Better Insurance Without Too Many Lawsuits

For decades, Florida was viewed as one of the worst places to do business, mainly because of our litigious justice system.  We seemed to be stuck on the annual “Judicial Hellholes” list put out every year by the American Tort Reform Association.

That all changed in 2023 when Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature passed legislation that was praised nationally and has reined in frivolous lawsuits.  It definitely had an immediate impact on improving the availability and affordability of property insurance in the state.

If one attorney files a frivolous lawsuit and hits it big with a favorable jury, it is not the company paying those big awards, it is all of us: the ratepayers and the consumers.

That’s why it was so critical that the legislature deal with this by bringing commonsense to the process.  We are all tired of paying a tort (lawsuit) tax.  Now that the legislature has dealt with frivolous lawsuits, it has helped bring more companies to the market in Florida, and that competition is helping push down insurance rates. 

We still have a long way to go, but the improvements have begun, and we should not take any step back from the reforms of 2023.

By Michael Wheeler