New House Speaker Takes Aim at High Court

Friday, December 9, 2016 | 1

Florida cannot pass pro-business legislation without reforming the state’s judiciary, new House Speaker Richard Corcoran told the Associated Industries of Florida’s annual conference Monday.

Rep. Richard Corcoran

Corcoran is expected to focus on overhauling the courts, specifically the Supreme Court, which he views as the main obstacle to free-market reforms, dailybusinessreview.com reported.

Five of the high court’s seven justices are liberals, the news site said, and have “repeatedly frustrated the Republican-dominated Legislature.”

In a 5-2 decision April 28, the Supreme Court ruled Florida’s cap on injured workers’ attorney fees unconstitutional. The ruling was mainly responsible for triggering a 14.5% rate increase enacted Dec. 1 and will cost employers and insurers more than $1.5 billion in funded and unfunded liabilities, the National Council on Compensation Insurance says.

Corcoran, a Republican who represents District 37 north of Tampa, has pitched the idea of 12-year term limits for judges, but opponents say the move would make attorneys think twice before leaving their law practices for the bench.

In 2012, Corcoran tried to defeat three Supreme Court justices in merit-retention votes, but he told the conference that business groups refused to put up the $3 million to $6 million it would have taken to defeat Justices R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince, dailybusinessreview.com reported.