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Reporting Highlights
A Particular Deal: In a second of peril, Florida lawmakers allowed its insurer of final resort to take disputes earlier than judges whose salaries it funds.
Successful File: Residents has taken greater than 1,500 insurance coverage disputes to necessary arbitration, the place it wins greater than 90% of ultimate hearings. In court docket it wins simply over half the time.
Systemic Points: Residents says the method is quick, low cost and truthful. Owners say the discussion board violates their rights.
These highlights had been written by the reporters and editors who labored on this story.
Final October, Peter and Linda Kilfoil returned from an in a single day journey and located water pooling within the kitchen of their Fort Lauderdale, Florida, residence. The pair couldn’t pinpoint the supply of the leak and had a tough time getting a plumber. So Linda Kilfoil known as their insurer, Residents Property Insurance coverage Corp.
The decision was the start of the Kilfoils’ journey by way of an alternate authorized universe arrange by Residents, a quasi-governmental insurer in Florida, to scale back its staggering authorized prices. On this state-sanctioned world, the judges’ salaries are funded by Residents, the principles adopted in Florida’s circuit courts don’t all apply and the insurance coverage firm virtually all the time triumphs.
It’s a authorized panorama so fraught {that a} Tampa decide lately paused all its proceedings — twice. However that didn’t come quickly sufficient to assist the Kilfoils.
Residents despatched an adjuster to their residence the day after they known as. He couldn’t pinpoint the supply of the leak both however suspected it was coming from a pipe that drained wastewater from the kitchen, he mentioned later in a deposition. He snapped pictures of the warped, soggy cupboards. A short time later, Residents denied their declare, saying that the injury to their cupboards was in step with a long-term leak, and that their insurance coverage contract excluded protection of such leaks — until they had been hidden.
Eleven days after the denial, the Kilfoils’ plumber discovered the leaking pipe within the residence’s exterior wall. It had been spilling water right into a recess between their kitchen cupboards and slab basis, data present. The whole value of restore has come near $40,000, based on Linda Kilfoil and building estimates offered by her lawyer.
The Kilfoils had completely relocated to Florida from Lengthy Island to get pleasure from retirement. However with Peter Kilfoil sick with prostate and pores and skin most cancers, his spouse confronted the prospect of dealing with repairs whereas tending to his well being.
“I’m a former doctor,” Peter Kilfoil mentioned in an interview from the hospital. “I’m not like some carjacker. They accuse me of letting that leak persist till it destroyed my kitchen.”
Simply earlier than Thanksgiving, the Kilfoils sued Residents. As an alternative of going to circuit court docket, as most lawsuits towards insurers would, Residents routed their case to arbitration earlier than the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings.
On the floor, the change of venue — made potential by a provision lawmakers empowered Residents to insert on the finish of most of its insurance policies — didn’t look like an enormous deal. Legislators and Residents executives touted DOAH as advantageous for each shoppers and the insurer. Circumstances within the discussion board have a tendency to maneuver sooner, value much less and are determined by skilled administrative regulation judges relatively than juries.
However in observe, householders pressured by Residents into DOAH have hassle exercising key rights.
Choose Britney Horton stored the Kilfoils’ lawyer from deposing a Residents adjuster, siding with the corporate after it argued it had already made one other worker accessible and produced “all non-privileged info.” The ruling disadvantaged them of a good alternative to research the denial, based on their lawyer. On at the least 20 different events, DOAH judges have issued related rulings throughout a dispute’s fact-finding section.
Choose Britney Horton
Credit score:
State of Florida Division of Administrative Hearings
As well as, some DOAH judges have denied motions requesting that they disclose any potential conflicts they may have as arbitrators. Some plaintiff’s attorneys say that has made it troublesome to belief within the impartiality of their selections.
And the discussion board’s guidelines make it inconceivable for householders to drop their lawsuit with out Residents’ approval, until they withdraw their declare, a transfer that may result in court docket prices and lawyer’s charges if not filed early within the course of. Some have felt pressured to go to last hearings the place they misplaced and ended up owing hundreds to Residents.
“You don’t should be a rocket scientist to determine one thing’s mistaken,” mentioned Chip Merlin, president of Merlin Legislation Group, a agency that represents insurance coverage policyholders.
In a written response to questions in regards to the householders’ experiences, Residents spokesperson Michael Peltier defended the present course of.
“We imagine the statute authoring the decision of claims by DOAH supplies a well-established, neutral, and environment friendly course of for policyholders, who now not should wait practically two years, on common, for a decision of their declare,” he wrote.
With regards to depositions, the discussion board shouldn’t be “materially completely different” from Florida’s circuit courts, he added. And he defined that whereas householders are barred from dismissing their circumstances at DOAH — a transfer which may permit them to pursue the declare in circuit court docket — they aren’t blocked from withdrawing their declare, a extra terminal maneuver. (Withdrawing, although, grants Residents an automated win and exposes householders to the danger of charges if it isn’t completed quickly after a case is shipped to DOAH.) The corporate declined to touch upon particular person circumstances in litigation.
