Insurance, Real Estate Coalition Seeks Homeowners Insurance Reform in 2016

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…

Personal Insurance Federation of Florida Applauds Efforts of Consumer Protection Coalition to Fight AOB Abuse

Personal 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…

Fraud Pushing Up Premiums In Florida

By 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…

Restoring Balance in Insurance Litigation – An Analysis from the Florida Justice Reform Institute

Curbing 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…

Consumer Advocate Challenges Insurers on Water Damage Claims

Florida’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…

Consumers Need Legislative Fix to Home Repair Scam

on 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…

Florida Homeowner Insurers Deluged by Assignment of Benefit Lawsuits

Although 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…

Effort to Limit Third-Party Property Insurance Claims Stalls in Legislature

By 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…