The Hillsboro County Circuit Judge ordered the state-run civil property insurance company to halt the sending of claim disputes to arbitrators adopted by the state.
Circuit Judge Melissa Mary Polo said plaintiff Martin A. Alvarez, a resident of Hillsboro, showed “substantial potential for success” in his claim that the Order Practice (DOAH) decided by the Citizens’ Administrative Hearings (DOAH) violated its constitutional right to a fair trial.
Citizens received approval from the Insurance Regulation Office and later from the Florida Legislature in 2022 to add provisions to all new and updated policies that allow the company to divert claim disputes from the court to binding arbitration.
Last year, the Citizens’ Board approved a $19.3 million payment to manage the program until 2027.
Policyholders who wanted citizen coverage were not permitted to reject the provisions.
Since 2024, citizens have moved more than 1,300 claims to the DOAH court. Before July 10, the company won 47 of the 51 cases that advanced to the final hearing.
For others, citizens have bid on a settlement offer, usually $250 or $500, the plaintiff’s lawyer told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. A plaintiff’s refusal to accept an offer of settlement would risk a ruling that if they lose the suit or withdraw it before hearing, they will be ordered to pay the civilian legal fees, the lawyer said.
Alvarez filed the lawsuit on July 11, the day after a similar lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Miami by a 92-year-old citizen client.
Lynn A. Brower, an attorney for the Miami-based insurance trial lawyers company, told the Sun Sentinel that if Polo sent it to the door before he ordered a statewide injunction, he filed eight claims for relief from the court.
Brower said citizens invoked an arbitration clause after Alvarez submitted his intention to sue a citizen’s decision to cover only a portion of his claim that his home was damaged during Hurricane Ian.
Civic spokesman Michael Peltier said the company has received orders and is working on a response. “State law specifically approves the DOAH process and believes the law is constitutional. Beyond that, we will not comment on pending lawsuits.”
Peltier told Saint Sentinel in July that the company would have to file a motion in state court if it raised funds while seeking attorneys’ fees for plaintiffs who lose, withdraw or withdraw DOAH cases. The citizens have not done that yet, but some who lose the plaintiffs voluntarily paid the legal fees imposed on them, he said.
In his case, Alvarez argues that provisions requiring citizen policyholders to accept binding arbitration violate the Florida Constitution and policyholders’ due process rights.
Brauer said the state’s insurance law requires businesses to offer binding arbitration options in exchange for premium discounts and requires policyholders to sign a document that says they will accept the offer.
But the law that persuaded citizens to enact Congress states that the requirement does not apply to citizens, she said. “They can put that in their policy.”
Following Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Polo agreed that Alvarez is likely to win the allegation that the provision violated the legitimate protection and equal protection clause of the amendment to Article 14 of the U.S. Constitution, and violated Section 21 of the Florida Constitutional Declaration, which relates to access to the court.
Chip Merlin, founder of Tampa-based Merlin Law Group, called attention to Doah’s biased hearing in his April blog entry on Friday in his website, Property Insurance Compensation Act, called the Polo ruling.
“There is no fairness when agencies form and hire their own judicial systems,” Merlin said in an email. “The Congress would never have approved this. Citizens’ running officials should have a change of heart as they have lost all the credibility and goodwill that remains by sticking to this charade of illegal justice.”
Ron Burtibise covers South Florida Sun Sentinel’s business and consumer issues. He can be contacted by telephone at 954-356-4071 or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.
Original issue: August 2, 2025 8am EDT
