Florida Governor Ron DeSantis gives opening remarks at the Federalist Society Annual Lawyers Convention at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, on Thursday, November 14, 2019. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Once on top of the national list, Florida was downgraded Tuesday to a "watch list" in the latest Judicial Hellholes report.

Florida slid from the top hole in 2017 to second place last year to an unnumbered candidate to watch in the annual report released by the defense-friendly American Tort Reform Foundation.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the altered makeup of the Florida Supreme Court are credited with improving Florida's legal climate from the perspective of the 300-member foundation backed by businesses, municipalities, associations and professional firms.

Florida "took great strides toward improving its legal climate," the report said. While finding "much work" still needs to be done, the foundation said DeSantis' election "heralded a sea change in Florida's legal landscape."

The foundation cited his appointments of three new justices to the seven-member high court. Two are already gone with the elevation of Justices Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, flipping the Atlanta court to a majority nominated by Republicans.

In Tallahassee, the "new restrained" high court "is deferential to legislative efforts to stop lawsuit abuse and poised to correct the course set by the prior activist court," the report said.

Quoting from a SunSentinel.com report, the foundation said DeSantis' appointments made it the "most conservative Florida Supreme Court in decades."

The nonprofit said the court "is returning sense to Florida's civil justice system," notably for switching expert testimony from the Frye to Daubert standard.

DeSantis has two more chances to shape the court by replacing the short-timers. Lagoa and Luck are both from South Florida, but only one seat is guaranteed for South Florida under court rules.

The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature was recognized as a point of light for passing a bad faith insurance law that alters appraisal rights.

The foundation also liked the Legislature's change to a pro-insurance company assignment of benefits law and passage of liability restrictions for construction equipment leasing companies.

Still on the to-do list, the foundation pressed lawmakers to fix the state's no-fault auto insurance system, "inflated awards" for medical expenses and lawsuit advertising.

Cohen Milstein partner Leslie Mitchell Kroeger in Palm Beach Gardens, president of the plaintiffs bar's Florida Justice Association, responded by saying, "Florida has never been a judicial hell hole."

"Access to the courts is one of our nation's most important inalienable rights. For any special interest group to imply that accessing our courts for redress is somehow wrong is simply offensive," she wrote by email. "Having a judicial system that is both accessible and fair for all is what will ensure our state continues to be open for business, while also protecting the rights of consumers whenever there is wrongdoing."

In terms of the annual rankings, it helped that Florida didn't see any megaverdicts, in contrast to this year's front-funner, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, the home of an $8 billion verdict in one of about 7,000 cases alleging the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal caused autistic boys to grow breasts.

The Top 10 was rounded out by perennial foundation target California, New York City, Louisiana, St. Louis, Georgia, Chicago-area courts, Oklahoma, the Minnesota Supreme Court and the New Jersey Legislature.

Georgia, with some nuclear verdicts and big premises liability awards, and Oklahoma, which successfully brought Johnson & Johnson to trial in opioid litigation, are newcomers to the list.

The report highlighted some of the same trends a year ago, such as the use of "junk science" at trials, class actions over food packaging and state attorneys general suing over opioids and climate change, many using outside law firms. Those cases, asserting an "expansive view of public nuisance law," also include cities and counties suing for damages. Other trends in 2019 were legislation to ban arbitration in employment cases and new data privacy laws.

Amanda Bronstad contributed to this report.

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