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 will collect on their behalf. The 17-member coalition, led by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, contends AOB is being abused to extract more cash from insurance payouts and will cause insurance premiums to skyrocket.
‘’Assignment of Benefits abuse is a huge threat to Florida’s families and businesses and must be stopped,’’ Florida Chamber President Mark Wilson said. “Billboard trial lawyers and questionable vendors are taking advantage of AOB to essentially steal money from consumers and wreak havoc on our state’s insurance market. For the sake of attracting new businesses and jobs, we can’t let that happen.’’
The Consumer Protection Coalition rolled out a new website, FightFraud.today, which details the rise in AOB related lawsuits in Florida courts and includes a petition calling on the Legislature to pass reforms ending the practice.
