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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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An act relating to advertisements for legal services; 2
creating s. 501.139, F.S.; defining terms; specifying 3
prohibited practices relating to advertisements for 4
legal services; requiring persons and entities that 5
issue advertisements for legal services to solicit 6
certain clients to include specified information and 7
statements in such advertisements; providing 8
requirements for such written and verbal statements; 9
providing that the person or entity that issues an 10
advertisement for legal services is solely responsible 11
for ensuring such advertisements comply with specified 12
provisions; providing media entities with immunity 13
from liability for disseminating another perso n's or 14
entity's advertisement for legal services which 15
violates specified provisions; providing 16
applicability; prohibiting the use, obtaining, sale, 17
transfer, or disclosure of a consumer's protected 18
health information for a specified purpose without 19
written authorization; providing an exception; 20
providing that certain violations are deemed deceptive 21
and unfair trade practices; providing construction; 22
providing an effective date. 23
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Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 25
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
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Section 1. Section 501.139, Florida Statutes, is created 27
to read: 28
501.139 Advertisements for legal services. - 29
(1) As used in this section, the term: 30
(a) "Advertisement for legal services" means any 31
representation disseminated in any manner through a media entit y 32
for the purpose of soliciting prospective clients for legal 33
services. The term includes such solicitation by a person with 34
the intent to transfer data obtained from the consumer to one or 35
more attorneys for legal services. 36
(b) "Media entity" means a ra dio broadcast station, a 37
television broadcast station, a cable television company, a 38
newspaper company, a periodical company, a billboard company, an 39
advertising agency, a digital media platform, or a bona fide 40
news or public interest website operator. 41
(c) "Protected health information" has the same meaning as 42
provided in 45 C.F.R. s. 160.103. 43
(d) "Solicit" means attempting to procure a client for 44
legal services by initiating unsolicited personal, telephone, or 45
real-time electronic contact or by advertising such services 46
through print media, video or audio recorded advertisements, or 47
electronic communications . 48
(2) A person or an entity that issues an advertisement for 49
legal services may not do any of the following: 50
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(a) Present the advertisement as a medical alert, health 51
alert, drug alert, or public service announcement or use any 52
substantially similar phrase that suggests to a reasonable 53
consumer that the advertisement is offering professional or 54
medical advice or advice from a state or federal gover nmental 55
entity or an entity approved by or affiliated with a state or 56
federal governmental entity. 57
(b) Display the logo of a state or federal governmental 58
entity in a manner that suggests to a reasonable consumer that 59
the advertisement is presented by a state or federal 60
governmental entity or an entity approved by or affiliated with 61
a state or federal governmental entity. 62
(c) Use the term "recall" when referring to a product that 63
has not been recalled in accordance with applicable state or 64
federal regulations. 65
(3) A person or an entity that issues a n advertisement for 66
legal services to solicit clients who may allege injury from a 67
prescription drug or medical device approved by the United 68
States Food and Drug Administration shall include all of the 69
following in the advertisement : 70
(a) The statement, "This is a paid advertisement for legal 71
services," which must appear at the beginning of the 72
advertisement. 73
(b) The identity of the sponsor of the advertisement. 74
(c) Either the identity of the attorney or the law firm 75
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
that will be primarily responsible for providing the solicited 76
legal services to a consumer who engages the attorney or the law 77
firm in response to the advertisement or an explanation of how a 78
responding consumer's case will be referred to an attorney or a 79
law firm if the sponsor of the advertisement is not licensed to 80
practice law. 81
(d) A statement that the prescription drug or medical 82
device approved by the United States Food and Drug 83
Administration remains approved unless it has been recalled in 84
accordance with applicable state or federal regulations. 85
(e) The statement, "Consult your physician before making 86
any decision regarding prescribed medication or medical 87
treatment." 88
(4) The statements r equired to appear in an advertisement 89
under this section must be made in both written and verbal 90
formats, except that a print-only advertisement may include the 91
statements in written format only and an audio -only 92
advertisement may include the statements in verbal format only. 93
(a) Required written statements must appear in a clear and 94
conspicuous font and manner and, for visual advertisements, must 95
appear on screen for a sufficient length of time for a 96
reasonable consumer to read the statement. A written s tatement 97
is presumed to comply with the requirements of this subsection 98
if it appears in the same font style and size and for the same 99
duration as a printed reference to the telephone number or 100
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
website that a consumer is to use to contact the entity for th e 101
advertised legal services, provided that such duration is at 102
least 10 seconds. 103
(b) Required verbal statements must be audible, 104
intelligible, and presented with equal prominence and speed as 105
the other parts of the advertisement. A verbal statement is 106
presumed to comply with the requirements of this subsection if 107
it is made at approximately the same volume and uses 108
approximately the same number of words per minute as used when 109
presenting other information in the advertisement which is not 110
required under this section. 111
(5) The person or entity that issues an advertisement for 112
legal services is solely responsible for ensuring that such 113
advertisement complies with this section, and a media entity may 114
not be held liable or subjected to any penalty for produ cing, 115
distributing, transmitting, displaying, publishing, or otherwise 116
disseminating another person's or entity's advertisement for 117
legal services which violates this section. 118
(6) This section does not apply to an advertisement that 119
has been reviewed and approved by an ethics or disciplinary 120
committee of The Florida Bar in accordance with its rules of 121
professional conduct. 122
(7) A person or an entity may not use, cause to be used, 123
obtain, sell, transfer, or disclose a consumer's protected 124
health information to another person or entity for the purpose 125
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of soliciting the consumer for legal services without written 126
authorization from that consumer. This subsection does not apply 127
to the use or disclosure of protected health information to an 128
individual's legal representative in the course of any judicial 129
or administrative proceeding or as otherwise permitted or 130
required by law. 131
(8) A violation of this section is deemed a deceptive and 132
unfair trade practice subject to enforcement under part II of 133
this chapter. 134
(9) This section does not limit or otherwise affect the 135
authority of The Florida Bar to regulate the practice of law, 136
enforce its rules of professional conduct, or discipline any 137
person admitted to practice law in this state . 138
Section 2. This act shal l take effect July 1, 2023. 139