For decades, Florida insurance bad faith exposure was the wolf at the carrier’s door: a claimant could set a short deadline, watch the adjuster miss it, and convert a $100,000 policy into a seven-figure excess judgment. The 2023 tort reform bill, HB 837, gave insurers a brick house. Section 624.155, Florida Statutes, now contains a 90-day safe harbor, a negligence bar, and a duty of good faith that runs to claimants and their lawyers. Cox Law, PLLC handles these disputes from both sides, and here is how the rules work today.
What Florida Insurance Bad Faith Means
Florida recognizes two tracks. The statutory claim under section 624.155(1)(b)1 reaches an insurer that does not attempt in good faith to settle a claim when, under all the circumstances, it could and should have done so had it acted fairly and honestly toward its insured and with due regard for the insured’s interests. The statute covers both first-party claims (the insured against its own carrier) and third-party claims (an injured claimant standing in the insured’s shoes after an excess judgment).
The common-law claim is narrower. It applies only to third-party liability claims and grows out of the carrier’s control over the defense and settlement of suits against its insured. Under either Florida insurance bad faith theory, the question is whether the insurer’s handling of the claim, viewed as a whole, exposed the insured to a judgment above the policy limits that a reasonable carrier would have avoided.
The Civil Remedy Notice Is a Condition Precedent
No statutory Florida insurance bad faith action may be filed until the Department of Financial Services and the insurer have received 60 days’ written notice on the Department’s civil remedy notice form. The notice must identify the specific statutory language violated, the facts and circumstances of the violation, the individuals involved, and the relevant policy language, and it must state that it is given to perfect the right to sue under section 624.155.
The 60 days is a cure period. If the insurer pays the damages or corrects the circumstances within that window, no action lies. A defective notice is a favorite defense motion, so the notice should be drafted with the same care as a complaint.
The 90-Day Safe Harbor After HB 837
Section 624.155(4)(a) is the centerpiece of the reform. A Florida insurance bad faith action involving a liability claim, statutory or common law, does not lie if the insurer tenders the lesser of the policy limits or the amount demanded within 90 days after receiving actual notice of a claim accompanied by sufficient evidence to support the amount claimed. The clock does not start on a bare letter of representation; it starts when the carrier has the evidence.
If the carrier misses the 90 days, the safe harbor itself is inadmissible in the later bad faith case, and any applicable statute of limitations is extended by 90 days. The safe harbor is a shield for the insurer, not a sword.
Negligence Is Not Bad Faith, and Claimant Conduct Counts
Section 624.155(5)(a) now provides that mere negligence alone is insufficient to constitute bad faith. A slow adjuster, a lost file, or a missed phone call is not enough; the plaintiff must show that the carrier’s conduct, taken as a whole, crossed from careless into a failure to act fairly and honestly toward the insured.
Section 624.155(5)(b) imposes a reciprocal duty. The insured, the claimant, and their representatives must act in good faith in furnishing information, making demands, setting deadlines, and attempting to settle. That duty is not a separate cause of action, but the jury may consider a breach of it and reduce the damages awarded against the insurer. The days of the ten-day, no-extensions, no-questions demand as a Florida insurance bad faith setup are over.
Multiple Claimants and Limited Policy Limits
When two or more third-party claimants have competing claims from a single occurrence that may exceed the available limits, section 624.155(6) caps the carrier’s exposure at the policy limits if, within 90 days of notice of the competing claims, it either files an interpleader action or makes the full limits available through binding arbitration agreed to by the claimants. The interpleader does not relieve the carrier of its duty to defend the insured.
Practice Points on Florida Insurance Bad Faith
Claimant’s counsel: send a complete demand package on day one. Medical records, bills, wage documentation, and liability evidence start the 90-day clock; a two-paragraph letter does not. Set reasonable deadlines, respond to reasonable requests, and document every exchange, because the jury will now be invited to grade your conduct alongside the carrier’s.
Insureds and defense counsel: calendar the 90 days from the date the carrier actually received the evidence, and make sure the tender is the lesser of limits or the demand, without conditions the statute does not allow. Remember that the HB 837 amendments apply to causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023; older claims are still governed by the prior version of the statute.
Property claims: the analysis is different. Section 624.1551 bars a statutory Florida insurance bad faith action against a property insurer until the insured has obtained an adverse adjudication that the insurer breached the contract and a final judgment has been entered. Accepting an offer of judgment or being paid an appraisal award does not count.
Facing a Florida insurance bad faith question, an excess exposure, or a demand with a clock running in the Tampa Bay area? Call Cox Law, PLLC at 813-685-8600 or request a consultation.