Florida car rental companies let off the hook by Florida Court of Appeals

A recent Florida court decision in a case out of Palm Beach County lets the car rental agencies in Florida avoid legal liability for accidents caused by renters negligently driving their cars.

Florida law provides that the owner of any motor vehicle is primarily responsible for any accidents and injuries caused by anyone driving their car.  The original concept of liability is based on the fact that cars/trucks are dangerous instrumentalities and that the owner should be responsible for the actions of anyone he entrusts the vehicle to.

Florida also passed a vicarious liability law which makes every owner legally responsible for any accident caused by their vehicle.

But the Federal government in Washington decided to let the rental car companies who rent cars to people off the hook for rentals of 1 year or less.  The federal legislation, passed in 2005, is called the Graves Amendment, and preempts or takes precedence over any state law to the contrary. 

It seems ironic that the Republican Party which champions States Rights was behind the change in the law that says that federal law trumps State Law.                  

The real victim of this change is every person in Florida that has been or will be injured by the careless driver of a rental car.

There is no rational basis to exempt car rental agencies from their legal responsibility especially since they have the right to determine who they will rent cars to.  They can easily access driving records and decide if they want to rent a car to the applicant. The people of the state of Florida deserve to be protected from negligent drivers no matter who owns the car. 

In the long run we will all have to pay for the medical expenses incurred by innocent victims who have no health insurance and must turn to the State Medicaid system to pay their medical bills.

Let's hope that the Florida Supreme Court reverses the lower court and reinstates the existing law in Florida and provides much needed protection to everyone on the road.