Florida Property Insurance

Sides Battle Over Insurance Litigation Changes

Florida has the highest premiums in the country

Florida lawmakers began moving quickly Monday to pass major property-insurance changes, with supporters saying the plan would stabilize the troubled system and critics saying it would hurt consumers.

Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, said lawmakers need to take action as homeowners across the state face large rate increases and struggle to find coverage.

We certainly are taking a big hit in our condo association. Our Liability tripled last year because of "high crime in our zip code." We have no crime out here. We have three policies, not including our own personal policy for our units, and all our premiums are expected to go up by 25-30% in 2023 and we must be insured by condo law.

Opponents to the new plan said the bill (SB 2-A) is tilted toward insurers instead of providing relief to homeowners.

The biggest problem we have are all the lawsuits that drive up the costs. Mark Friedlander, spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, said that there were 116,000 lawsuits filed last year in Florida alone and while Florida has 8% claims filed in the country, it has 80% of the litigation.

The bill