'Do the right thing': Report claims Florida insurance reform brought more hurricane claims denials, lawsuits

TAMPA, Fla. — It was one year ago Friday that Hurricane Helene's storm surge brought devastating damage to Florida's Gulf Coast. Then, 13 days later, Hurricane Milton brought another punch.

Since then, Tampa Bay 28 has told countless stories of recovery and why so many are still not back in their homes a year later. Many told us their hurricane insurance claims were denied due to not having flood insurance, not understanding their policy, or having a deductible that was simply too high.

According to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, claims data showed 32% of all Hurricane Helene claims were closed without payment. That number is higher for Hurricane Milton, data showing 35% of claims, were closed without payment — a total of 129,348 claims where homeowners didn't get a penny from their insurance company.

CLAIM DENIED

In February, Tampa homeowner Liz Ann was denied her insurance claim after Hurricane Milton because the company said her damage came below her deductible, which was just over $3,700.

Credit: Photojournalist Randy Wright

"I actually amped my coverage for my fence and outdoor building here, just in case there was a hurricane," she said. "Now, they're denying my claim, saying it's under deductible. They're saying it's under like, 3,000, whatever mine is, I'd have to look it up exactly. They're not going to cover it."

'THIS IS A DAMNING STORY'

Now, there is a new report from Weiss Ratings, suggesting that those denials were intentional.

"This is a damning story," said Dr. Martin Weiss of Weiss Ratings.

Using data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Weiss says that, due to the December 2022 insurance tort reform, hurricane claims denials increased from 40% in 2022 to 46.7% in 2024 intentionally.

Weiss Ratings

"Insurance companies denied claims even more aggressively," Dr. Weiss said. "Why did they do that? Well, it's very possible it's because they thought that the tort reform, making it more difficult for consumers to sue, would have protected them from those lawsuits, so they denied claims more aggressively."

The reform, lawmakers said, was to cut down on lawsuits against the insurance companies. Weiss claims it did the opposite.

WFTS

"Despite tort reform, they actually filed lawsuits at a higher rate per claims denial," he said. "The rate of lawsuits filed in Florida against homeowners' insurance surged by 24% after tort reform."

Weiss compared data from 2022 to 2024, excluding 2023 due to Hurricane Ian.

"The reason we don't look at 2023 is because that was a transition year when the legislation was being passed, right, and everybody rushed to sue. So it was an anomaly, and I don't want to use that as part of our analysis, because it would make the insurance companies and the problem look even worse than it really is," he added. "Something's wrong here."

'THE DATA DOES NOT LIE'

Florida's insurance regulators are slamming this report, claiming lawsuits are down significantly since the 2022 reforms.

The Office of Insurance Regulation said lawsuits against insurers are lower than they were before 2018. In just a yearly comparison (2023 to 2024), filings were down 23%. At one point, they were down 30% during the year.

FOIR

"The data does not lie," said Shiloh Elliott, press secretary at the Office of Insurance Regulation. "It is not surprising that Weiss once again skews data to fit his own narrative to make a headline. We have repeatedly had to refute his claims because they are simply not accurate."

FOIR reiterated their claims that the Florida insurance market is stabilizing, with more companies entering the market and more companies dropping rates.

"Rates are on the decline; as of September 15^, the OIR has received 58 filings for rate decreases and 87 filings for 0% rate increases, with one of the largest insurers in the state (Florida Peninsula) requesting its largest rate decrease in recent memory. The OIR has also welcomed 17 new property and casualty insurers into the market since the passage of the historic legislative reforms, offering more competition and choices for consumers, with more on the way," Elliott added in a statement.

Tampa Bay 28 asked for an on-camera interview with Florida's Insurance Commissioner, but did not hear back on our request.

'PEOPLE FEEL DESPERATE'

Since the data is disputed, we wanted to go to the sources. Tampa Bay insurance claims attorney, David Murray, said he's seeing more claims denials and more people filing lawsuits since the reform.

"Our phone rings every day," Murray said. "People feel hurt even more."

WFTS

He also believes insurance companies have denied more claims and anecdotally agrees with what Weiss Ratings claim. As more people, he said, are coming to his office wanting to sue, despite the fact that policyholders can now be on the hook for paying attorney fees.

"The insurance companies have been emboldened by the tort reform in order to deny claims that they would once pay, or to underpay claims that they would once pay," he said. "People feel desperate because they feel like they have no other choice, and they're willing to give up a portion of something so that they can try to get some type of recovery."

'DEMONSTRATIVELY FALSE'

However, like state leaders, Florida insurance companies are discrediting the Weiss Report.

Executives at Security First Insurance say lawsuits are down significantly.

"The claim in the Weiss report that litigation in Florida has gone up rather than down is demonstratively false," said Locke Burt, Chairman of Security First Insurance Company. "The number of lawsuits we get has gone from 200 a month to 40 a month, from 2022 to today."

In fact, Security First was one of the first in Florida to reduce insurance rates after the December 2022 reforms, lowering rates by 5.9% in 2024.

FOIR

"It's a very small piece of data which Weiss has misrepresented to talk about all claims and all companies," Burt added.

He said there are several reasons why claims were denied so quickly after last year's hurricanes, which a denial is required to get FEMA assistance. Burt said the common reasons why claims were denied were that people didn't have flood insurance coverage, and that the deductibles were too high.

WFTS

In fact, for transparency, the state has listed 17 reasons why Hurricane Milton claims were denied.

"I think it's also important not to take one person's story or one person's situation and extrapolate it out amongst 100,000 plus claims that did occur," added Security First President Melissa Burt DeVriese. "Because there were a lot of people that had a very good experience and whose claim was handled quickly and fairly."

Burt also pointed to a recent Market Conduct Exam released by the Office of Insurance Regulation, which resulted in $2 million worth of fines against a select group of 9 insurance companies for their response after Hurricanes Ian and Idalia. However, Burt said for the most part, insurance companies responded correctly.

"If you go back to the claim Market Conduct Exams which were just completed, only nine-tenths of 1% of the 88,000 claims they looked at were not adjusted properly. So 99.1% of the time the claim was paid in accordance with the insurance contract," he added. "While I don’t believe there is a valid reason for making these mistakes, I don’t believe the small numbers of these errors justify the conclusion that the Florida homeowners' insurance industry is systematically delaying and underpaying claims."

Security First also provided us with data from Guy Carpenter, a company that provides insights on the reinsurance and insurance market, which has been following litigation data in Florida and broken down by company as well.

Guy Carpenter's Litigation Report Q2 2025 by ABC Action News

'DO THE RIGHT THING'

How to dissect the data is for you to decide. As for Liz, she said this is her story. She purposely did not file a lawsuit out of fear she would lose more to attorney fees.

"They're putting people who don't have these resources in a predicament where, you know, what else are they going to do? And people are definitely frustrated," she said. "Just do the right thing. It's not hard."

WFTS

She said, fortunately, after our story aired, her insurance company revisited her case and settled her claim. However, she believes there needs to be more accountability before the next storm hits.

"In my opinion, you know, government officials that seem really happy to make them happy, and don't seem to really be listening to actual citizens and what they need and what they want," Liz added.