Company Press Release

Confirmed Injustice For The Business Community: Florida's Business Community Goes On Trial, Says Associated Industries Of Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was issued today by Associated Industries of Florida:

With jury selection beginning today in the state's highly publicized tobacco trial, Floridians will witness the most unfair trial in this nation's judicial history.

Based on a decision handed down Wednesday by Circuit Court Judge Harold Cohen in West Palm Beach, jurors will be asked to render a verdict without ever hearing all the facts. Florida's Medicaid Third-Party Liability Act eliminated the tobacco industry's defense that the public was aware of the dangers of smoking. Judge Cohen also ruled that the industry may not use testimony from individual Medicaid recipients to challenge the state's claim that its statistical Medicaid damage model is free from problems of fraud, misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatments. In June of 1996, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the tobacco industry had a constitutional right to challenge individual Medicaid payments.

``I'm laying out what I think are the parameters of the case. And I know the industry disagrees with that,'' Judge Cohen said Wednesday. ``...I understand this is a very important ruling in this case. That's what we're going to have to play by and the record is set...We'll probably have some appellate law on this...I don't think there's anybody else operating under this [law] anywhere in the country. So we'll get somebody else, I'm sure, on a higher level.''

Florida's Medicaid Third-Party Liability Act was snuck past legislators in the closing hours of the 1994 Legislative Session. The law strips legal companies sued under this unfair act of affirmative courtroom defenses that exist in all other civil proceedings in every other courtroom in the nation. Those who use legal products are not required to take any personal responsibility for their actions -- corporations are held solely responsible for the acts of individuals.

``The state's business community has known the dangers of this law since its secret and deceitful passage in 1994. The Legislature has tried to repeal it. Wednesday's ruling by Judge Cohen reaffirms what AIF has contended all along and directly contradicts more than 100 years of judicial precedent,'' said Jodi L. Chase, AIF legislative consultant.

In response to Judge Cohen's ruling, AIF vowed to continue its fight to repeal once and for all Florida's Medicaid Third-Party Liability Act because Wednesday's ruling confirms that all legal businesses in Florida no longer will receive a fair trial when challenged under this skewed and inequitable law.

``This law is a threat for as long as it stays on the books. It will always attract trial lawyers and people who have a grudge against some industry,'' said Jon L. Shebel, AIF's president and CEO. ``When the law is read, one simply realizes that it poses the most severe threat to Florida businesses that anyone can find in the statutes today.''

So who is next? As AIF has said time and time again, this law does not mention tobacco. It is clear that the statute relates to any and all legal products and can be used against anyone.

AIF is a statewide employers association representing more than 8,000 businesses that range from large multinational corporations to small family-owned enterprises. Associated Industries is commonly known as ``The Voice of Florida Business.''

SOURCE: Associated Industries of Florida