The Florida civil remedy notice, and the 60 days that can end the case

Florida's statutory bad-faith remedy has a gate in front of it. Before a civil remedy action can be brought, the insurer and the state must be given sixty days' written notice — and if the insurer pays or fixes the problem inside that window, the action never lies.

What the notice has to contain

Subsection (3)(b) requires the department's form and, with specificity:

1. the statutory provision, including the specific language, alleged to have been violated;
2. the facts and circumstances giving rise to the violation;
3. the name of any individual involved;
4. reference to specific policy language relevant to the violation, if any; and
5. a statement that the notice is given to perfect the right to pursue the civil remedy.

Third-party claimants are excused from item 4 where the insurer has not provided the policy on written request.

The sequence

1. Identify the violation. Subsection (1) lists the statutory provisions and the acts that support the action, including failing to attempt in good faith to settle when it could and should have done so.
2. File the notice with the department on its form, which then provides notice to the insurer at the e-mail address designated under s. 624.422.
3. Wait sixty days. If the damages are paid or the circumstances corrected in that window, no action lies.
4. File suit if it is not cured. Under (3)(e), the limitations period is tolled for sixty days after the insurer receives the notice, and again for sixty days after appraisal is invoked.

The appraisal trap

Subsection (3)(f) is easy to miss: a notice "may not be filed within 60 days after appraisal is invoked by any party in a residential property insurance claim." If appraisal has just been demanded, the notice clock has to wait — and (3)(e)2 tolls the limitations period for the same sixty days. Filing early is a procedural problem at exactly the wrong moment.

What it does not settle

• It does not create a claim for every error. Subsection (5)(a) says mere negligence is insufficient to constitute bad faith.
• The policyholder's own conduct counts. Under (5)(b), the insured and their representative have a duty to act in good faith in furnishing information, making demands and setting deadlines, and the trier of fact may reduce damages if they did not.
• You cannot recover twice. Subsection (11) lets a person obtain judgment under the common-law remedy or the statutory one, not both.
• Punitive damages need a pattern. Under (8), they require acts occurring with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice, and a claimant must post discovery costs in advance.
• It is not a coverage determination. The notice perfects a remedy against the insurer's conduct; it does not decide what the policy owes.

How to use it on a claim

1. Keep the cure window short and factual. The notice should let a reasonable insurer see exactly what is wrong and what fixing it would take.
2. Quote the statute and the policy language rather than describing them.
3. Check the appraisal calendar first. If appraisal was invoked in the last sixty days, the notice cannot be filed yet.
4. Record the cure. If the insurer pays or corrects the issue, (3)(c) ends the statutory action — which is the point of the provision.
5. Take advice on timing. The notice, the appraisal and the limitations period interact, and the interaction is where these cases are won and lost.

Sources

Fla. Stat. § 624.155, read at leg.state.fl.us on 24 October 2026. Quoted language follows the official publication.

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