A Florida district-court judge again denied an injunction thatwould halt implementation of Florida's personal injury protectionreform law signed in May last year.

Judge Richard Lazzara, in the United States District Court,Middle District of Florida, in Tampa, issued the order after agroup of chiropractors, massage therapists and acupuncturists askedhim to reconsider an earlier order he issued on Dec. 12, 2012 denying the group'smotion.

Lazzara called the plaintiffs' motion “passionate,” but saidthat “no matter to what degree this court may sympathize withPlaintiffs' plight of suffering potential economic loss by virtueof this newly enacted legislation, the court must be guided by therule of law….”

To that end, Lazzara says the plaintiffs' contention is “thatthey possess a fundamental property right in their professionallicenses to practice chiropractic medicine, acupuncture medicine,and massage therapy by virtue of their licensure by the State ofFlorida to practice those healing arts.” Therefore, according toLazzara, plaintiffs argue that “amendments to the PIP Act whichconstrain, in the case of a chiropractic physician, and eliminate,in the case of an acupuncture physician and a massage therapist,their ability to seek reimbursement for professional servicesrendered to a person injured in a motor vehicle collision under thepersonal injury protection provisions of an automobile insurancepolicy deny them due process of law and the equal protection of thelaws under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.”

But he adds, “What Plaintiffs fail to grasp is that althoughthey do have a state-created property interest in theirprofessional licenses, that interest is only subject to proceduraldue process protection and not substantive due processprotection.”

Responding to the decision, R Street Florida Director ChristianR. Cámara says, “[Florida Governor Rick] Scott and the FloridaLegislature heard the calls from Florida consumers about theirrunaway auto-insurance costs and took action to cut out the fraudand unscrupulous claims that were driving up rates. The federalcourt did the right thing in upholding those cost-saving,pro-consumer reforms by throwing out this lawsuit. It isunfortunate that opponents of reform who couldn't get their way inthe Capitol last year insist on using the courts to legislate ontheir behalf.”

R Street notes that Lazzara's decision allows the plaintiffs toproceed with a separate suit in Florida state court. That suit,says R Street, is Myers, et al vs. Kevin McCarty, and was filed Jan. 9in Tallahassee in the Second Judicial Circuit Court for LeonCounty.