Back-to-Back Hurricanes' Impact on Florida Legal Work Will Go Beyond Usual Suspects

Senior Policy Advisor Beth Vecchioli was quoted in a Daily Business Review article about the extensive damage caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in Florida and the expected uptick in legal activity across various practice areas. Although insurance-related challenges are expected to dominate, the aftermath is also likely to impact a wide range of fields, including tax, criminal law, divorce and government affairs. Ms. Vecchioli shared that state legislators are expected to craft new laws addressing issues such as building codes, flood insurance and infrastructure resilience in response.

"I think that resiliency is going to be top of mind for the legislators," she said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to open up the building code again this year."

The storms may also exacerbate Florida's ongoing insurance crisis, potentially offsetting recent positive trends in the market and leading to increased reinsurance rates.

"In the last five years, there's been all sorts of changes from property insurance, and unfortunately, the problem is that when you make those changes to the law, it takes a while to work its way through the rates and that's why we're not seeing a dramatic fall in rates," Ms. Vecchioli stated. "We have noticed that there are more players coming into the market, which is a positive sign. Also many insurance companies have filed for rate decreases. The problem is, with these hurricanes, it could perhaps offset some of those rate decreases that we were starting to see because now there's these huge losses. I do think that we can expect a rise in reinsurance rates next year."

READ: Back-to-Back Hurricanes' Impact on Florida Legal Work Will Go Beyond Usual Suspects