Editorial: Water Claims Spell Trouble for Florida Property Insurance Market

Tampa Bay Times Editorial A steady drip usually signals bigger trouble, and this is no exception. Insurance claims and lawsuits for water damage are climbing, and the mess is spreading from South Florida to Tampa Bay. That means trouble for private insurers and the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. And that means trouble for homeowners…

Restoring Balance in Insurance Litigation

An Update of the Abuse of Assignments of Benefits and its Correlation with One-Way Attorney’s Fees by Mark Delegal and Ashley Kalifeh for Florida Association of Independent Agents, Executive Summary As discussed in FJRI’s 2015 paper,1 the prospect of one-way attorney’s fees has encouraged a growing number of lawyers to partner with various service providers…

Thousands of Florida Mortgages Could Be at Risk Because of Insurance Abuse.

“An Ohio insurance-rating company has warned that recent court rulings and skyrocketing losses from water-damage claims have created an ‘uncertain operating environment’ for Florida’s property insurers and that is will downgrade the financial stability of 10 to 15 Florida-based companies, potentially threatening the solvency of thousands of homeowners policies.” READ MORE.

Thousands of Florida Mortgages Could Be At Risk Because of Insurance Abuse

TALLAHASSEE An Ohio insurance-rating company has warned that recent court rulings and skyrocketing losses from water-damage claims have created an “uncertain operating environment” for Florida’s property insurers and that it will downgrade the financial stability of 10 to 15 Florida-based companies, potentially threatening the solvency of thousands of homeowners policies. Demotech, Inc., a company which…

Report Points to Problems with AOBs, and a Way Around One Proposed Fix

As the Legislature debates restricting attorney fees in insurance litigation involving assignment-of-benefits agreements, a tort-reform group has identified a way to circumvent that fix. Attorneys could convince policyholders to file suit in their own name. A report, “Restoring Balance in Insurance Litigation,” released Monday by the Florida Justice Reform Institute, discusses that possibility in the context of…

Insurance Office Going After One-Way Attorney Fees in AOB Fight

Florida Politics – Michael Moline Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier laid out his office’s solution to the insurance assignment-of-benefits problem to Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet Tuesday, and it includes limiting contractors’ ability to recover attorney fees in litigation against insurance companies. Florida’s one-way attorney fee statute is intended to shield policyholders against legal bills if they want to…

Proposals Re-Emerge to Pull ‘PIP’ from Florida Auto-Insurance Policies

TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s no-fault auto insurance system could be nearing the end of its road. Legislation has again been filed to eliminate personal-injury protection coverage and require motorists to carry bodily injury liability coverage. And lawmakers were told last week that personal-injury protection reforms — championed by Gov. Rick Scott and state Chief Financial Officer Jeff…