USA – FLORIDA Trends and Developments Contributed by: John David Dickenson, Tiffany Bustamante and Alexandra Schultz, Cozen O’Connor
Hot Topics in Insurance Law in the Sunshine State: Impacts of Florida Insurance Code Reforms on the Market and in the Courts, and the Expansion of AI With the legislative reforms of 2022 and 2023 and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), it is undeniable that the Florida insurance market and legal practice are remarkably different from just a few years ago. Impact of 2022 and 2023 reforms – a recovering market Florida is the seventh largest international insurance market, with a gross domestic product exceeding USD1.7 trillion. But for the last two decades, Florida’s insurance market was unwell, shackled by arguably the most aggressive insurance litigation environment in the United States. In 2022 and 2023, after numer- ous failed previous attempts, the Florida Legislature passed substantial reforms aimed at righting Florida’s insurance market. What is very clear today is that Florida’s recent insur- ance reforms have been a success. The impacts of the 2022 and 2023 legislative actions in Florida are restoring consumer confidence in the insurance industry and attracting private insurance companies back to the state. Florida’s insurance department has reported that, to date, 17 new insurance carriers have entered the Florida market since the historic reforms (see House of Representatives, Insurance & Bank- ing Subcommittee, Meeting Packet for 18 November 2025, at 3 (18 November 2025)). A shift towards a more competitive and consumer-friendly insurance market in Florida is now evident. In November 2025, Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky presented to both insurance com- mittees of the state legislature to report on the impact of the recent reforms. Based on the statistics present- ed, Yaworsky demonstrated to the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee and the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee that the consumer and litigation reforms have been successful. The reforms have led to rate decreases in both property and automobile policies, more options for homeowners’ insurance and lower reinsurance rates. The reforms have further seen a return to profitability for insurance companies and the successful depopulation of the taxpayer-backed
“insurer of last resort”, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Yaworsky also provided data showing that the prop- erty insurance market as a whole is on the road to recovery. Florida’s insurance companies writing the state’s 7.6 million residential policies are now finan- cially sound, with positive net income and underwrit- ing gains, compared to 2017–22, when net income and underwriting gains had been negative in Florida for seven straight years. Average personal residential property insurance rates are decreasing, even despite inflation, and the average homeowner’s insurance rate requests are also dropping (see House of Representa- tives, Insurance & Banking Subcommittee, Meeting Packet for 18 November 2025, at 8 (18 November 2025)). A review of data from Citizens Property Insurance Cor- poration also demonstrates the positive impacts of the legislative reforms. Citizens is Florida’s state-run “insurer of last resort”, and its policy count and litiga- tion activity serve as a Florida insurance market health barometer. Since the reforms, Citizens has reduced its policy count from over 1.5 million to under 400,000, its lowest level in 14 years (see Citizens Market Account- ability Advisory Committee, Conference Call of 19 November 2025 (meeting agenda and minutes), at 3 (19 November 2025) and Governor Ron DeSantis’s Press Release on Insurance Rate Relief (12 January 2026)). With the decrease in policies, new claims have decreased significantly – down 80% from September 2024 to September 2025. New litigation and pend- ing litigation are down 40% and 47%, respectively, for the same period (see Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, “Litigated Claims Update”, Claims Com- mittee Meeting, at 6 (20 November 2025); and Citizens Claims Committee Conference Call of 11-20-25, Citi- zens Property Insurance Corporation (20 November 2025)). While the uneventful 2025 hurricane season will further contribute to less litigation, it is noted that this data reflects on the period before the 2025 sea- son, before impacts of the 2025 season would come into play.
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