Lakeland Ledger – Florida Justice Reform Institute

How much do you pay for property insurance in Florida? Here’s some good news. | Opinion

March 14, 2025/in Lakeland Ledger

Between 2019 and 2023, average homeowner premiums in Florida surged nearly 60%.

William Large – Florida Justice Reform Institute
March 14, 2025
Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this month revealed good news when it comes to Florida’s insurance market. Yes, good news.

During the last three years, the Florida Legislature has passed meaningful reforms to address unrestrained litigation and reign in skyrocketing attorneys’ fees, and their efforts are bringing down the cost of insurance, inviting more competition into the market and giving consumers more choice for coverage on their home and auto.

Between 2019 and 2023, average homeowner premiums in Florida surged nearly 60%. Not only were homeowners paying more for property insurance, but they had access to less coverage and fewer providers to choose from.

This was partly due to a legal environment that was too friendly to lawsuits against insurers. For a long time, Florida law allowed plaintiffs’ attorneys to recover their fees if they prevailed against insurers, even if the amount they secured through litigation was minimal; these fees were “one way” because plaintiffs faced no reciprocal risk that they would have to cover the insurance company’s attorney fees if plaintiffs lost. Assignments of benefits were also misused by third parties in order to access these statutory, “one way” attorney fees

Florida homeowners were left to foot insurance bill hikes

Unfortunately, the average Florida homeowner was left to foot the bill when insurance providers were forced to raise costs to cover excessive litigation. Many insurers determined that it was too costly to do business in Florida. By the end of 2024, more than 30 insurance providers had exited Florida’s marketplace.

The reforms began in 2021 when Senate Bill 76 required plaintiffs to notify an insurer before a lawsuit is filed. In turn, insurers are given an opportunity to reconsider a coverage denial and attempt to resolve a claim before it is the subject of litigation. The legislation also offered consumers additional protections from unscrupulous contractors.

Then in 2022, Senate Bill 2D, developed and passed during a special session called by the Governor, included additional tort reforms. This legislation prohibited assignment of the right to obtain attorney fees to anyone other than an insured or beneficiary named in the policy, thus eliminating abuse of these arrangements by third parties as a way to obtain attorney fees.

Later in 2022, another special session led to the passage of Senate Bill 2A. Senate Bill 2A eliminated the statutory right to recover attorney fees in a lawsuit arising under a residential or commercial property insurance policy.

Importantly, this legislation also implemented greater protections for consumers. The law requires insurance companies to be more responsive to their customers by limiting the time they have to respond to claims.

Building on these reforms, the Florida Legislature also passed House Bill 837 in 2023 to eliminate exorbitant attorney’s fees, strengthen negligence standards and provide stronger defense to those targeted by excessive litigation.

While our state leaders acted swiftly to develop, pass and implement solutions, we knew it would take time for these policies to stabilize the market. Now, the trends are moving in the right direction, providing much-needed relief to Florida’s homeowners.

Florida has 11 new insurance providers

In 2024, Florida had the lowest average homeowners’ premium increases in the nation, with an average statewide rate hike of just 1%. At the same time, premiums in other states have surged by more than 20%.

In addition, there are 11 new insurance providers in the market. And the providers that remain are expanding their business and filing for rate decreases.

This is only the beginning. As timelines run out for trial attorneys to pursue litigation under the more litigation-friendly law, the environment will continue to stabilize, reducing the burden of excessive litigation and bringing down costs even further.

William W. Large

Our state is proof that strong conservative leadership on the state level can lead to meaningful reforms. The steps our Governor and Legislature have taken are bringing stability to the market, leading to more choices and lower costs for Florida homeowners.

William Large is the president of the Florida Justice Reform Institute.

https://www.theledger.com/story/opinion/columns/your-voice/2025/03/14/florida-home-property-insurance-desantis/82241314007/

Justices Go Against Legislature on Expert Witnesses

February 16, 2017/in Lakeland Ledger

Justices go against Legislature on expert witnesses

Pointing to “grave constitutional concerns,” the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a controversial 2013 move by lawmakers to tighten a standard for expert witnesses in legal cases.

By Jim Saunders The News Service of Florida

Posted Feb 16, 2017 at 8:46 PM

TALLAHASSEE — Pointing to “grave constitutional concerns,” the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a controversial 2013 move by lawmakers to tighten a standard for expert witnesses in legal cases.

The 4-2 ruling blocked the use of a standard backed by business groups but opposed by plaintiffs’ attorneys and The Florida Bar Board of Governors.

Testimony from expert witnesses can play a crucial role in complicated civil lawsuits and in criminal cases that involve scientific evidence. While the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott approved the revamped standard in 2013, the Supreme Court has constitutional authority to determine rules and procedures for the court system.

The debate focused on lawmakers’ decision to move to what is known in the legal world as the “Daubert” standard, which is more-restrictive than the state’s longstanding expert-witness standard. Federal courts use the Daubert standard, but opponents of using it in Florida courts said it make cases more expensive and time-consuming — effectively making it harder for people to pursue lawsuits.

In Thursday’s ruling, the Supreme Court majority pointed to arguments by opponents that raised “grave constitutional concerns.”

