action.

The plaintiffs’ reliance on the “access to courts” provision of the Florida Constitution (article I, §21) is misplaced as is the reliance on the trial by jury (article I, §22), due process (article I, §9) and equal protection (article I, §2) provisions.2 In their insistence [180]*180that the common law right to sue cannot be modified by the legislature, the plaintiffs seek to turn these constitutional rights into guarantees that the law will forever remain static. As the United States Supreme Court said in a similar context, “[N]o person has a vested interest in any rule of law, entitling him to insist that it shall remain unchanged for his benefit.” N.Y. Central R. Co. v. White, 243 U. S. 188, 198 (1917).

The implications of the plaintiffs’ argument are vast — if there were such a constitutional doctrine, the legislature would not have the power to reform the law governing wrongful death (see chapter 72-35, Laws of Florida), provide for security deposits in stockholders derivative suits (Florida Statute 608.131), limit the award of punitive damages in libel suits (Florida Statute 770.02), or do any of a number of things that our policy making branch of government is clearly entitled to do.

The arguments of plaintiffs’ counsel are not new for they are much like those advanced in the attack on the Florida guest statute, McMillan v. Nelson, 149 Fla. 334, 5 So.2d 867 (1942)3 the assault on the statute governing punitive damages in libel actions, Ross v. Gore, 48 So.2d 412 (Fla. 1950), and the attempt to invalidate the statute exempting cash surrender values of life insurance policies from garnishment, Slotcoff v. Dezen, 76 So.2d 792 (Fla. 1954). All of these challenges were unsuccessful.

A direct parallel to the statutes that plaintiffs challenge is the workmen’s compensation laws. In the development of those laws, legislative bodies saw the evils of industrial accidents and changed the common law to provide for “no fault” recovery.3 4- There were constitutional challenges to the workmen’s compensation laws on the basis of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution, but there is no doubt concerning the constitutionality of workmen’s compensation laws. N. Y. Central R. Co. v. White, 243 U. S. 188 (1917); Arizona Employers’ Liability Cases, 250 U.S. 400 (1919).

A reading of the above Supreme Court cases, dating from the second decade of this century, will reveal that the plaintiffs’ arguments on due process and equal protection have been rejected for many years.

The plaintiffs advance a theory that the “threshold” of the statute is unconstitutional because it discriminates against them. In support [181]*181of this assertion they attach to their pleadings an exhibit which purports to show “cost trends” for “representative hospitals”. The argument advanced is seriously flawed both technically and legally.

The “threshold” of the statute is not geared merely to “hospital and medical” costs as alleged by the plaintiffs. That threshold is phrased in these words —

Section 8. Tort Exemption; limitation on right to damages. — * * *
(2) In any action of tort brought against the owner, registrant, operator or occupant of a motor vehicle with respect to which security has been provided as required by this act, or against any person or organization legally responsible for his acts or omissions, a plaintiff may recover damages in tort for pain, suffering, mental anguish and inconvenience because of bodily injury, sickness or disease arising out of the ownership, maintenance, operation or use of such motor vehicle only in the event that the benefits which are payable for such injury under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 7 or which would be payable but for any exclusion or deductible authorized by this act exceed one thousand dollars, or the injury or disease consists in whole or in part of permanent disfigurement, a fracture to a weight-bearing bone, a compound, comminuted, displaced or compressed fracture, loss of a body member, permanent injury within reasonable medical probability, permanent loss of a bodily function, or death. Any person who is entitled to receive free medical and surgical benefits shall be deemed in compliance with the requirements of this subsection upon a showing that the medical treatment received has an equivalent value of at least one thousand dollars. Any person receiving ordinary and necessary services normally performed by a nurse from a relative or a member of his household shall be entitled to include the reasonable value of such services in meeting the requirements of this subsection. (Italics added.)

The reference to paragraph (a) of subsection 7 (1) is a reference to “reasonable expenses”. Read in context, there is no question that this is a constitutional classification. The plaintiffs have not alleged and do not argue that the reasonable value of the medical services take them over the threshold.

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Related

New York Central Railroad Company v. White
243 U.S. 188 (Supreme Court, 1916)
Arizona Employers' Liability Cases
250 U.S. 400 (Supreme Court, 1919)
Slatcoff v. Dezen
76 So. 2d 792 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1954)
Ross v. Gore
48 So. 2d 412 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1950)
Pinnick v. Cleary
271 N.E.2d 592 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1971)
Grace v. Howlett
283 N.E.2d 474 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1972)
McMillan, Et Vir v. Nelson
5 So. 2d 867 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1942)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
37 Fla. Supp. 178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lasky-v-state-farm-insurance-flactyctrec7-1972.