Major Bad Faith Legislation Filed in Tallahassee
Florida’s Senator Thrasher and Representative Baxley have filed identical bills which gut long-standing common law and statutory consumer protection laws.
Here are copies of SB 1592 and HB 1187, and comments will come later.
Chip,
I am currently involved in a third party claim where the liability insurer has acknowledged liability in writing, however has failed to return dozens of verified written correspondence sent to them. Furthermore, they have changed inside and outside adjusters several times since the claim handling begun. The claim is now moving forward to its 5th month without one dollar tendered to any claimant.
The claimant is a 16 unit commercial condo association with 16 unit owners, an association, and 7 tenants; all in which have closed down their businesses and some foreclosed on due to the liability carrier’s intentional delay. Being that it is a third-party claim, the carrier is requesting a full and final release upfront, prior to paying any claimant. Their initial offer in August of 2010 was $50k. Now after 5 months and firing the original adjuster, they are offering hundreds of thousands additional however will not release any payment until ALL claimants sign a full release. As a result, some of the tenants with small claims lost their business because they have been waiting in line for the last 5 months for the other claimants to settle. I could understand if there was an issue with exhausting the policy limits, however the total amount of all losses were presented within 1 month and did not exceed limits.
In January of 2011, the association filled a CRN notice with DFS along with 16 complaints. It hasn’t stopped the carrier from continuing their ”delay till the insured is desperate” tactic. Now the Vice President of the association had been reviewing the claim for 6 weeks as he is the only one with high enough authority for the amount.
Point being, real life scenarios need to be addressed and presented to these politicians and the public. The specific case I am involved in displays the importance of holding the carriers liable to the additional damages caused and created by them, no matter if the claimant is their insured.
The association has retained an attorney, however possibly you could assist in getting some of the tenants in touch with the representatives in Tallahassee.
Alabama Adjuster
Bama Adjuster,
Have them contact Sean Shaw at 8132291000.