Short answer: According to Florida HB 837 (2023), enacted as Chapter 2023-15, the state overhauled civil litigation: it repealed the one-way attorney-fee statutes for insurance (627.428 and 626.9373), cut the negligence statute of limitations from four years to two, adopted modified comparative negligence barring recovery by a party more than 50 percent at fault, and gave insurers a 90-day tender safe harbor against bad-faith claims involving liability insurance.
What is Florida HB 837 (2023)?
HB 837 (CS/CS/HB 837), titled "Civil Remedies," is the broad 2023 tort-reform act. It became Chapter 2023-15, Laws of Florida, and took effect upon becoming a law. Unlike the property-insurance-specific packages that preceded it, HB 837 rewrote large parts of Florida civil litigation across all lines of insurance: it shortened the negligence statute of limitations, adopted modified comparative negligence, repealed the one-way attorney-fee statutes for insurance, and revised bad-faith law. It also created new sections governing the admissibility of medical-expense damages and letters of protection (s. 768.0427), consideration of the fault of nonparties (s. 768.0701), and a presumption against liability for certain negligent-security claims (s. 768.0706).
For Florida policyholders, the changes that matter most sit in three buckets: attorney fees, deadlines and fault in negligence suits, and the rules for bringing a bad-faith action against an insurer.
What did HB 837 change about attorney fees for insurance claims?
For decades, Florida gave policyholders a one-way fee-shifting right: when an insured won against an insurer, the insurer paid the insured's attorney fees, but not the reverse. HB 837 repealed both of those statutes. It repealed s. 627.428 (the general insurer one-way fee statute) and s. 626.9373 (the surplus-lines equivalent), eliminating one-way fee shifting for insurance litigation across all lines.
In their place, HB 837 created two narrower provisions. New s. 57.104 establishes a strong presumption that a lodestar fee is sufficient and reasonable, a presumption that can be overcome only in a rare and exceptional circumstance. New s. 86.121 allows a fee award to the insured only in a declaratory action to determine coverage after a total coverage denial, and that right is non-transferable and non-assignable.
The practical effect: winning a claim dispute no longer automatically shifts your legal fees to the carrier. That raises the cost of litigating a bad claim decision and makes building the claim correctly the first time far more important.
How did HB 837 change the negligence statute of limitations?
HB 837 cut the statute of limitations for actions founded on negligence from four years to two years. It did this by removing negligence from s. 95.11(3) (the "within four years" category) and placing it in s. 95.11(4) (the "within two years" category). The change applies to causes of action accruing after the effective date, so losses that accrued before then keep the prior period.
Medical malpractice already carried a two-year period and is unchanged; the reduction from four years to two affects general negligence actions.
What is modified comparative negligence under HB 837?
Before HB 837, Florida followed pure comparative negligence: an injured party could recover a share of damages even if mostly at fault. HB 837 amended s. 768.81 to adopt modified comparative negligence. Now, a party found to be greater than 50 percent at fault for his or her own harm may not recover any damages at all. This bar does not apply to personal injury or wrongful death arising out of medical negligence under chapter 766, which stays under pure comparative negligence.
How did HB 837 change Florida bad-faith law?
HB 837 revised s. 624.155, the statute behind bad-faith actions and the Civil Remedy Notice. Three changes stand out:
- Mere negligence alone is insufficient to constitute bad faith. A carrier's ordinary mistake, without more, does not establish a bad-faith claim.
- The insured, claimant, and their representative have a duty to act in good faith in furnishing information about the claim, making demands, setting deadlines, and attempting to settle. The trier of fact may reduce damages if they did not.
- For a liability insurance claim, a 90-day tender safe harbor bars a bad-faith action, including a common-law action, 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. By its terms this safe harbor applies to liability insurance claims, not first-party property claims.
If you are pursuing bad faith, this raises the bar: your own conduct is now in evidence, and in a liability claim a carrier that pays quickly and fully within the tender window can foreclose the claim. Naming the violation precisely and documenting the file remains the core of any Civil Remedy Notice under Fla. Stat. 624.155.
HB 837 changes at a glance
| Area | What HB 837 changed | Statute / provision |
|---|---|---|
| Negligence deadline | Reduced from 4 years to 2 years; applies to causes of action accruing after the effective date | s. 95.11 |
| Comparative fault | Modified comparative negligence: a party greater than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing (medical negligence under ch. 766 stays pure comparative) | s. 768.81 |
| Insurance attorney fees | Repealed one-way fee statutes s. 627.428 (insurers) and s. 626.9373 (surplus lines) | ss. 627.428, 626.9373 |
| Fee awards after repeal | Strong presumption a lodestar fee is reasonable; fees to the insured only after a total coverage denial in a declaratory action | ss. 57.104, 86.121 |
| Bad faith | Mere negligence alone is insufficient; insured and claimant owe a good-faith duty; 90-day tender safe harbor for liability insurance claims | s. 624.155 |
| Effective date | Took effect upon becoming a law | Chapter 2023-15, Laws of Florida |
Is HB 837 the same as the property-insurance reforms?
No, and conflating them is a common mistake. HB 837 is the broad 2023 tort-reform act that touches all lines of insurance and general negligence law. The property-insurance-specific reforms are separate:
- The 2022-2023 property insurance reforms, including SB 2A (the December 2022 special-session act), eliminated one-way attorney fees and assignment of benefits for property insurance.
- Earlier packages (SB 76 in 2021 and SB 2D in May 2022) reshaped roof claims, the pre-suit process, and litigation rules.
By the time HB 837 passed, one-way fees for property claims had already been removed by SB 2A. HB 837 finished the job by repealing s. 627.428 and s. 626.9373 outright, so the one-way fee right is gone across every line, not just property. If your dispute involves assignment of benefits, see Fla. Stat. 627.7152 (AOB); the property-insurance pre-suit process is covered in the 2022-2023 property insurance reforms.
How does HB 837 affect your claim, and how does Ocean Point help?
We are a Florida-licensed public adjusting firm (DFS firm license W829547) with 21 years representing policyholders and more than 500 mediations behind us. HB 837 does not change what your policy owes, but it changes the leverage around a disputed claim. With one-way attorney fees gone, you can no longer count on the carrier funding your lawyer if you win, so a poorly documented claim that heads straight to litigation is now a much riskier and more expensive path.
Our response is to move the fight upstream. Our primary public adjuster, Eli Goins (license P159790), and our team build the claim with a complete scope, a correct estimate, and a clean paper trail before any dispute hardens. We use the tools that still carry weight after HB 837: a precise, well-supported demand; the appraisal process where the policy allows; and a Civil Remedy Notice under s. 624.155 that names the violation and documents the file, so that if the carrier fails to cure, the record is already built. Ocean Point is a member of FAPIA.
Who this is for, and what should you do now?
HB 837 matters most if you are weighing a fight with your carrier. The repeal of one-way fees means the value of getting the claim right before litigation, not after, has gone up sharply. If your claim was denied, underpaid, or met with a lowball offer, the smartest move is to document and present it correctly now, while your options are widest.
Handle a slow-but-responsive carrier with direct, documented follow-up. Bring in a public adjuster or attorney when the file shows a real, curable problem, because after HB 837 the record you build, not an automatic fee award, is what gives you leverage.
Bottom line: HB 837 shifted the cost of litigating onto policyholders, so win the claim on documentation and a precise demand up front, and reserve a Civil Remedy Notice for a violation you can actually prove.