USAA is returning nearly $1 billion to eligible Florida members, including a $500 million dividend with payments scheduled to begin June 15, 2026, according to CNBC. The remaining roughly $500 million comes through rate reductions and rewards programs.

USAA President and CEO Juan C. Andrade said the company aims to "deliver meaningful, immediate relief while preserving the financial strength our members depend on."

Why This Matters

Florida's insurance market has faced years of instability, driven in large part by the legal environment surrounding insurance claims. Before 2023, Assignment of Benefits schemes, inflated auto glass claims, and one-way attorney fee awards made routine claims profitable targets for litigation.

In 2023, Florida passed sweeping tort reforms that shortened the statute of limitations on insurance claims to two years, eliminated inflated medical billing used to inflate jury awards, and ended one-way attorney fee awards — a provision that had allowed plaintiff attorneys to collect fees from insurers without reciprocal rights. These changes were designed to reduce incentives for excessive litigation.

The Results

Auto glass lawsuits in Florida fell from roughly 24,000 in Q2 2023 to about 2,600 in Q2 2024 — a decline of nearly 90% — according to a Milliman white paper cited by USAA.

Florida had ranked second nationally for "nuclear verdict" payouts between 2009 and 2022. By 2024, it had dropped to 10th.

Just before the reforms, 76% of the nation's homeowners insurance lawsuits came from Florida, even though Florida accounts for only 9% of U.S. homeowners, according to the R Street Institute.

Insurance litigation filings in Florida fell 23% year over year from 2023 to 2024, according to a 2025 statement from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' office.

Legal defense costs paid by Florida insurers dropped from an all-time high of $3.46 billion in 2023 to $107 million in 2024, according to Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation. That represents a 97% drop in one year.

What Went Wrong Before

Most national coverage of Florida's insurance crisis has focused on climate change and extreme weather as primary drivers of premium increases. Those factors are real. But they don't explain why three-quarters of the country's homeowners insurance lawsuits were concentrated in a state with 9% of the nation's homeowners.

That disproportion stems from the legal environment, not weather patterns.

What Comes Next

California, New York, and several other states face their own insurance market crises. California has watched insurers exit the homeowners market due to wildfire exposure and litigation costs.

Whether Florida's model can be replicated elsewhere remains uncertain. But a 97% drop in legal defense costs and nearly $1 billion returned to policyholders over roughly two years provides a measurable outcome for other states to consider.

The trial lawyer lobby spent heavily to block these reforms before they passed.