TALLAHASSEE — After nine straight years without a major hurricane, Florida’s catastrophic insurance fund is flush with cash to pay claims and the cost of backup reinsurance is cheaper than ever. “Reinsurers are hungry for new business,” said Ash Williams, director of the state Board of Administration, which oversees the so-called CAT Fund. “We’ve never…
By Peter Schorsch – Mar 26, 2015 Bills are gaining momentum in both the House and Senate to rein in a rapidly growing insurance scam in which sketchy trial lawyers and remediation firms are getting stressed-out homeowners to sign over their policy benefits and rights after a burst water pipe or similar home emergency. Assignment…
Rep. John Tobia says all he wants his bill to do is protect consumers like his 67-year-old dad from unscrupulous vendors and lawyers. But CS/HB 669 — alive and well after a 90-minute, standing-room-only hearing in the House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee — is revealing what many believe is the follow-up to PIP and sinkholes…
Palm Harbor homeowner Joe Zigler had never heard about Florida’s Construction lien law when someone from a roofing company called NBRC Construction knocked on his door in December 2012. Zigler now says that the law, together with NBRC’s questionable business practices, could cost him ownership of his home in a foreclosure action due to unpaid…
ORLANDO,Fla. — An Orlando woman claims the restoration company she hired to put her life back together after a flood wrecked her home instead, and she’s been living without a kitchen for a year and a half. A pipe burst when no one was home, flooding Marie Dolce’s kitchen. Overwhelmed, she hired an emergency restoration…
The popular ride-sharing service Uber and six of its drivers were fined more than $44,000 by Palm Beach County officials Thursday for operating illegally in the county’s southern region. Palm Beach County Assistant Administrator Vince Bonvento said the county’s consumer affairs division conducted a series of stings in Boca Raton and Delray Beach on Thursday,…
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) has approved the removal of up to 78,897 personal residential policies and 500 commercial residential polices from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) by the following four companies: · First Community Insurance Company ‒ approved to remove up to 12,897 personal residential PLA policies · …
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 9, 2015 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) has eliminated early the last of a series of emergency assessments on property insurance policyholders in Florida used to pay off claims from the eight hurricanes of 2004-2005. The Office today issued an Order to the Citizens Property…
Flimflam Florida. The phrase rolls so easily off the tongue. Too easily, given new national statistics that show — right down to the metro area — that Florida remains by far the fraud capital of the United States. The state should be careful, lest it becomes Florida’s involuntary brand. Fourteen of the 50 U.S. metro…
R Street’s R.J. Lehmann has written a thoughtful report showing how Florida finances its enormous hurricane risk on the backs of consumers; and makes suggestions for reforms that could strengthen the property insurance market. Read the full article here.