As of July 21, judges sided with Residents in additional than 90% of circumstances that made it to a last DOAH listening to the place each side offered their case, based on a ProPublica evaluation of court docket data. (The steep odds had been first highlighted by the South Florida Solar Sentinel.) In circuit court docket trials, Residents has gained about 55% of the time over the previous 5 years, based on data launched by the corporate.
Citing a procedural error within the request by the Kilfoils’ attorneys, Horton declined to push again the date of the ultimate listening to after Peter Kilfoil had been hospitalized. She didn’t reply to a request for remark. Confronted with lengthy odds and failing well being, the Kilfoils settled their case for the nominal sum of $500 that Residents was providing, based on their lawyer. “I used to be being a nurse to my husband day by day,” Linda Kilfoil mentioned, leaving little time to handle residence repairs and battle the insurer. “I couldn’t go away him.”
Peter Kilfoil died at 77 on Aug. 22, 2025.
Of the Residents circumstances resolved at DOAH between March 2024 and July 7, 2025, 78% led to a settlement, based on information launched by the insurer. Half of all circumstances settled for $500 or much less to the policyholder, based on that information. A further 28%, based on Peltier, had been settled by Residents for a median of $30,000.
Residents’ clients can not decide out of DOAH. Finally, the insurer intends to ship greater than 3,800 circumstances a 12 months there, based on a funding proposal permitted by its governing board final 12 months. Since February 2024, it’s despatched over 1,500.
A large number of public companies in Florida contract with DOAH, counting on the executive regulation judges to resolve disputes. As a part of that course of, they pay the company for the salaries of judges who resolve their circumstances, although they don’t play a job within the hiring of them.
However this system should survive stiff authorized challenges. Essentially the most profitable up to now comes from Tampa, the place a circuit court docket decide in August reaffirmed a statewide injunction pausing DOAH hearings after a Hurricane Milton sufferer argued the corporate was violating his rights.
“Particularly, enforcement of the arbitration clause at problem compels insureds right into a discussion board that lacks neutrality, discovery, movement observe, and significant judicial evaluation,” Choose Melissa Polo wrote in her order.
Residents moved to disqualify Polo, arguing that she violated her impartiality as a decide by ruling the DOAH course of unconstitutional earlier than arguments might be heard within the case. Polo denied the movement.
“We look ahead to making our case on attraction,” Peltier wrote of Polo’s choice to pause DOAH proceedings.
“All people in This Room, All people within the State of Florida Backstops Residents”
As Florida’s insurer of final resort, Residents should take all comers who can’t get inexpensive insurance coverage by way of one other provider. It gained the power to take disputes to DOAH within the spring of 2023, at a second of nice peril for the insurer. Successive hurricanes had gouged a gap within the Sunshine State, leaving a number of personal carriers bancrupt — and leaving tons of of hundreds of their clients with no alternative however Residents. By the tip of that 12 months, the not-for-profit insurer was serving greater than 1.2 million householders as one other hurricane season loomed. It additionally had greater than 18,000 excellent lawsuits filed towards it.
The corporate efficiently lobbied the Legislature to let it take circumstances to DOAH in an effort to buffer it towards the crises. The verbiage granting Residents this energy was tucked into HB 799 — a broader Residents invoice that, amongst different issues, allowed it to boost charges sooner on some insurance policies — simply after its third studying within the Florida Home of Representatives Commerce Committee in April 2023.
State Sen. Jonathan Martin, a Republican and one of many invoice’s sponsors, mentioned Residents officers proposed the DOAH provision to him in a gathering in his Tallahassee places of work. Former Florida State Supreme Court docket Justice Ricky Polston, who had simply begun what can be a short stint because the insurer’s basic counsel, was current on the assembly, Martin mentioned.
“He and Residents expressed the danger that they had been going through, similar to all the opposite insurance coverage corporations on the market,” Martin mentioned.
Polston would go away Residents that June to enter personal observe. He now fees Residents at the least $500 an hour to defend it from authorized and constitutional challenges, together with ones to the DOAH proceedings, data present, and his agency has billed the insurer virtually $430,000 this 12 months. Polston didn’t reply to a request for remark from ProPublica.
That quantity, based on Peltier, is minuscule in contrast with the $450 million the group has spent on authorized providers underneath contracts signed in 2021 and 2022. “The determine you point out of $430,000 displays lower than one-tenth of 1%,” he wrote.
Former Florida State Supreme Court docket Justice Ricky Polston
Credit score:
Florida Supreme Court docket
There was little dialogue of the DOAH provision in committee or within the properly of the home, the place the laws initially handed 115-0. It wasn’t till HB 799 reached the ground of the Florida Senate on Could 1, 2023, that two senators began asking questions.
