A newly enacted Florida law aims to establish clear liability and insurance rules for commuter rail service along the Coastal Link corridor — the stretch of railway shared by Brightline and Florida East Coast Railway (FECR) through Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
Effective July 1, the Coastal Link Commuter Rail Service Act (CS/HB 867) allows public agencies to assume certain indemnification obligations and purchase insurance in connection with the operation of commuter rail services on the corridor. The act authorizes state and local agencies that enter into agreements with Brightline to take on risks related to accidents involving their passengers and others classified as “rail corridor invitees.”
Under the statute, agencies may indemnify Brightline or FECR for liability, costs, and expenses arising from incidents involving the agency’s own passengers and invitees, “regardless of whether the loss… is caused in whole or in part, and to whatever nature or degree, by the fault… of such freight rail operator.” However, in the case of a “limited covered accident” — defined as a collision between trains caused by “willful misconduct” — any indemnity exceeding a $5 million “self-insurance retention amount” can only apply if the private operator also indemnifies the agency up to the same amount.
The act places a firm ceiling on liability coverage: “not [to] exceed $323 million per occurrence,” consistent with the federal liability cap in 49 U.S.C. s. 28103. This limit includes “claims for punitive damages.”
The law also permits agencies to establish a self-insurance fund, which must be maintained as a separate account and is subject to the same restrictions and conditions as the policies it supports. While these provisions allow for broader risk-sharing in public-private rail partnerships, the legislation makes clear that none of them constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity or an increase in the statutory liability caps outlined in s. 768.28.
Notably, Brightline and FECR are explicitly “not officers, agents, employees, or subdivisions of the state,” and therefore do not receive sovereign immunity protections.
For insurers and reinsurers, the law signals new contractual structures where public entities bear risk even in accidents involving private operators — but only within tightly defined boundaries. As commuter rail service expands on shared-use corridors, the statute provides a legal framework for liability allocation that aligns with insurance capacity and federal safety mandates.
