Florida has earned a reputation as a litigious state with some of the busiest courthouses in the nation, and a new report shows that the dollars flowing through the Sunshine State’s legal system dwarf other states by a wide margin.
Florida ranks second only to California’s $60.2 billion in total tort costs, but in terms of costs as a percentage of gross domestic product, no other state comes close. Tort costs amount to 3.63% of Florida’s GDP; in California, that figure is 2%. According to an attorney at South Florida law firm Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck, “carriers are facing an onslaught of litigation unlike anyplace else in the country.”, who represents insurers in claims disputes, said insurance companies “just don’t feel like they can get a fair shake in Florida, whether in the court system or as the result of jury perceptions.”
A significant disparity exists between the actual beneficiaries of compensation paid in Florida’s tort system and the U.S. broadly.