Florida's No Longer A Hellhole - Top 3 Takeaways – January 11th, 2024
- No longer a hellhole. The past couple of days, in discussing the state of the State of Florida, we’ve discussed the many ways in which Florida’s #1. It’s an impressive list. But we’ve also recently and regularly discussed ways in which Florida’s #1 where don’t want it to be...as in inflation and the cost of things like property and auto insurance. But while geography certainly plays a role in why our property and auto insurance rates are so much, there’s one reason that stands above others as to why a state that’s gotten so much right, managed to get it wrong on insurance costs for far too long. Despite all that Florida has done well, we were still a hellhole. A Judicial Hellhole that is. Years, really decades, of outrageous litigation abuses by ambulance chasers and shakedown artists who’d passed the bar account for why you’re paying as much as you’re paying for property and auto insurance and why you’ve paid as much as you’ve paid up to this point. For example, it’s well documented that Florida accounted for 76% of the country’s property insurance litigation prior to the reforms passed in the previous two years (litigation that is still needing to work its way out of the system before we’ll have true stability in our market which is why it’s taking time). What isn’t as well known is the hard cost of that litigation to you. My analysis showed 26% of the total costs of insurance premiums in Florida were to support the cost of litigation. That means for the average homeowner you’re still currently paying $1,560 this year to support the past years’ worth of litigation abuse. For auto insurance that total is $1,024 per vehicle policy this year. That means that the average Florida family with two cars and a home is paying over $3,600 this year alone just to support the cost of Florida’s past litigation abuses. And that’s because Florida was a Judicial Hellhole. But the great news is...that we’re not anymore. Yesterday, in speaking with Florida’s Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez, she made a good point when I pressed her on Florida’s insurance woes. She said Florida’s legislative fixes will work as illustrated by the fact that that for the first time in the history of the annual American Tort Reform Foundation Judicial Hellholes report...
- Florida's not on it. In fact, not only is Florida not listed as a “judicial hellhole” any longer, but we are also actually highlighted in their recently released report as a “point of light”. That’s quite the turnaround. As cited in the report: Florida has a long history as a “Judicial Hellhole®,” with a legal system that has been plagued by excessive litigation, frivolous lawsuits, fraudulent claims, and outrageous awards. Florida was named the No. 1 Judicial Hellhole® in 2018 and No. 2 in 2019. Several state Supreme Court appointments made by Governor Ron DeSantis were a catalyst for positive change, resulting in ATRF removing Florida from the Judicial Hellholes® list in 2020. However, the Florida Legislature remained on the report’s “Watch List,” due to the need to make important improvements in the civil justice system, such as addressing transparency in damages. At long last, Florida’s leadership, including Governor DeSantis, House Speaker Paul Renner and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, prioritized civil justice reform, recognizing the negative impact lawsuit abuse is having on Florida residents and the state’s economy. The 2023 legislative session brought a great sea change for the state’s civil justice system. Florida lawmakers passed legal reform bills that have the potential to rebalance the state’s legal system for many years to come. All told the ATRF points to nine systemic changes enacted by the state of Florida that are already starting to have a profound impact on reigning in litigation abuse. For far too long there had been too many attorneys in Tallahassee protecting the interests of attorneys over the interests of their constituents from Tallahassee. That has changed, and with it, Florida’s status as a hellhole. But most importantly what it represents is yet another strong indication that the real fixes to our system that were needed have been made and that there is a least some light at the end of what’s been a brutal auto and property insurance tunnel.
- There’s Hunter! Wait, where’s Hunter – he's gone again? Yesterday's House Oversight Committee hearing considering whether to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena pertaining to their investigation into the Biden Crime Family affairs took quite the turn. The turn came when the same man who’s had a proclivity for guns, hookers, crack, and corrupt foreign deals (along with disappearing from the public eye for long windows of time), surprised the committee with a personal appearance. No, he wasn’t there to comply with the congressional subpoena which calls for a closed-door deposition under oath, prior to the option for a public hearing. Instead, he was evidently there for a brief time, as some sort of political theater. The kind of theater in which he would appear to be rubbing it in the nose of the committee that he’s above the law. No, that’s not what his attorney’s prepared statement was upon Hunter’s semi-dramatic exit from the committee room as Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was about to have her turn in the session. But in reality, that’s all it appeared to be. For the lightly informed it can be said that Hunter was willing to publicly testify and even showed up to do so but the committee wasn’t really interested in hearing from him. In reality, every elected Democrat in that room along with Hunter Biden and his counsel know the difference between a closed-door deposition away from the public eye and a made for show public hearing. When Democrats controlled the House, every Republican associated with Trump who was subpoenaed by Democrats in association with their investigation into January 6th related matters, was subpoenaed for a closed-door deposition the same as has been done with Hunter. But team Hunter which includes every elected Democrat in that hearing, expects you not to know that. That’s why we had an interesting case of an unexpected appearance of the oft MIA Hunter, followed shortly thereafter with an instance of wondering...where’s Hunter?