THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COURTROOM MEANS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE VOTE, TOO

An interesting story from today's Fort Myers News-Press about a Southwest Florida legislator who changed jobs from defending deep pocket clients against personal injury lawsuits to representing plaintiffs who are suing those clients he used to defend:

Jeff Kottkamp used to defend corporate behemoths such as Publix Super Markets against personal injury lawsuits.

But in August, the Cape Coral Republican lawmaker moved to the opposite side of the courtroom — he left one of the oldest law firms in Florida to join the plaintiff's practice at Morgan & Morgan, which has won multimillion-dollar verdicts suing those same companies.

Kottkamp also is finding himself on a new team in Tallahassee, fighting against a top political priority of the companies he once defended: repealing the Florida law that lets injury victims go after deep-pocketed defendants.

Last month, the veteran conservative voted against a House bill that would throw out the long-held legal doctrine of "joint and several liability," whereby a guilty defendant in a suit can be forced to pay more than its share of the money damages.

It was the first time Kottkamp had voted against a tort bill in his five-year legislative career. He says there's no connection between his job change and his opposition to the business-backed tort change this year.

"I vote with the business lobby 95 percent of the time," the lawmaker said.

But the shift hasn't escaped notice with influential business groups waging a high-stakes push to get rid of the legal doctrine this year.

There was only one other Republican who voted against the bill. Residents in the district of Representative Kevin Ambler (R - Lutz) received attack mailers over the weekend paid for by the Florida Retail Foundation via it's PAC, the Florida Mainstream Merchants. Among the companies contributing to the "527" fund were Publix, Chico's, Yum! Brands (they own Kentucky Fried Chcken, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and other fast food restaurants), and Wal Mart Stores.