SPRING HILL, Fla. — A Spring Hill homeowner's fight against Citizens Property Insurance over a denied vandalism claim is now helping drive legislation that could restore homeowners' rights to sue their insurer in court.
Tom Luby first contacted Tampa Bay 28 anchor Nadeen Yanes in October 2025 after Citizens denied his claim for what he says was intentional damage caused by bad tenants. But when he tried to challenge the denial, he discovered he couldn't take his case to court.
"There's nothing I can do. And that's why I reached out, hoping you guys could help bring this to light and maybe make the people in Tallahassee aware of what's going on, because it's not fair," Luby said.
The damage and denial
Luby's Spring Hill home suffered extensive damage that he says was purposely caused by his tenants. He filed two police reports for vandalism and submitted a claim to Citizens Property Insurance, which denied it, saying the damage resulted from a bad remodeling job rather than vandalism.
When Luby wanted to fight the decision in court, he learned about a major change in Florida law.
"I can't even make an argument. I'm not saying I'll win or lose. I think, how could I lose? You can see the damages. But I can't even make an argument. I can't even present a case, because we won't, we won't listen to you," Luby said.
Forced arbitration replaces court access
After the state's sweeping insurance reforms in 2022, Citizens Property Insurance now requires policyholders to enter into forced arbitration instead of going to court. This forces policyholders to fight their claims at the State Division of Administrative Hearings, also known as DOAH.
Citizens has this option use the governmental hearing process as the state-backed insurer of last resort.
However, an investigation in 2025 by nonprofit ProPublica revealed that in these DOAH hearings, which Citizens pays for as the state agency, Citizens was winning more than 90% of the time.
Our sister station WPTV pulled the results of all DOAH hearings from May 2024 to May 2025, showing that out of 54 cases, Citizens won 53 times — a 99% win rate.
Citizens defends the process
Citizens Property Insurance continues to defend the process.
"It's a lot cheaper than spending two and a half years in circuit court when you can go to DOAH if you're a policyholder and your claim can be resolved in less than 90 days," said CEO Tim Cerio claims.
In October 2025, Cerio explained only 1% of 124,000 claims went to a DOAH hearing. Cerio also said there is a 6-step review process of the claim before the policyholder is forced into a DOAH hearing.
He added that of those cases, most cases are settled before they reach a final DOAH hearing. Data shows 37% are settled by Citizens before the final hearing, and 52% are dropped by attorneys beforehand, meaning 89% are settled before reaching that final hearing, Cerio said.
"That is not unfair," Cerio said, but of that 11%..."Citizens is winning most of the time."
When asked if Citizens picks the judges, Cerio said, "We do not hire them. We may pay for the services generally, like anybody at any governmental agency."
Cerio said he doesn't see evidence of unfairness to policyholders and that Citizens will continue the program as long as the legislature and governor support it.
New legislation aims to restore court access
State lawmaker Rep. Yvette Benarroch disagrees with the current system. The House Republican has filed House Bill 863, which removes the forced arbitration requirement and allows Citizens policyholders to choose how they want to settle their claims.
The bill also prohibits Citizens from entering into contracts with DOAH.
"To be honest with you, I didn't even know that somehow we had taken the rights of our constituents to be able to go to court, which is a constitutional right," Benarroch said. "And so when I found out because you sent me the story, but I've heard from other constituents, when I looked into it, I'm like, yeah, we actually did that."
Benarroch says Luby's story is helping in her fight to restore access to the courts.
"Are we really surprised that they were winning 90% of the time when the same entity creates the rules, judges on it?" Benarroch said. "I'm not insinuating the process wasn't fair, however, just the optics of it is not good."
After the filing of HB863, a Citizens spokesperson sent a statement in response: "Citizens supports the DOAH process. It has been fairly and transparently resolving disputes associated with government entities for more than 50 years. Like all government entities that are subject to DOAH jurisdiction, Citizens pays for the service and administrative law judges are protected by statute against any outside influence."
Potential impact on rates
Moreover, when the bill was presented to lawmakers at a House committee meeting in January, a Citizens representative warned that taking away forced arbitration could reverse a recently announced 8.7% rate decrease filed for Citizens policyholders.
"Any disruption would have to have to go back and look at those rates and could result in us increasing those rates, which I'm sure you don't want," the representative said.
Legal challenges continue
Luby's attorney, Anthony M. Lopez of Your Insurance Attorney law group based in Miami, believes the story is creating important awareness.
"I think your story is important because it's creating awareness where maybe there hasn't been. We haven't had a storm since this new law passed. So I think once Floridians realize that they're stuck with this arbitration proceeding after the next storm, I think a lot of eyes are going to be opened," Lopez said.
The constitutionality of the process itself is making its way through Florida courts, with 525 cases still proceeding in the DOAH process, according to Citizens.
Luby's final hearing is waiting to be scheduled.
"I just want somebody to listen and say, why? Why won't you at least look at this? Why won't the court or someone give them a chance?" Luby said.
Legislative outlook
House Bill 863 has unanimously passed committee hearings and is easily making its way through the House. However, the companion Senate bill has not moved at all.
Many Republican leaders, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, say the state's insurance reforms are working and don't want to roll any of them back.
Benarroch remains hopeful for Luby and other homeowners in similar situations.
"Hopefully he'll get justice someday. But we're grateful for him. It's unfortunate that that happened to him, but grateful that he brought that up to us, and we're able to kind of try to fix the problem," Benarroch said.
Share Your Story with Nadeen
As part of her commitment to help you navigate the state of insurance, Tampa Bay 28 Anchor Nadeen Yanes is here to listen to you. If there is an insurance problem you have run into or feel others need to be aware of, we want to hear about it. Just fill out the form below.
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