The latest in tort reform

Why apartment owners are watching Florida’s tort reform

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Florida’s first-of-its-kind tort reform passed in 2023 in a bid to stabilize its insurance market, prompting Georgia to follow with similar legislation in 2025.

The measures aim to reduce liability while also holding property owners to a higher baseline of security and safety protocols.

States are testing different responses to rising multifamily insurance laws, but preventive measures to promote safer properties may hold the most durability.

The scenario is familiar to any apartment owner. An intruder robs or assaults a resident on the property. Suing the perpetrator is usually pointless. So the claim lands on the owner, who carries insurance and is alleged to have failed to keep the premises secure.

Efforts at tort reform are underway in response.

"Reform changes what a plaintiff can recover. It doesn’t change what an underwriter asks for,” said Grant Everett, Managing Director of Private Equity Real Estate at Lockton. “Lighting, cameras, access control, proof you acted on the last incident. Owners who can show that get credit for it. Owners who can’t are already paying for the next claim.”

Florida passed a first-of-its-kind tort reform bill that upends this equation. Under Florida House Bill 837, juries now must apportion responsibility to an intruder when calculating damages.

Reform changes what a plaintiff can recover. It doesn't change what an underwriter asks for.

Grant Everett Managing Director, Private Equity Real Estate Lockton

Florida HB 837 includes a presumption against liability, or a “safe harbor” for properties that meet Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) guidelines and that continuously comply with these security elements:

Security cameras
Lighted parking lots, walkways, and common areas
Deadbolts on doors, as well as locks on windows and sliding doors
Peepholes on doors
Pool areas protected by a fence requiring key access

Other measures under the bill include:

The statute of limitations to file a lawsuit is reduced from four years to two years.
Plaintiffs cannot recover damages if a jury finds they were more than 50% at fault.
Stricter determinations for calculating medical damages limited what plaintiffs recovered to what was actually paid rather than what was billed.

According to TransRe, Florida ranked No. 10 in 2024 for “nuclear verdicts,” or verdicts exceeding $10 million, after ranking No. 2 from 2009 to 2022. TransRe adds that 14 new insurers have entered the Florida insurance market.

Other states take a chance

Georgia’s Senate Bill 68 that went into effect in April 2025 holds plaintiffs bringing claims against multifamily owners to a higher standard of proof in court. The jury is out on whether the new measures will help stabilize property and liability insurance in the state — particularly for multifamily housing.

New York City’s mayoral rollout of Article 7A Proceedings and the $100 million Housing Insurance Program — both part of a “Block by Block” reform — comes at the situation differently. The latter provides a $100 million city-backed insurance program aimed at reducing premiums by 20% for affordable and rent-stabilized housing in the city. It may fall short without accompanying tort reform that holds landlords accountable for creating safer living conditions. The former is an attempt to target negligent landlords that may contribute to unsafe property conditions.

Texas and Louisiana have both attempted to pass reform in the past year and have failed. It’s still early to see lasting effects for multifamily housing owners, but the short-term results from Florida’s efforts are promising for reducing the liability of owners, and hopefully, plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions will begin to follow the lead.

Irrespective of tort reform, multifamily owners and operators must remain diligent in their operational defensibility of premises-related incidents across all geographies. Across the U.S., courts generally evaluate whether a property owner knew or should have known of a hazardous condition or foreseeable risk, and whether appropriate steps were taken to identify, mitigate, and address the risk. Owners should focus on:

Routine property inspections
Routine security assessments
Preventive maintenance
Timely hazard remediation
Incident reporting
Employee training
Thorough record-keeping (e.g., inspection logs, work orders, photographs)