For decades, “billboard lawyers” were untouchable as they plastered highways with promises of easy money, weaponized emotion and turned lawsuits into a profit machine.

As personal-injury law firms flourished, industries and governments cowered, insurance premiums soared, and ordinary Americans — playing by the rules — paid the price.

But Florida decided enough was enough, and the results are impossible to ignore.

Two years ago, lawmakers in the Sunshine State rolled out a series of reforms targeting the very engine of the scam: runaway attorney fees, exploitative claims practices and a court system primed to reward volume lawsuits.

Florida Republicans’ tort-reform efforts in 2023 cut off the special fee system that allowed personal-injury attorneys to cash in endlessly, shut down an auto-glass provision that turned courts into casinos, and set deadlines so cases would not drag on for years, jacking up lawyers’ take.

They took away the tricks that made suing so profitable — and now, auto insurance rates are falling there for the first time in years.

Florida’s five largest auto insurers, which collectively cover nearly 80% of the market, are cutting premiums by an average of 6.5% this year.

Before these reforms, premiums had been skyrocketing by up to 30% in a single year.

Clamping down on billboard lawyers is good for drivers’ and homeowners’ budgets, but a larger social dynamic is at play.

The story here isn’t just about insurance, but about reclaiming public life from predatory litigation.

That’s because billboard lawyers don’t just attack wallets. They attack the spaces where communities live and play.

Last year, one Pennsylvania town closed all its playgrounds because of its insurance company’s fear of potential lawsuits.

Other cities have shut down sledding hills on public property and closed public pools, once a summer refuge for families of all incomes. 

These public places and many others have suffered the collateral damage of rampant litigation, because the cost of defending a single lawsuit could sink a city budget.

Florida’s reforms signal that these predatory practices can be stopped — that the common good doesn’t have to be auctioned off to whomever sues first. 

Billboard lawyers across America figured out how to weaponize emotion at scale.

The result? More billboards. More lawsuits. Higher costs. Less fun. 

If we want to reclaim what we’ve lost, it starts with recognizing the problem.

State and municipal governments are getting obliterated by lawsuits.

Broke and terrified of bad press, our governments fold.

When they do, the money comes from our schools, our street repairs, and all the other needs of civil society.

The lawyer gets rich, the sidewalk still doesn’t get fixed, our insurance rates and taxes go up.

And the playgrounds are gone.

These lawsuits are not just a racket. They reflect a culture that has permeated across American life — loud, and completely insulated from consequence.

Billboard lawyers advertise across highways, bus stops, television, and radio. It’s hard to even call it advertising; it’s campaigning.

Yet Florida found a way to stop this madness.

It turns out when you refuse to let a lawyer file 100 lawsuits a day, things get cheaper. 

Florida’s reforms have been so successful that self-proclaimed “Pot Daddy” and billionaire billboard lawyer John Morgan — who has donated millions to Democrats and has hosted the Clintons, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi for fundraisers at his home — is thinking of running for governor as an “independent,” just to roll back the legislative reforms led by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

That tells us everything we need to know. 

The end game is obvious: If communities and governments don’t take a stand, parks, playgrounds and every facet of community life could vanish — auctioned off to the most aggressive billboard lawyer.  

Florida led the charge to crack down on these lawsuit-for-profit practices, and Georgia passed similar laws earlier this year.

Other states should follow suit. If we don’t fight back, what’s left of public life will belong to whoever sues first.

When society stops punishing bad actors, it starts rewarding the most shameless ones. And the lowest life form of American commerce, it turns out, is the billboard tort bar.

Josh Hammer is Newsweek senior editor-at-large and host of “The Josh Hammer Show.”