For those who’ve adopted my work, you already know I don’t pull punches when a course of is stacked towards owners. During the last two years, Residents, Florida’s insurer of final resort, has pushed 1000’s of claims out of court docket and right into a particular monitor on the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH). On paper, it sounded environment friendly. In apply, it’s been something however honest for a lot of policyholders.
Now the Legislature is floating HB 459 (2026), which might take that DOAH-centric mannequin and scale it throughout the market—successfully making DOAH the default enviornment for all disputed property insurance coverage claims, not simply Residents. If we’re going to broaden a system, we’d higher be sincere about the way it’s really working for the individuals caught in it.
What occurred inside DOAH with Residents.
Right here’s the unvarnished view from the bottom:
- Residents has routed a big quantity of disputes to DOAH and funded the build-out to deal with them. Inner supplies and board objects present ramping capability and devoted budgets to run this pipeline. That raises the primary eyebrow: the get together you’re preventing can also be bankrolling the discussion board. 1
- A number of media stories, together with Residents’ personal numbers, paint a lopsided scoreboard. Relying on the time interval and dataset, policyholders have been dropping the overwhelming majority of instances or accepting nominal settlements (assume $250–$500) to cease the bleeding. Even when Residents characterizes outcomes as “settlements,” the common {dollars} are a fraction of what it prices to repair a roof, not to mention a house. 2
- Courts have stepped in. A Hillsborough County choose issued an order halting Residents from forcing these DOAH proceedings, with subsequent appeals and procedural maneuvering preserving the battle alive. DOAH itself requested an appeals court docket to let it resume. Translation: the legality and constitutionality of this setup are very a lot in play. 3
To me, these three details inform one story: quick isn’t the identical as honest.
HB 459 would take DOAH statewide. However, will or not it’s honest?
HB 459 rewrites §627.7015 to create a obligatory DOAH-style process for all disputed property claims. Both aspect can file a petition, and an Administrative Legislation Decide has to problem a protection resolution inside 60 days and a ultimate greenback determine inside 180 days, with cost or escrow to observe. The invoice additionally repeals a number of present dispute pathways (together with appraisal and the litigation framework that grew round §627.70152) and requires insurers to inform policyholders about this new course of at issuance, renewal, and declare time. In brief, the discussion board modifications, the timelines compress, and the previous off-ramps disappear.
Some elements look good on first learn, such because the clear deadlines, shopper pamphlets, and a promise of velocity. However the satan, as all the time, is in who holds the leverage and what rights the house owner provides as much as transfer quick.
The equity crimson flags I see and what would repair them.
1. Discussion board funding and independence
Residents’ paperwork brazenly describe funding the DOAH equipment for these instances. If a personal provider world adopts that mannequin, we’ll multiply the notion and possibly the fact of a house-funded home benefit.
Repair: If DOAH turns into the statewide discussion board, the Legislature ought to fund it independently, not by means of carrier-specific contracts tied to case throughput. 4
2. Discovery and due course of
A central house owner criticism is the restricted discovery in comparison with that in court docket. When you possibly can’t meaningfully check the insurer’s place, “fast” turns into “quietly underpaid.”
Repair: set minimal discovery rights in statute with core doc manufacturing, cheap depositions on key disputes (trigger, scope, and value), and sanctions for discovery gamesmanship. 5
3. Final result information and transparency
We shouldn’t be counting on rumors or cherry-picked spreadsheets. Florida ought to publish quarterly, case-level anonymized metrics that present quantities claimed vs. awarded, settlement bands, time to decision, illustration charges, and post-hearing cost compliance. If the discussion board is honest, daylight will show it. Media digging has stuffed the vacuum up to now, and what they’ve discovered will not be confidence-inspiring. 6
4. Legal professional’s charges and affords of judgment
Residents’ DOAH insurance policies imported fee-shifting dynamics from the court docket (e.g., §57.105 and §768.79), however the bargaining desk appears to be like totally different when discovery is skinny and the discussion board is quick. A $500 “cost-of-peace” provide shouldn’t be handled as a victory.
Repair: Calibrate payment and provide guidelines for this discussion board so owners aren’t punished for looking for a good valuation of their dwelling repairs.
5. Scope: carve-outs for true protection denials and small claims
HB 459 retains some carve-outs (fraud, clear non-coverage, sub-$500 disputes). That’s good, however the $500 ground is outdated and invitations gamesmanship.
Repair: Elevate the ground, and mandate early impartial analysis on pure protection denials so owners don’t burn their one shot within the flawed discussion board.
So…will DOAH be honest for non-Residents policyholders?
It may be, however provided that lawmakers be taught from the Residents experiment earlier than cloning it. Right here’s my threshold check:
- Impartial discussion board, impartial funding
- Actual discovery for actual disputes
- Printed outcomes that anybody—house owner, adjuster, choose—can scrutinize
- Proportional payment guidelines so leverage isn’t constructed into the method
Proper now, the monitor report from Residents suggests owners stroll in with much less leverage, see fewer instruments, and stroll out with much less cash than it takes to repair their houses. That’s not a “sooner path to normalcy.” That’s a shortcut to under-indemnity. 7
The place the courts are heading and why it issues for HB 459.
When a circuit choose halts an agency-run arbitration scheme and DOAH itself has to ask an appellate court docket to let it resume, that’s not a blip; it’s a warning. If the present Residents setup is teetering on constitutional grounds, duplicating it statewide with out structural fixes is asking for extra injunctions, extra uncertainty, and extra whiplash for households attempting to rebuild. 8
Backside line
HB 459’s promise is velocity and certainty. Owners deserve each, however by no means on the value of equity. If Tallahassee desires DOAH to be the longer term for property claims, then make it unbiased, clear, and discovery-competent. In any other case, we’re simply transferring the identical fights to a discussion board the place the deck is already stacked.
Owners pay premiums for indemnity, not for a race to the bottom settlement quantity. Let’s repair the discussion board earlier than we power each Floridian into it.
1 Govt Abstract, Board of Governors Assembly, Dec. 4, 2024.
2 William Rabb. Residents No Longer Profitable Most Arbitration Circumstances. They’re Settling for Subsequent to Nil. Insurance coverage Journal. Sept. 16, 2025.
3 William Rabb. Florida Decide Blocks State Company for Residents Claims Disputes, However Insurer Appeals. Insurance coverage Journal. Aug. 5, 2025.
4 Govt Abstract, Board of Governors Assembly, Dec. 4, 2024.
5 Allaire Conte. Why owners are dropping 90% of instances towards Florida’s largest insurer. New York Publish. Sept. 29, 2025.
6 William Rabb. Residents No Longer Profitable Most Arbitration Circumstances. They’re Settling for Subsequent to Nil. Insurance coverage Journal. Sept. 16, 2025.
7 Id.
8 William Rabb. Florida Decide Blocks State Company for Residents Claims Disputes, However Insurer Appeals. Insurance coverage Journal. Aug. 5, 2025.
