The saga continues within the struggle for policyholder rights in opposition to 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 automated keep by its enchantment, 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 enchantment, that 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 considerations 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 decide discovered that irreparable hurt stays each “unmistakable and extreme,” pointing to structural bias within the DOAH discussion board and the shortcoming of insureds to entry significant discovery, movement apply, or judicial overview.
The decide 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 might undergo hurt if the keep had been lifted. As a substitute, the decide famous that any motion quickly enjoined might merely resume if Residents in the end prevails on enchantment. In distinction, permitting the keep to stay would danger denying policyholders their core constitutional protections. That’s a tradeoff the court docket was not prepared to make, and rightly so.
The court docket emphasised that Florida owners insured by Residents are being handled in another way from these insured by personal carriers, who’re afforded significant protections underneath 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 price remembering that this all stems from a statute that enables Residents to bypass the court docket system completely and pressure disputes into an administrative discussion board that it didn’t have to barter for, and that provides no low cost or different to the house 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, a minimum of in the interim.
That is one other main step ahead in what has turn 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’t bypass the Structure within the title of effectivity. As this case strikes ahead on enchantment, the injunction stays in place, and so does the sign despatched by the trial court docket: constitutional rights aren’t non-obligatory, and arbitration by ambush has no place in Florida’s justice system.
One other query is why Florida’s legislators ever handed a regulation that deprives Floridians of protections underneath Florida’s Structure. Some might recommend that that is one other instance of Florida’s political management being extra in mattress with insurance coverage lobbyists than caring about Florida’s owners.
Thought For The Day
“If we’re to maintain our democracy, there have to be one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.”
—Decide Discovered Hand
1 Alvarez v. Residents Prop. Ins. Corp., No. 25-CA-006626 (Fla. Cir. Ct. [Hillsborough] Aug. 21, 2025).