Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday assured residents ahead of Hurricane Idalia, vowing to push “to make people whole" if they were affected by the storm and saying insurance companies should step up to make speedy repairs.
But DeSantis late last year signed revisions to an existing law that complicate customers' ability to hold the companies to account, Mother Jones reported.
DeSantis and the state’s GOP lawmakers changes make it more difficult for policyholders to sue insurers over payment disputes, according to the report.
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Hurricane Idalia will serve as the first test for the revised law, which was re-written in December of last year in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
Mother Jones reported that: “The sweeping revisions makes it more difficult for homeowners to sue their property insurance companies for acting in “bad faith” and removes the right of homeowners to recover attorney’s fees, even in lawsuits they ultimately win.
"Additionally, the adjustments to Florida’s insurance laws allow insurance companies to create new policies with mandatory binding arbitration agreements in exchange for a premium reduction, which will also thwart many homeowners’ option to take insurers to court…Moreover, the legislation shortened the window in which policyholders can file claims with their insurers, invested $1 billion of taxpayer funds into a state-run reinsurance fund to help insurance companies mitigate their losses in the event of catastrophic events, and narrowed eligibility for Citizens, Florida’s state-run nonprofit insurance company that provides insurance to people who cannot find affordable coverage on the regular market.”
Amy Bach, the executive director of the advocacy group United Policyholders, in an interview with Mother Jones suggested that filing suit against insurers over hurricane damage would now be almost pointless.
“It’s now economically absurdly risky for a consumer to file a lawsuit,” Bach said, “and it’s going to be incredibly hard to find a good lawyer.”
