Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that state regulators have arranged nearly $1 billion in premium refunds for Progressive auto insurance policyholders. The refunds are attributed to cost savings from litigation reform measures enacted in 2022 and 2023.
DeSantis highlighted the impact of previous legal conditions on insurance costs, stating, “Florida was really considered a litigation hellhole by a lot of folks. That contributed to consumers having to bear more costs with respect to auto insurance.” He also mentioned that Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworksy is in discussions with other major auto insurers to secure similar reimbursements for their customers.
Mark Friedlander, director of communications at the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I), told Spectrum News Florida that lower lawsuit expenses have allowed some auto insurers to reduce average costs and issue premium refunds. “When you take that out of the equation — all of those abusive lawsuits — this brings down the expenses, and that in turn gets passed along to the consumer,” Friedlander said. “The consumer wins with legal system reform.”
