Legislature settles on increase to sovereign immunity caps

The House and Senate have reached a settlement on sovereign immunity caps. Both chambers passed legislation (HB 145) to send the matter to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Rep. Fiona McFarland, a Sarasota Republican who made a priority this Session of lifting settlement limits for Florida governments, urged colleagues in the House to accept lower caps than the lower chamber approved in January.

McFarland filed a bill this year to increase Florida’s current sovereign immunity caps from $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident to $500,000 per person and $1 million per incident beginning in 2026. But when the Senate took up the bill, it cut those amounts to $350,000 per person and $500,000 per incident.

“Although this isn’t the full amount that I have been asking the House to support for a number of years, I think this will still do a lot of good for those victims who have been a victim of negligence by their local government,” McFarland said.

The bill has drawn strong opposition from local governments across the state. Sen. Jason Brodeur, a Sanford Republican, filed an amendment on Tuesday with the reduced limits. The Senate approved that change in the language before approving the bill via a 36-0 vote.

McFarland brought the bill with the changes back to the floor a day before the scheduled end of the Regular Session. But the new language and limits attracted scrutiny.

Rep. Lindsay Cross, a St. Petersburg Democrat, questioned if the lower caps limit the effectiveness of the change. She noted that several claims bills passed by the Legislature this Session would not be impacted by the change.

“I’m wondering if the caps that the Senate is proposing are adequate,” she said.

But McFarland said the change still represented an improvement. She also noted that many of the larger claims, such as a $4.1 million settlement for a Miami man whose leg was partially amputated after being hit by a public bus, would have landed before the Legislature even if caps were raised to $1 million.

She also said even a change to $350,000 could improve the access of Floridians to legal help.

“If an attorney is looking at a total possible compensation for their client for $200,000 it can disincentivize that victim’s ability to retain an attorney,” she said. “If that number is $350,000, my hope is that it opens the door for more attorneys to be able to bring a valid claim to suit.”