“Those concerns include undermining the right to a jury trial and denying access to the courts,” said the ruling by Chief Justice Jorge Labarga and Justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince. “While the (Supreme) Court does not address the constitutionality of a statute or proposed rule within the context of a rules case, the fact that there may be ‘grave concerns about the constitutionality of the amendment’ has been a basis previously for the (Supreme) Court not adopting an amendment to the evidence code to the extent it is procedural.”

But Justice Ricky Polston, in a dissent joined by Justice Charles Canady, said the federal-court system and other states have successfully used the Daubert standard.

“Has the entire federal court system for the last 23 years as well as 36 states denied parties’ rights to a jury trial and access to courts? Do only Florida and a few other states have a constitutionally sound standard for the admissibility of expert testimony? Of course not,” Polston wrote.

Justice Alan Lawson, who joined the court at the end of December, did not take part in the ruling.

William Large, president of the Florida Justice Reform Institute, a legal group aligned with businesses, echoed Polston’s dissent Thursday.

“The Florida Supreme Court seems to be implying the entire federal court system for the last 23 years has been denying a citizen’s right to a jury trial and access to the courts, through the use of the federal Daubert standard,” Large said in an email. “If that is the case, why has the Florida Supreme Court been citing federal courts for constitutional precedent for the past 23 years?”

Supporters of the Daubert standard have argued it can help prevent the use of “junk science” in court cases. The standard includes a three-part test in determining whether expert testimony can be admitted. That test involves whether the testimony is “based upon sufficient facts or data;” whether it is the “product of reliable principles and methods;” and whether a witness has “applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.”

That is more restrictive than a test long used in Florida courts, known as the “Frye” standard.

http://www.theledger.com/news/20170216/justices-go-against-legislature-on-expert-witnesses

Lobbyist Implores Kissimmee Chamber to Back Tort Reform or Risk Hefty Lawsuit

February 9, 2006/in Lakeland Ledger

Lobbyist Implores Kissimmee Chamber to Back Tort Reform or Risk Hefty Lawsuit
By MIKE GROGAN / The Reporter

Posted Feb 9, 2006 at 12:01 AM

KISSIMMEE — A lobbyist who is pushing tort reform in the Florida Legislature has urged small-business owners in Osceola County to get behind the effort that would make them less vulnerable to expensive lawsuits.

William Large, president of the Florida Justice Reform Institute, a business advocacy group based in Tallahassee, told members of the Kissimmee-Osceola County Chamber of Commerce on Friday that they need to get involved in tort reform to have any hope of succeeding against lobbyists for lawyers who make their livings from civil litigation.

“There is no better organized pressure group in Tallahassee than the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers,” Large said. “We need businesspeople doing the same thing.”

Appearing as guest speaker for the chamber’s monthly Breakfast of Champions meeting at the Kissimmee Civic Center, Large said one measure currently working its way through the legislature is House Bill 145, which is sponsored by State Rep. Don Brown, R-De Funiak Springs. It concerns civil cases in which there are multiple defendants.

Under current state law, Large said, defendants who share fault in a civil case often end up paying more than the percentage of liability would dictate. That, he noted, is because liability is set in percentage of increments: 10 to 25 percent, 25 to 50 percent and 50 percent or greater.

That means that someone at the lower end of one of the increments can actually be forced to pay a percentage at the higher end.

“The bill would ensure that if any business gets a percentage of fault, that’s the percentage they pay — no more, no less,” he said.

But, he said, tort reform is very difficult to get through the legislature because of the strong lobbying effort being made by trial lawyers.

“It is something that is very definitely affecting the business community in Florida,” Large said. “That’s why change is needed.”

He added that among the other types of tort reform on which his group is working is changing the state’s class action laws in which multiple plaintiffs gather to file an action. It is also seeking to reform the way premises liability cases are viewed under state statutes.

Attending the breakfast meeting for the first time, lawyer Mel Pearlman of Celebration questioned whether passing tort reform laws would open the door for businesses to provide shoddy and unsafe goods.

“Assuming you’re successful, what incentive would companies have to make sure they provide quality and safe products?” Pearlman asked.

“I don’t know any business that intentionally creates a product that is unsafe,” Large, a former trial lawyer himself, responded.

Pearlman said civil cases are not necessarily determined by whether a company acted intentionally, but are most often decided because of negligence that has led to injury — or worse.

To that, Large answered that monies that businesses now have to spend as a result of high liability insurance rates due to enormous payouts in civil lawsuits would be better used to address safety issues. And when Pearlman asked if he thought companies would use those savings to improve quality and safety, Large answered that he did, indeed, think that would be the case.

The Breakfast of Champions is held on the first Friday of each month at 7:45 a.m. The chamber started the program in August to provide a morning event for businesspeople.

“We’ve been very pleased with how its worked out,” said Mike Horner, the chamber’s president. “We’ve had attendance figures ranging from 70 to 200 people, depending on the time of the year and who the speaker is.”

He said the event is mainly for small-business people to give them a chance to network and exchange ideas with other small business owners in the community.

https://www.theledger.com/news/20060209/lobbyist-implores-kissimmee-chamber-to-back-tort-reform-or-risk-hefty-lawsuits

Between 2019 and 2023, average homeowner premiums in Florida surged nearly 60%.

Florida Justice Reform Institute

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