Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has accepted a $1 million settlement in a lawsuit in which defendants, a now-suspended Miami lawyer and the successor to his law firm, a public claims adjuster and a restoration company, were accused of fraud in hundreds of insurance claims.

Citizens, Florida's largest property insurer, initially sought $65 million from attorney Scot Strems and his co-defendants early on in the legal process. Officials have noted that the $1 million settlement will still help deter other bad actors in a Florida litigation environment that seems to be fraught with fraud.

Citizen's investigative unit began to investigate the Strems firm in 2016, after noticing suspicious patterns in claims and claims litigation. Investigators examined more than 5,000 claims and found that many of them followed a similar course. Most were filed within 45 days of a loss, many claims were filed at the same time, they were filed after the repairs had been completed and after an assignment of benefits agreement had been signed. The claims used the same plumber, water mitigation company, and adjusters were usually used. Some of the claims even involved boiler-plate plumbing invoices.