Florida Amendment 3, Compensation in Medical Liability Suits Initiative (2004)

Florida Amendment 3
Election date November 2, 2004
Topic Tort law
Status Approved
Type Initiated constitutional amendment	Origin Citizens

Florida Amendment 3 was on the ballot as an initiated constitutional amendment in Florida on November 2, 2004. It was approved.

A “yes” vote supported establishing that claimants in medical liability suits who enter a contingent fee agreement with their attorney receive a minimum of 70% of the first $250,000.00 in damages and 90% of damages in excess of $250,000.00.

A “no” vote opposed establishing that claimants in medical liability suits who enter a contingent fee agreement with their attorney receive a minimum of 70% of the first $250,000.00 in damages and 90% of damages in excess of $250,000.00.

Election results

Florida Amendment 3
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		4,583,164	63.61%
No		2,622,143	36.39%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Amendment 3 was as follows:

“

Proposes to amend the State Constitution to provide that an injured claimant who enters into a contingency fee agreement with an attorney in a claim for medical liability is entitled to no less than 70% of the first $250,000.00 in all damages received by the claimant, and 90% of damages in excess of $250,000.00, exclusive of reasonable and customary costs and regardless of the number of defendants. This amendment is intended to be self-executing.

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Constitutional changes

The text of the amendment read:

Section 1. Article I, Section 26 is created to read "Claimant's right to fair compensation." In any medical liability claim involving a contingency fee, the claimant is entitled to receive no less than 70% of the first $250,000.00 in all damages received by the claimant, exclusive of reasonable and customary costs, whether received by judgement, settlement, or otherwise, and regardless of the number of defendants. The claimant is entitled to 90% of all damages in excess of $250,000.00, exclusive of reasonable and customary costs and regardless of the number of defendants. This provision is self- executing and does not require implementing legislation. This Amendment shall take effect on the day following approval by the voters.

Path to the ballot

See also: Signature requirements for ballot measures in Florida

The ballot measure was an initiated constitutional amendment. Proponents collected signatures to place the initiative on the ballot.

See also

2004 Measures

• 2004 Measures
• Tort law on the ballot
• 2004 legislative sessions

Florida

• Florida ballot measures
• Florida ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Florida Division of Elections, "Initiatives / Amendments / Revisions Database"