“This very broad language is unhealthy for the Residents policyholders,” mentioned Republican Sen. Erin Grall as she rose to supply an modification that might strike the language from the invoice. Foremost amongst her issues was that Residents policyholders can be giving up helpful rights, like entry to the courts, with out getting something in return (personal policyholders get a premium discount when they comply with arbitration in Florida).
After elevating her issues, she withdrew her modification, curbing dialogue. A couple of minutes later, Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky requested Martin, the invoice’s sponsor, to handle Grall’s issues.
“In my view, Residents is specifically located,” Martin mentioned. “All people on this room, everyone within the state of Florida backstops Residents,” Martin mentioned, referring to a provision in Florida regulation that permits Residents to levy a charge on each insurance coverage policyholder within the state, together with these of opponents, ought to the corporate ever discover itself in need of funds.
The corporate’s funds have stabilized within the intervening two years. It’s aggressively shed greater than half 1,000,000 insurance coverage insurance policies, offloading them to personal insurers, and is right down to about 12,600 excellent lawsuits as of this June. And its DOAH program is increasing.
Judicial Financial system
Fort Lauderdale householders Yvonne Miller and Chaney Darric Keith needed to cease pursuing their declare towards Residents this 12 months.
Miller and Keith had intitially claimed that their bathe pan failed, a leak they mentioned broken partitions, baseboards and flooring. Residents had denied the declare. The pair had sued, however throughout the course of the litigation, it grew to become clear that at the least a few of the injury had come from a long-term leak from their showerhead, which might not be eligible for insurance coverage protection. The pair’s lawyer tried to get the case dismissed. However at DOAH, that may’t occur until each events agree.
“I don’t need to transfer ahead with this,” mentioned lawyer Lourdes Bloomfield at a Feb. 17 DOAH listening to. Bloomfield had already tried two occasions to withdraw Miller and Keith’s plumbing declare towards Residents, submitting motions to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit and notifying the court docket of the withdrawal of her shoppers declare. Choose Terry Slusher had denied each of them, the second for being filed just one enterprise day earlier than the listening to.
“So simply in order that I could make it clear for myself, Residents shouldn’t be keen to allow Ms. Miller and Mr. Keith to withdraw their declare right now?” the decide requested Residents’ protection lawyer, Holly Miller, a short while later.
“These are my directions, sure sir,” Miller replied, based on a transcript of the court docket proceedings.
As a result of the pair said they needed to withdraw the case and offered no proof at their last listening to, the decide sided with Residents and ended up ordering that the householders pay $10,677 in court docket prices.
Mary Ceron is one other home-owner who tried to give up however ended up at a last listening to towards her will. As her listening to approached, her lawyer mentioned she requested a settlement the place all sides bore its personal prices, however mentioned Residents didn’t agree. So Ceron withdrew her declare at her last listening to, and afterward she obtained a judgment towards her for nearly $45,000 in prices and costs. Residents agreed to settle the case with out gathering the cash after the home-owner appealed, based on Ceron’s lawyer.
The corporate, Peltier mentioned, is searching for finality. Miller and Keith, he wrote, had initially tried to give up their case in a manner the place it could be refiled, “and we don’t need that, we wish finality.” Anybody who desires to cease their DOAH proceedings can achieve this, he mentioned, by withdrawing their declare.
Residents routinely pursues charges and prices towards people who don’t withdraw their declare early within the DOAH course of. DOAH judges have granted greater than 15 such requests, based on a ProPublica evaluation of the company’s docket. After being offered with a listing of those circumstances, which included that of Ceron, Peltier wrote that the corporate pursues charges towards some people who withdraw “to discourage attorneys from pursuing claims that lack benefit.” Some 11% of DOAH claims by way of July 7 had led to withdrawals or voluntary dismissals, based on information offered by the corporate.
Specialists level out that Florida’s circuit courts permit for voluntary dismissals. “I’m not saying that what they’re doing is technically not in conformity with the principles, but it surely’s the one time I’ve heard it in a daily basic civil case, equivalent to an insurance coverage dispute,” mentioned Jack Tuter, former chief decide of Florida’s seventeenth Judicial Circuit, who independently reviewed DOAH circumstances for ProPublica and spoke usually of the discussion board’s observe of barring voluntary dismissals that aren’t agreed upon by events.
A ProPublica evaluation of the DOAH docket revealed at the least 32 different circumstances during which home-owner makes an attempt to drop their lawsuits had been met with resistance from Residents, forcing each events to rack up authorized prices.
“I feel that’s one of the vindictive issues, within the 14 years I’ve been doing this, I’ve seen an insurance coverage firm do,” mentioned Andres Correa, a plaintiff’s lawyer who felt pressured to go to a last listening to after Residents refused to comply with a settlement during which all sides bore its personal prices.
