Art. I, § 26, Fla. Const. · Article I. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
Claimant’s right to fair compensation.
Text — As revised in 1968 and subsequently amended (Online Sunshine, retrieved 2026-10-04)
(a) Article I, Section 26 is created to read “Claimant’s right to fair compensation.” In any medical liability claim involving a contingency fee, the claimant is entitled to receive no less than 70% of the first $250,000.00 in all damages received by the claimant, exclusive of reasonable and customary costs, whether received by judgment, settlement, or otherwise, and regardless of the number of defendants. The claimant is entitled to 90% of all damages in excess of $250,000.00, exclusive of reasonable and customary costs and regardless of the number of defendants. This provision is self-executing and does not require implementing legislation.
(b) This Amendment shall take effect on the day following approval by the voters.
Notes and commentary — not constitutional text
History
Proposed by Initiative Petition filed with the Secretary of State September 8, 2003; adopted 2004.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As revised in 1968 and subsequently amended (Online Sunshine, retrieved 2026-10-04)
- Official file
- https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?Mode=Constitution&Submenu=3&Tab=statutes
- Text hash
- sha256 72e24491f936ee5f6d486f56b36a719376a5479e600a375acb7aceb5788b2d7b
- Composed by
- compose_v2.py 2026-10-04: the Legislature's structured HTML read in document order; verify_v2.py's independent reading agrees character for character
- composed from the Legislature's structured HTML (one source of text; no PDF extraction); a second, independent reading of the same bytes agrees character for character
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.