In a product liability case, the defendant often finds themselves in a position where the plaintiff is drastically inflating, or perhaps inflating their medical costs, as well as the projected costs in the future. In the past, part of the monetary amount that the plaintiff was awarded in these types of cases was in the form of collateral benefits in the future. However, the game has changed and defendants may be looking at forking over more money straight away in the state of Florida, which has made some modifications to their legislation, which affects quite a bit of people.
The fact that most people will be able to get medicare at some point in their lives has cause quite a bit of problems for those defendants in these types of product liability cases, as well as those lawyers that have been hired by such defendants. The change in policy stems mainly from the fact that as we go through life and things change, the health insurance plans that we are on may change, which directly affects the source of the funds that were delivered in a case where a defendant was found guilt for a product liability case. There were several prominent cases that led to this decision. One such case was of a man that was developmentally disabled and happened to live with and receive care from his parents, throughout the entirety of his life. He happened to be hit by a car while he was riding a bike and subsequently sued State Farm Auto Insurance. However, the court was not allowed to here any information regarding the individuals medicare, which would have affected the way that the entire case played out.
The entire debate really is about where the money that is coming to various plaintiffs in these types of cases is sourced, as a lot of it in the past has been sourced from medical plans far in the future. The overall basis of this decision that has been made by the state of Florida takes away some of the protection that defendants in similar cases may have, although it generally appears that the situation is better for anyone that may be injured by a product or a company for any reason. There is no question that it is going to affect the way businesses and manufacturers address their business protocol, the insurance that they have, and their general business practices.