A big Order defending Florida policyholders was issued by a Circuit Courtroom, which granted a sweeping non permanent injunction in opposition to Residents Property Insurance coverage Company, halting the enforcement of its necessary DOAH arbitration program. 1 This order challenges the continued battle over the constitutionality of Residents’ arbitration scheme, a difficulty I’ve been warning about for a while, together with in my earlier article, Florida’s DOAH Arbitration Catastrophe: How the Legislature Gave Residents a License to Steamroll Policyholders.
The case arose from a declare filed by Martin A. Alvarez, a Tampa house owner insured by Residents, whose property sustained a lined loss on October 9, 2024. When Alvarez disputed the quantity of cost, Residents invoked its necessary arbitration provision, compelling the case into the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) within the state capital, to avoid litigation earlier than a impartial trial decide within the county the place the property is positioned.
Beneath Florida Statute § 627.351(6)(ll), Residents can pressure policyholders into an expedited arbitration course of that operates beneath compressed timelines, restricts discovery and movement observe and, most critically, offers extraordinarily restricted avenues for judicial overview. For policyholders, this course of has usually been a useless finish. As I beforehand defined, statistics present that DOAH arbitrations overwhelmingly favor Residents. The danger of lawyer charges and value awards for withdrawing claims has chilled many insureds from ever having their day in court docket. As all arbitration hearings happen in Tallahassee, the place state-run Residents is headquartered, with government-appointed administrative judges presiding, it may give the looks of a star chamber-like continuing, the place the deck is stacked in opposition to policyholders.
In response, Alvarez filed a lawsuit searching for declaratory reduction and an emergency movement for non permanent injunction. The criticism challenged each the coverage provision and the statute itself, asserting that necessary arbitration deprives policyholders of their constitutional proper of entry to courts beneath Article I, Part 21 of the Florida Structure and violates due course of by forcing disputes right into a discussion board missing the basic attributes of neutrality and equity. The emergency movement highlighted the irreparable hurt policyholders face when they’re compelled to take part in an arbitration course of that’s structurally biased and lacks significant appellate cures.
Circuit Decide Melissa Mary Polo agreed. In her order issued this week, she discovered that Alvarez had demonstrated a considerable chance of success on his constitutional claims, together with violations of due course of and the Florida Structure’s access-to-courts provision. She additional held that policyholders like Alvarez face irreparable hurt when pressured right into a discussion board that deprives them of the standard protections of the judicial system.
The court docket emphasised that the stability of equities and public curiosity favored defending constitutional rights over Residents’ curiosity in sustaining its arbitration program. The order not solely enjoined Residents from imposing the arbitration clause in opposition to Alvarez, but it surely additionally prolonged statewide, stopping Residents from imposing comparable arbitration provisions in opposition to any present or future policyholders and staying all pending DOAH arbitration proceedings till the constitutional questions are resolved.
This ruling is a serious step towards vindicating the rights of Florida householders who’ve been trapped in what I’ve known as the DOAH arbitration catastrophe. By halting Residents’ use of this statutory arbitration scheme, the court docket has opened the door for policyholders to pursue their claims in a impartial discussion board, free from the systemic imbalances which have lengthy plagued the DOAH course of. The case now strikes towards a last willpower on the constitutionality of § 627.351(6)(ll), which may have lasting implications for the way property insurance coverage disputes are resolved in Florida.
As somebody who has been following these arbitration techniques, this resolution is a long-overdue acknowledgment that effectivity can’t come on the expense of basic rights. Policyholders buy insurance coverage for safety, to not be funneled right into a discussion board the place the percentages are stacked in opposition to them and for the government-run insurer of final resort. Even a state-created insurer like Residents can’t sidestep constitutional ensures.
Thought For The Day
“The Structure doesn’t prohibit legislatures from enacting silly legal guidelines. It prohibits them from enacting legal guidelines which can be unjust.”
—Justice Thurgood Marshall
1 Alvarez v. Residents Prop. Ins. Corp., No. 25-CA-006626 (Fla. Cir. Ct. [Hillsborough] Aug. 1, 2025).
