A fascinating article written by Jason Garcia is worth a few minutes of your time. I supported efforts to have admitted Florida insurers to tap into Florida’s Catastrophe Fund. I could not understand why that legislation went nowhere until I read Garcia’s article.
Continue Reading Did Big Insurance Lobby Keep Florida’s Property Insurance Rates High?
During the upcoming special session of the Legislature, will Florida legislators be asked to pass laws that will violate standard mortgage requirements?
Continue Reading Upcoming Special Session of the Florida Legislature – How Legislation Could Affect You and Your Mortgage
For those who follow the news regarding Florida’s insurance market, the people of the Sunshine State are being warned as property insurance premiums are steadily increasing. To fix what is being labeled as a “broken” system, the Florida Senate continues to push for property insurance reform with the latest proposed bill, SB 1728, which is designed to allow insurers to sell policies that only pay either the depreciated value of the roof or its actual cash value. What this means is that while Florida policyholders might get the semblance of a slight premium decrease, they conversely will be the ones who will be forced to pay most, if not the entire, cost of a new roof in the event of a loss outside of a named hurricane.
Continue Reading Florida Insurers Continued Use of “Fraud” as a Red Herring in Their Legislative Agenda
A question that has been on the minds of numerous public adjusters throughout the state of Florida is, “Can I prepare and submit a Notice of Intent to Litigate?” Is doing so the unlicensed practice of law?
Continue Reading Does a Public Adjuster Commit the Unlicensed Practice of Law by Filing a Notice of Intent to Litigate?
This three-part series of blog posts intends to shed light on the expedited legislative process that culminated in a hodgepodge law, Florida Statute § 627.70152.
Continue Reading Florida Statute § 627.70152: Part 1 – A Rushed Mess
There is a raging legal debate about whether the new Florida statute requiring pre-suit notice is to be applied retroactively. Interestingly, just to be safe, we filed a pre-suit notice and the insurance company, Castel Key, responded by indicating that the statute does not have retroactive application:
Continue Reading Intent to Initiate Litigation Statute in Florida—Does It Apply to Policies Issued Before the Effective Date of the Statute?
I’ve previously written about the “claims file privilege” in the state of Florida. In that blog post, Obtaining the Insurance Company Claims File, I discussed that the “claims file privilege” is a judicially created privilege and as a result of Florida abolishing common law privilege, privileges cannot be derived from judicial construction. Florida Statutes 90.501-90.510 discuss the applicable privileges in Florida, and “claims file” is not one of them.
Continue Reading The “Claims File Privilege” in Florida
The final answer to these questions was teed up before the Florida Supreme Court. After briefs and oral argument, this is what the judges said on Monday:
Continue Reading Can Appraisers In Florida Be the Public Adjuster or Be Hired On a Contingent Fee?
A lawsuit by Olympus Insurance Company challenges Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation about issues of paying for property that matches following a repair. The lawsuit also challenges whether the Florida matching statute is a minimum limit of indemnity and if insurers can contract out of matching.
Continue Reading Is Florida’s Matching Statute a Minimum Limit of Required Indemnity or Can Insurers Contract Out of Matching?
Michael Cassel forwarded the above letter from Citizens Property Insurance Company which accepts the position that Florida’s new pre-suit notice requirements do not apply to policies issued before July 1, 2021. There is previous case precedent that supports this position and Citizens is not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.
Continue Reading Citizens Agrees That Florida’s New Pre-Suit Notice Requirements Does Not Apply to Policies Issued Before the Effective Date of the Statute