November 02, 2004

With 22 percent of precincts reporting, Florida's Amendment 3 to limit lawyers' fees in malpractice cases is leading with 1,291,647 or 64.4% of votes "yes" and 715,125 or 35.6% "no". Barring a truly unprecedented turnaround, the measure seems headed for passage by a comfortable margin, a crushing defeat for both the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers and for the Florida Bar Association and American Bar Association, both of which intervened on the "no" side. Amendments 7 and 8 are also passing by even wider margins.