Florida’s Share of Claims Lawsuits Now About Half of 2020 Numbers, Data Show

At the height of the Florida property insurance crisis in the early 2020s, one statistic seemed to galvanize the movement for reforming the state’s insurance claims litigation statutes: Floridians had produced about 9% of all homeowners’ claims in the U.S. in 2020, but more than 79% of the HO claims lawsuits. That eye-popping ratio, compiled by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and based on data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and carriers’ reporting, was repeated in legislative hearings and news articles across the state. By the end of 2025, three years after legislative reforms were adopted, that ratio was still a little disproportionate but it has ameliorated significantly: Florida homeowners accounted for about 5% of claims filed in the country, but the share of lawsuits has dropped to just 41%, the OIR noted in its latest Property Insurance Stability Report. Net underwriting for Florida-domiciled carriers has also shown a sharp turnaround—from almost $1.5 billion in total losses in 2020 to more than $1.7 billion in gains in 2025, the report shows. That’s roughly a 180% turnaround in less than five years. The rosy numbers should come as no surprise to most in the industry in Florida. After the 2022-2023 legislative changes, which stemmed excessive lawsuits by ending Florida’s rather unique one-way attorney fee rules and assignment-of-benefits agreements, at least 20 new carries have entered the market. Several others have posted rate decreases. “The legislative reforms, among other things, eliminated the guaranteed one-way attorney fees for plaintiffs that provided a gross incentive to sue, with fees in some cases that were five or six times greater than the claim amount itself,” said Lisa Miller, former Florida deputy insurance commissioner. The OIR report can be seen here. Chart: From Florida OIR’s Property Insurance Stability Report Topics Lawsuits Florida Claims Was this article valuable? Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article. Thank you! % of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it. Here are more articles you may enjoy.