The man who has been as much of a litigation nemesis to Florida property and casualty insurers as anyone is launching a new political party and may even run for governor next year.
Orlando-based trial lawyer John Morgan, head of what he has called “America’s largest injury law firm,” said on social media posts this week that he is forming a new party “for those of us stuck in the middle.”
Morgan said last year that it would be called the Capitalist Party, according to Politico, the Tallahassee Democrat and other news outlets.
Besides providing funding for multiple campaigns, including Democratic candidates in the state, Morgan also has backed legalization of marijuana and raising the minimum wage in Florida. His law firm, Morgan & Morgan, also has been seen as one of the top policyholder firms in the state, filing many suits against property insurers through the years.
In 2023, just weeks before Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a major tort-reform bill limiting attorney fees and incentives for lawsuits, Morgan & Morgan notified insurance defense firms across the state that it would be filing tens of thousands of claims lawsuits before the law took effect. Excessive claims litigation has been blamed for driving up property insurance rates and pushing several carriers into insolvency in 2020 through 2022.
“There is no insurance crisis in Florida. Rates won’t go down,” Morgan said in a statement in 2023 to Insurance Journal. “They never have and never will. All tort reform this year should be titled ‘F*** the People.’”
As governor, Morgan would be in a position to champion a roll back of the 2022 and 2023 litigation reforms that appear to have curtailed excessive claims lawsuits, and he could veto other property-casualty related legislation.
If Morgan, 68, does run for governor, in the general election in November 2026 he will likely face one of two Republican candidates favored by party leaders. DeSantis is backing his wife, Casey DeSantis, while U.S. President Donald Trump has favored U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who announced his candidacy this week.
Photo: Morgan at a news conference on an injury lawsuit in 2021 (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
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Florida
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