A legal battle over Citizens Property Insurance's controversial arbitration clause has intensified, with two Florida judges issuing conflicting rulings that leave hundreds of homeowners uncertain about their path to justice.
 

The dispute centers on Citizens' mandatory arbitration process, which forces policyholders out of traditional courts and into private proceedings decided by a single judge. A WPTV investigation revealed that Citizens funds the salaries of judges deciding its own cases. Of the 11% of arbitration cases that went to a final hearing, our WPTV analysis found judges sided with Citizens in 53 out of the 54 cases last year — 99%. In August, Hillsborough County Judge Melissa Polo halted all arbitrations, questioning whether the system violates constitutional due process rights. But Leon County judge Jonathan Sjostrom Friday ordered arbitrations to resume, ruling that one Hillsborough case shouldn't stop other homeowners' proceedings. "Now there's just chaos, no one knows what's right, what's wrong," said Joey Padilla, an attorney representing Citizens policyholders in Delray Beach.

Two Florida judges can't agree on Citizens Insurance's arbitration process — leaving hundreds of homeowners in legal limbo.

The conflicting orders have now created a situation where two circuit court judges of equal authority have issued opposing rulings.

"This isn't something that I usually see very often," said Padilla. "It's one trial court judge telling another trial court judge that their order doesn't matter — and that my order matters," Padilla said.

Attorney Meredith Truen, who represents Gloria and Jason Nitch in Vero Beach after Citizens denied their Hurricane Milton claim, said the Leon County ruling adds confusion rather than clarity.

"What's confusing — they didn't say that that process is constitutional," said Truen, "They said that, 'We're unsure of that, but in the meantime, keep going through that process anyway.'"

The Leon County ruling affects more than 400 disputes that were previously on hold, according to Citizens spokesperson Michael Peltier.

Peltier said the state-run insurer remains committed to arbitration, calling it "fair, transparent, and faster than state courts."

He added only about 1% of the 125,000 claims have been submitted to Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) arbitration, meaning 99% of claims are resolved without DOAH arbitration.

However, the legal uncertainty continues as the appeals court — a higher authority — is still deciding whether Judge Polo was correct to question the system's constitutionality. If the appeals court agrees with her, the Leon County order allowing arbitrations to continue could be completely negated.

"It'll definitely be a mess. We're going to have to backtrack and refile and challenge those decisions," Truen said.

The chaos has left attorneys questioning whether to take on new Citizens cases.

"I'm really considering not taking too many of these Citizens cases in the future. Until this is decided, because the chaos is not worth the effort that you have to put forth," Padilla said.

For homeowners like the Nitches, who hoped for the possibility of a jury trial, the prospect of being pushed back into arbitration is particularly frustrating.

"They're definitely upset by it," Truen said of her clients.

Peltier said Citizens will also proceed with the few cases (a dozen or so) in which a judge has specifically ordered the disputes to move forward.

Citizens' attorneys have already begun filing the Leon County ruling in pending cases, including in Padilla and Truen's cases, potentially moving arbitration proceedings forward while the legal battle continues at the appellate level.

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