Numerous big Florida legal issues were pending in state and federal courts as 2025 kicked off. Many revolve around health care. Here are some to watch in 2025:
MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY: A federal district judge heard testimony this past summer in a class-action lawsuit about people who were dropped from Florida’s Medicaid program after the end of a federal public health emergency declared because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit alleges the state did not properly inform people before dropping them from the program.
TRANSGENDER LAWS: The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering a challenge to a Florida law that bans Medicaid coverage for transgender people seeking hormone therapy and puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria. It also is weighing a law that prevents minors from starting to receive such treatments and adds restrictions for adults seeking the treatments.
CAMPUS CLOSURES: After COVID-19 temporarily shut down university campuses in 2020, lawsuits were filed in Florida and across the country arguing students should receive refunds of money they paid. The Florida Supreme Court is weighing a lawsuit filed against the University of Florida over fees paid for services such as transportation, health care and athletics.
SOCIAL MEDIA RESTRICTIONS: State lawmakers concerned about the mental health of children passed a high-profile measure in 2024 that seeks to prevent children under age 16 from opening social media accounts on some platforms — though it would allow parents to give consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts. Tech-industry groups are challenging the law on First Amendment grounds.
OPIOID SETTLEMENT: After losing at an appellate court, Attorney General Ashley Moody has gone to the Florida Supreme Court in a potentially high-stakes fight about whether hospital districts and school boards should be able to pursue opioid epidemic lawsuits after she reached settlements with the pharmaceutical industry.
LAB-GROWN MEAT: Upside Foods has appealed to the 11th Circuit after a federal judge rejected the California company’s request to halt a Florida law banning “cultivated” meat. Upside grows a chicken product in a lab from cultured animal cells that federal agencies have approved for sale. State officials say they question the safety of lab-grown meats.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA: In November, state health officials announced they intend to award medical marijuana licenses to 22 of the 74 applicants. (A 2017 law calls for boosting the number of licenses as the number of eligible patients grows.) Those notifications, which followed an 18-month selection process, are expected to trigger legal challenges by those who lost out, stalling the final issuance of the licenses for months.