Trucking for tort reform

By Alix Miller

“Three yards and a cloud of dust, Miller.”

A highly esteemed colleague in Washington said that to me a few months ago when I was tired after spending most of my time on the road. It’s an expression dating back to the 1950s, when football was physical and players methodically pushed themselves down the field, rather than the popular NFL style that favors quarterbacks and high-flying passes, leaving more to chance.

Woody Hayes referenced the phrase in 1959: “Some newspapermen call our attack ‘three yards and a cloud of dust.’ But we don’t care what the offense is called as long as it wins football games. I’m willing to take three and onethird yards on every play and force the other guy to make mistakes.”

In 2021, 100 trucking executives gathered together in the Omni Jacksonville — the only cars in the parking lot of an empty hotel and a quiet downtown.

The Florida trucking leaders in the room that day were frustrated. They were heroes across the country for never missing a day of work during the pandemic. Their drivers, mechanics, dock loaders and support staff never missed a beat — delivering food, medicine and fuel every single day. They kept the country and the economy running as the world had shut down.

The trucking profession had never been praised so highly.

But these trucking leaders didn’t show up in Jacksonville that day to pat themselves on the back. They showed up because while the world was showering them with praise, billboard trial lawyers were putting them out of business.

Ninety-seven percent of trucking companies are small, with fewer than 20 trucks. These companies couldn’t survive many more months of the onslaught.

I established a Tort Reform Task Force with a nimble group of 10 executives and our lobbyist of 18 years, Chris Dudley of The Southern Group, as we pledged our time and resources to craft a strategy and combat lawsuit abuse.

The Task Force met weekly, and scheduled a hundred different educational and strategy sessions with trucking companies, insurance experts and defense lawyers. We reviewed dozens of cases and learned where the abuse was happening; where the judicial roadblocks were located; what was working in other states; and solutions specific to Florida.

We met with the incoming leadership in the Legislature, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner. I crisscrossed the state for speaking engagements, conferences and meetings with legislators to tell our story.

We worked closely with Gov. Ron DeSantis and his team to craft a proposal that would be historic and comprehensive.

After all the time and effort of the prior two years, the industry was prepared for a battle that ultimately proved to be both vicious and quick.

By week three of the 2023 Regular Session, the Legislature had passed, and the Governor had signed, HB 837, the most comprehensive tort reform package in the history of Florida, with the Florida Trucking Association honored to stand by his side.