George Feijoo, a partner at Floridian Partners, said that House Bill 1551 shifts risk to consumers and threatens recent efforts to stabilize Florida’s insurance market.
“We must note that the party in this case with no skin in the game is the plaintiff’s attorney,” said Feijoo. “This bill does not put consumers first. These reforms ensure that insurers are held to fair and transparent standards, just as consumers deserve. Citizens Property Insurance leads the industry in claims denied or closed without payment.”
According to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, plaintiffs’ attorneys in property insurance lawsuits collected $2.5 billion in fees between 2016 and 2020, while policyholders received just $1.2 billion. Litigation costs have been cited as a major contributor to rising insurance premiums across the state.
Following recent reforms, insurer insolvencies have declined and new insurers have cautiously begun re-entering the Florida market, according to the Insurance Information Institute. This early stabilization is especially critical for reciprocal exchanges, which depend on predictable regulatory conditions to function effectively. However, proposed legislation such as House Bill 1551 could reintroduce uncertainty and potentially stall this progress.
According to AM Best, reciprocal insurance exchanges are member-owned entities in which policyholders insure one another through a shared attorney-in-fact. These structures have grown rapidly in catastrophe-prone regions like Florida, where at least 21 reciprocal exchanges have been formed between 2017 and 2024—nearly half of them domiciled in the state.
Feijoo is a partner at Floridian Partners, where he specializes in government affairs, legislative advocacy, and regulatory strategy. He previously held senior roles in Florida state government, including Chief of Staff at the Florida Department of Financial Services.
