The saga continues within the struggle for policyholder rights towards Residents Property Insurance coverage Company and its constitutionally suspect DOAH arbitration scheme. Simply when it appeared Residents would possibly acquire a procedural edge by invoking an computerized keep by means of its attraction, the trial court docket stepped in once more. This time with an emphatic reaffirmation of its earlier ruling. The court docket has vacated the automated keep that was triggered when Residents filed its discover of attraction, which means that the injunction halting all DOAH arbitrations is as soon as once more in full impact whereas the appellate court docket takes up the matter. 1
Yesterday’s new order doesn’t mince phrases. It not solely reaffirms the sooner constitutional issues in regards to the DOAH arbitration course of however goes additional in laying out the extraordinary hurt confronted by policyholders trapped in that system. The choose discovered that irreparable hurt stays each “unmistakable and extreme,” pointing to structural bias within the DOAH discussion board and the lack of insureds to entry significant discovery, movement follow, or judicial evaluate.
The choose acknowledged the rising sample of Residents being awarded charges and prices in that venue, whereas policyholders are denied even fundamental procedural equity. In impact, the court docket referred to as out the system for what it’s, a one-sided administrative course of that deprives residents of their constitutional proper to a day in court docket.
This ruling additionally rejected Residents’ argument that it could undergo hurt if the keep had been lifted. As a substitute, the choose famous that any motion briefly enjoined might merely resume if Residents finally prevails on attraction. In distinction, permitting the keep to stay would danger denying policyholders their core constitutional protections. That’s a tradeoff the court docket was not keen to make, and rightly so.
The court docket emphasised that Florida householders insured by Residents are being handled in a different way from these insured by non-public carriers, who’re afforded significant protections beneath Florida Statute §627.70154. This unequal remedy, particularly in issues as critical as entry to justice, violates the fundamental tenets of due course of.
It’s value remembering that this all stems from a statute that enables Residents to bypass the court docket system solely and power disputes into an administrative discussion board that it didn’t have to barter for, and that gives no low cost or various to the home-owner. The statute created a entice door out of court docket and right into a discussion board the place Residents has traditionally dominated. Now, due to this case, that door has been slammed shut, at the very least in the intervening time.
That is one other main step ahead in what has change into a defining authorized battle for property insurance coverage policyholders in Florida. The courts are recognizing that even a state-created insurer like Residents can not bypass the Structure within the title of effectivity. As this case strikes ahead on attraction, the injunction stays in place, and so does the sign despatched by the trial court docket: constitutional rights aren’t elective, and arbitration by ambush has no place in Florida’s justice system.
One other query is why Florida’s legislators ever handed a legislation that deprives Floridians of protections beneath Florida’s Structure. Some might counsel that that is one other instance of Florida’s political management being extra in mattress with insurance coverage lobbyists than caring about Florida’s householders.
Thought For The Day
“If we’re to maintain our democracy, there have to be one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.”
—Choose Discovered Hand
1 Alvarez v. Residents Prop. Ins. Corp., No. 25-CA-006626 (Fla. Cir. Ct. [Hillsborough] Aug. 21, 2025).