Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a lawsuit against giant coffee shop retailer Starbucks, claiming the company is engaging in “race-based quotas” in hiring employees.

The civil legal action against Starbucks was filed in the 10th Judicial Circuit Court in Highlands County. The 21-page lawsuit doesn’t single out one particular incident or an individual. But it points to a series of practices Starbucks has engaged in the past five years while taking part “in a pattern or practice of discrimination.”

The filing said Starbucks established racial quotas for hiring, paid employees different wages because of their race, tied compensation to race-based mentorship programs “only to a person of certain favored races,” and excluded “people of disfavored races” from many of those programs.

While many of the Starbucks diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs were aimed at including underrepresented minorities, the lawsuit said that still excludes others. “All racial discrimination, even for supposedly benign purposes, is invidious and unlawful,” according to the court document.

In a recorded video statement, Uthmeier said the actions by Starbucks are ironically going against what the company wanted to accomplish.

“Starbucks made DEI more than a slogan. They turned it into a mandatory hiring and promotion system based upon race. The coffee empire set numerical racial targets for their workforce and they tied executive bonuses to those targets,” Uthmeier said.

“That is brazen discrimination and it is against the law. DEI can never be an excuse to violate someone’s civil rights. Every worker in our state deserves to be hired on merit, qualifications and character, not race. Florida law protects that principle and we will enforce it.”

The lawsuit is challenging the hiring practices at 934 Starbucks stores in Florida. That’s the third-most Starbucks locations in any state.

The lawsuit asks the court to implement an injunction to stop the hiring practices and seeks civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation of several Florida statutes, particularly the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 that prohibits employers from hiring based on racial criteria and other stipulations. The suit claims that “reverse discrimination” against a nonminority group is still discrimination.

Uthmeier’s Office is encouraging anyone who worked at Starbucks and believes they were discriminated against to file an online complaint.

Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which provides property insurance for Floridians who can’t get coverage elsewhere, is recommending lower rates for policyholders next year.

The Citizens Board of Governors approved the recommended rate reductions Wednesday. If the reductions get final approval by state regulators, it will be the first time since 2015 Citizens policyholders would see a decrease in policy payments.

The recommendation suggested statewide average rates to drop by 2.6% in 2026 for personal line policies. At that rate, according to a Citizens news release, the average premium for 3 out of every 5 policyholders would see premiums fall by 11.5%, or $359.

Citizens officials credit major overhauls to Florida’s insurance regulations this decade for prompting the recommended rate decrease.

“Critical reforms championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and approved by the Florida Legislature have done what they were supposed to do: provide rate relief to policyholders and stability to the Florida market,” said Tim Cerio, Citizens President, CEO and Executive Director. “These 2026 rate proposals are further confirmation that Florida’s insurance market is thriving.”

While leaders at Citizens are enthused about the promise of falling insurance premiums, Citizens’ own county-by-county analysis and report shows the declines in premiums would not be universal in Florida. Several counties would still see increases in premiums, despite the proposed reductions for some areas.

Citizens, headquartered in Jacksonville, was created by the Legislature in 2002 as a nonprofit agency to provide insurance for property owners who can’t get coverage in the private market.

The nonprofit drew a flood of customers in recent years and mushroomed to 1.42 million policies at its peak in 2023. That figure fell to 385,000 this year due to many of the regulatory reforms. It was the lowest number of policies in the history of Citizens, and more than 546,000 policies were transferred to private insurance companies this year.

Citizens officials point out that after regulatory changes designed to reduce frivolous litigation were approved beginning this decade, some 17 new insurance companies have since entered the market in Florida and that has led to Citizens no longer being the largest property insurance organization in the state.

“Thanks to the Governor’s leadership and the Legislature’s actions, I can say unequivocally that Citizens has returned to its proper role as Florida’s insurer of last resort,” Cerio said. “It’s important now for us to stay the course and resist any effort to roll back the critical reforms responsible for this success.”

While the Citizens Board has made the recommendation of lower rates for policyholders, the nonprofit has to file the move with the Office of Insurance Regulation, which needs to conduct public hearings and reviews of the rate proposals. If the reductions are approved, they wouldn’t take effect until June 1.