Data and advice for legislators
As we’ve reported in this newsletter, a multi-bill effort led by attorney lawmakers in the Florida House of Representatives this session would roll-back many property insurance litigation reforms passed in the 2022-2023 legislative session. You may be surprised to learn that those reforms are remarkably similar to the Workers’ Compensation insurance reforms passed in the early 2000’s that today has Florida boasting one of the lowest workers’ comp rates in the country.
The man who led the workers’ comp efforts is Jon Shebel, former President & CEO of Associated Industries of Florida. I had the pleasure of sitting down with him last week. He drew some amazing direct comparisons between both reform efforts. Shebel argues that the proposed repeal bills this session don’t help consumers, and urges the legislature to listen to the data, as it did with workers’ comp, that shows property insurance reforms are working to reduce homeowners insurance rates. He also advised there are broader issues that the Florida Legislature should consider, including conflict of interest and consolidating various attorney fee statutes into one chapter of law. And he believes the time has come for the Florida Supreme Court to more strongly regulate lawyers. We recorded our conversation as the latest episode of The Florida Insurance Roundup podcast.
Jon Shebel, former President & CEO, Associated Industries of Florida
“The biggest issue was litigation,” explained Shebel, on the reason for high workers’ comp insurance rates. “Plaintiff attorneys had free rein to convince injured workers to sue their employers, often leading to drawn-out cases that weren’t necessarily in the workers’ best interest. There were cases where legal fees ended up costing more than the actual medical treatment and benefits for the injured worker.”
Shebel said that very same incentive to sue contributed to Florida having the highest property insurance rates in the country between 2017 and 2023. By 2021, Florida had 8% of all homeowners’ claims in the U.S., yet 76% of all homeowners’ claims lawsuits, according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. Likewise, a 2021 report titled Florida’s P&C Insurance Market is Spiraling Toward Collapse revealed that “Of the $15 billion spent on litigated claims since 2015, only 8% was paid to policyholders. Plaintiff attorneys got 71% with the remaining 21% spent by insurance companies on defense attorneys.”
Shebel said Florida’s property insurance reforms took a lesson from its workers’ compensation insurance reforms 20 years earlier.
“Our strategy in workers’ comp was to address the root cause, plaintiff attorney involvement. The main provisions included capping attorney fees, streamlining the claims process, and implementing stricter guidelines to prevent unnecessary lawsuits. This not only reduced legal costs but also ensured that injured workers got the benefits they needed faster, without the delays that litigation often caused,” Shebel said. All the dire predictions that the reforms would hurt workers didn’t come true, he added. Continue Reading Listen to the Podcast
LMA Newsletter of 4-21-25
