Most Floridians will never step inside a courtroom because of a lawsuit. Yet many of them may be paying for litigation every day, through insurance premiums, business costs, lost economic opportunity and the prices they pay for goods and services.
That is the less visible side of Florida’s “tort tax.”
According to an analysis by The Perryman Group, excessive tort costs impose $20.3 billion in annual direct costs on Florida and contribute to $30.5 billion in lost gross product. The impact includes an estimated $1.6 billion in lost state revenue and 254,248 jobs. Put another way, the estimated economic cost is about $1,306 for every Floridian.
In some communities, the number is considerably higher. The estimated per-person impact reaches $2,347 in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, $1,525 in Orlando and $1,465 in Tampa Bay.
Florida lawmakers have taken meaningful steps to address these costs through civil justice reforms enacted in 2022 and 2023. But reform does not mean the problem stands still.
Consider what is now appearing in civil RICO litigation. The American Tort Reform Foundation reports nearly 300 civil RICO lawsuits nationwide since 2024 involving allegations of organized fraud. In Florida, several cases involve allegations of staged automobile crashes and coordinated insurance and injury claims involving lawyers, medical providers, body shops and others.
One prominent example is Uber Technologies, Inc. v. Law Group of South Florida, in which Uber alleges a network staged collisions and manufactured evidence to support fraudulent claims. Those allegations remain allegations, and the defendants have not yet been required to answer all of them. Still, the case illustrates how sophisticated alleged fraud can extend across multiple participants and businesses.
That evolution matters. When bad actors find new ways to exploit the legal system, the costs don’t necessarily stop with the people named in a lawsuit. They can ripple outward to drivers, employers, consumers and taxpayers.
Florida should continue protecting access to the courts for people with legitimate claims. But access to justice also requires protecting the integrity of the system itself.
As lawmakers look toward 2027, the goal should be straightforward: preserve the reforms Florida has enacted, address emerging forms of alleged fraud and keep unnecessary litigation costs from becoming another expense families and businesses simply learn to absorb.
Because the tort tax isn’t paid only by defendants in court. All Floridians can end up paying it.
Tom Gaitens is executive director of Florida Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (FL CALA).
