CCL President Robert S. Peck served expert rebuttal reports on opposing counsel in the Florida Attorney General's office as part of a challenge in federal court to restrictions the state legislature enacted on marketing efforts by roofing contractors. The State, however, filed no rebuttal to the Plaintiffs' expert reports. 

     The case involves a state statute that prohibits roofing contractors from advertising in a manner that encourages or induces a homeowner to make an insurance claim for property damage, along with other restrictions on paid referrals or offering a "thing of value" as an incentive to hire the contractor. Plaintiffs Restoration Association of Florida, a trade association of contractors who repair and remediate homes after damages, such as due to a hurricane, and Apex Roofing, the largest roofing contractor in the Southeast United States, challenged the law. Their supporting experts have explained that the restrictions on the Plaintiffs' marketing efforts target commonplace advertising and marketing strategies across industries while yielding nothing to advance the State's alleged anti-fraud efforts.

      The State produced expert reports by a fraud investigator for the state-operated insurance company and the Office of Insurance Regulation's consumer advocate. Both testified that in their opinions, fraud exists, and the statute's restrictions would prevent fraud. As the Plaintiffs' experts stated in rebuttal, neither State expert provided any data or facts that would support their opinions, that the sources that could be identified for the facts asserted did not support the anti-fraud claims of the State's experts, and that empirical studies also undermine the conclusory assertions of the State's experts.

      The case continues in the discovery period.