After Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed a measure that gave a legal protection to utilities, Florida Power & Light is asking a judge to toss out a class-action lawsuit stemming from power outages in Hurricane Irma.
FPL filed a motion Wednesday in Miami-Dade County circuit court to dismiss the long-running lawsuit. It pointed to part of the new law that says a “utility is not liable for damages based in whole or in part on changes in the reliability, continuity, or quality of utility services which arise in any way out of an emergency or disaster” and gives the Florida Public Service Commission authority to resolve issues about disaster preparedness and response.
“The Florida Legislature enacted this statute to provide that the Public Service Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over public-utility service ‘issues’ that arise ‘in any way’ from an emergency or disaster,” FPL’s attorneys wrote in the motion. “Plaintiffs’ complaint in this case directly implicates myriad issues of utility disaster preparedness and response — all of which must be ‘resolved’ by the PSC — so this court cannot continue to exercise jurisdiction over this case.”
