After a bruising morning in the House, the trial lawyer lobby is seeing at least a ray of hope that this session isn't a complete disaster, as some predict.

The Senate Judiciary Committee agreed to a compromise measure that allows parents to sign liability waivers for their children.
The bill (SB2440) would let parents waive inherent risk but not gross
negligence, as the House version states. The theme parks didn't agree
with the result but most litigation reform advocates acquiesced to the
change.

However, the Senate committee had no appetite for trial
lawyer-backed amendments on the issue of "slip and fall" lawsuits, SB
2440. Chairman Sen. Joe Negron withdrew an amendment to make
businesses keep records on accidents, instead offering language to
conform with the House version (HB689), which passed with overwhelming
(110-2) support. House Republicans killed two similar amendments on the
floor.

The Senate also advanced a bill to increase the caps on
civil claims against the state and local governments from $100,000 to
$200,000 and a total of $200,000 to $300,000 per incident. The trial
lawyers initially wanted a much larger increase to the sovereign
immunity caps, which haven't changed since 1981. A House committee also
rejected that proposal earlier in the week.