Assignment of Benefits (AOB) abuse is a fast-growing fraud scheme that is hurting Florida’s insurance consumers. While AOB is a long-established legal tool intended to allow vendors to receive prompt payment from insurers after doing emergency repair work in a home – without having to directly involve the homeowner – this process is being abused by a cottage industry of unscrupulous trial lawyers, water remediation firms and roofers. These bad actors are persuading homeowners to sign over the benefits of their insurance policies as a means for fraudulently inflating claims, filing thousands of lawsuits against insurers, and driving up attorney’s fees.
PIFF recognizes the usefulness of Assignment of Benefits but recommends legislative reforms be enacted to prevent AOB abuse from becoming a statewide consumer crisis on par with sinkhole claims abuse and PIP auto insurance fraud, which resulted in increased premiums for Floridians.
PIFF supports a change to Florida’s “one-way attorney fee” law so that businesses that sue insurance companies are required to pay their own lawyers – just like they do when they sue any other business. PIFF also supports legislation that will end referral fees between vendors; require detailed written estimates for work to be performed by a vendor; prohibit unlicensed adjusting by vendors; and put reasonable limits on how much work can be performed before the insurer is able to adjust the claim.
Visit FightFraud.Today and sign the petition to let members of the Florida Legislature know that you want to stop scams on Florida Homeowners. To learn more about how Floridians are being victimized, read their stories today.
More than a dozen Florida real estate, construction and insurance groups announced Tuesday that they are teaming up to push for homeowners’ insurance reform in the 2016 Legislative Session. The Consumer Protection Coalition seeks to curb a practice known as “assignment of benefits,” where owners sign away their insurance policy to a third party who…
DetailsPersonal Insurance Federation of Florida Applauds Efforts of Consumer Protection Coalition to Fight AOB Abuse TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Jan. 12, 2016 – The Personal Insurance Federation of Florida (PIFF) today applauded the formation of the Consumer Protection Coalition to push for reforms to end rampant Assignment of Benefits abuse. The Consumer Protection Coalition is a broad-based…
DetailsBy some accounts, Florida has the highest homeowner’s insurance rates in the country and rates keep rising, despite not having a major hurricane in the last decade. The culprit – a concentration of non-weather related water claims. In many cases, these claims are pushed along by unscrupulous contractors and attorneys. According to Citizens Property Insurance…
DetailsCurbing Abuses of Assignments of Benefits and Reaffirming Insureds’ Unique Right to Unilateral Attorney’s Fees Certain providers have partnered with attorneys to create a profitable litigation arrangement. In this arrangement, a service provider agrees to make a repair potentially covered by an insurance policy in exchange for the insurance policyholder’s right to sue his insurer…
DetailsFlorida’s new insurance consumer advocate wants property insurance companies to produce data to back up their statements about rising water damage claims in South Florida. Sha’Ron James, who took over the statewide position in August, told participants at a public workshop Tuesday that she has asked the top 15 insurers to document their assertions that…
Detailson July 19, 2015 the Miami Herald ran the following op-ed by PIFF Executive Director Michael Carlson: For three years, state lawmakers have received mounting evidence about a scam in which frazzled homeowners are unknowingly signing away their insurance benefits to shady vendors during home repair emergencies. This spring’s annual legislative session melted down with…
DetailsAlthough hurricane season has yet to cause havoc this year, 2015 has already been a brutal year for insurance companies which provide homeowners’ coverage in Florida. The problem for property insurers? No one is willing to take a firm position against the surge of Assignment of Benefits (AOB) lawsuits, which are proliferating to the point…
DetailsStorms are nothing new to Florida. This is the time of year we see hail and wind storms often. In a video created by Haag Engineering, viewers can see what a severe hail storm can do to your roof as an ice ball explode into the shingle. Watch Video That’s how experts can tell what…
DetailsBy Ron Hurtibise Sun Sentinel Insurance industry-backed bills aimed at restricting repair contractors’ ability to require homeowners to sign over insurance benefits before repairs can commence likely won’t become law this year, supporters and opponents concede. The bills — in the state House and Senate — stemmed from arguments by insurers that water restoration companies…
DetailsImportant update for Florida Homeowners, AOB abuse is raising consumer insurance costs.