Settling for Much less
Jeffrey McShane is a former Navy pilot and nuclear engineer. This March, as a lunar lander carrying a payload he helped design was utilizing X-rays to look at the dance between Earth’s magnetic area and the photo voltaic wind, he was troubled by one other concern: Was there any solution to win towards Residents?
In response to an architect’s report, in the middle of two weeks within the spring of 2024, a pipe burst underneath the lounge of McShane’s four-bedroom residence, after which his roof — which had been changed 4 and 6 years earlier — sprung a leak after a storm. The water shorted his air-con unit. Mildew bloomed. An insurance coverage adjuster he employed put the invoice at simply over $200,000.
Residents mentioned its coverage didn’t cowl a few of the property broken by the leak and mentioned different injury was because of put on and tear and improper set up. It refused to cowl the prices. “We discovered no proof to assist the home-owner’s declare of water intrusion by way of the roof’s floor on April 3, 2024,” an engineer employed by the corporate wrote after visiting the property.
Jeffrey McShane
Credit score:
Courtesy of Jeffrey McShane
“I didn’t count on that the technical issue of navigating Residents’ claims course of can be far tougher than getting a spacecraft to the Moon,” McShane wrote in an e-mail to ProPublica.
As his last listening to approached, McShane’s discovered that his probabilities of victory had been virtually nonexistent. No home-owner, as much as that time, had gained a DOAH case towards Residents. The insurance coverage firm was providing him $5,000 to settle. On the final second, he determined a last listening to was too dangerous and took the cash.
ProPublica heard from greater than two dozen plaintiff’s attorneys who mentioned their DOAH circumstances settled for lower than what a home-owner would have gotten in state court docket.
Peltier, the Residents spokesperson, provided a unique perspective on settlements at DOAH. On common, circumstances there accept about $18,000, in contrast with about $25,000 in state court docket. However a few of that distinction, based on Peltier, is because of older, pre-tort reform circumstances that carry extra legal responsibility for the insurer.
The Untold Saga of What Occurred When DOGE Stormed Social Safety
Stainton Williams has been equally befuddled by his interactions with Residents.
In response to his lawyer, Michael Citron, a plastic tarp has lined the roof of Williams’ North Miami residence for a lot of the previous 12 months. Williams, 92, is a Jamaican immigrant with end-stage kidney illness whose roof, components of that are 9 and 19 years outdated, started to leak after a interval of heavy climate in late September that coincided with the passage of Hurricane Helene. On Oct. 11, 2024, Residents denied Williams’ declare, writing that “we decided the injury sustained to your shopper’s property was brought on by storm surge ensuing from a hurricane.” (Residents’ insurance policies don’t cowl storm surge or floods.) Williams’ house is about 3 miles from the ocean, on the other aspect of the state from Hurricane Helene’s important impacts and the place no storm surge or coastal flooding had been reported by the Nationwide Climate Service.
Inconsistently, an engineer employed by Residents to examine the property disputed that the roof was broken by Helene, writing “there was no injury to the roof protecting system or exterior envelope from Hurricane Helene.” The insurer’s spokesperson declined a chance to make clear this seeming contradiction.
Stainton Williams
Credit score:
Courtesy of Stainton Williams’ daughter
So Williams and his daughter, who has energy of lawyer, employed Citron and sued. When Williams’ case was despatched to DOAH, Citron filed a movement requesting, amongst different issues, that DOAH Choose Todd Resavage disclose any potential conflicts. The movement cites a state regulation that requires such disclosure from appointed arbitrators.
“The disclosures had been requested in our case as they’d be in any arbitration case,” Citron mentioned. “Why that turns into necessary on this continuing is as a result of we didn’t select the arbitrator. We didn’t even select arbitration. It was all completed by Residents. So due to that, we at the least need to know who these persons are, who’s overseeing our case,” he added.
Resavage denied the movement for 2 causes. First, he dominated the state regulation Citron cited didn’t apply as a result of he had not been appointed however relatively given his place by regulation. And even when that state regulation did apply, Resavage wrote, it wouldn’t require his disclosure until there have been “recognized info {that a} cheap particular person would think about prone to have an effect on the arbitrator’s impartiality.” He didn’t reply to a request for remark from ProPublica. Not less than two different judges have denied related motions for disclosure, based on a ProPublica evaluation of the docket.
Requested about his considering and intentions with reference to battle of curiosity disclosures by administrative regulation judges, Martin, the invoice sponsor, responded by way of textual content with a query. “Do these judges should file a Type 6? Like all different judges?” After being knowledgeable that DOAH judges file Type 1, a much less detailed disclosure, Martin ceased responding to texts and didn’t reply telephone calls.
Agnel Philip contributed information reporting.
