A considerable amount of commentator and jurisprudential ink has been spilled on Florida’s product liability statute of repose through the years. The statute was first enacted in 1974, held unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court in 1980, declared constitutional again in 1985, repealed by the legislature in 1986, and later re-enacted in 1999. This “on again, off again” history made it incredibly difficult for attorneys litigating product liability claims to know with any degree of certainty whether their actions were barred by the statute of repose and, as a result, a considerable amount of litigation arose out of this confusion. However, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the multifaceted and often complex issues that arise in interpreting and applying the statute’s tolling provision.
Continue reading Stephanie Simm and Donald Blackwell's article in The Florida Bar Journal here.