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The title to this blog answers the question raised in a headline news article, Who Does The Proposed Property Insurance Bill Protect? Insurance companies cannot vote but that would be hard to determine based on this recent anti-policyholder bill filed in the Florida Senate. Policyholders are voters and they should be made aware when their elected officials are selling them out to the insurance industry lobby. Florida Senate Bill 76 may have been filed by an elected official, but the official had it written by lobbyists for the insurance industry.…
Continue Reading Proposed Property Insurance Bill In the Florida Senate Protects Insurance Companies Over Voters and Policyholders

The battle regarding insurance surrogates is being waged in Washington state. Many insurance companies want the Department of Insurance to allow unlicensed non-adjusters determine how much policyholders deserve to be paid. Here is the what the Washington Department of Insurance states is a legislative priority:…
Continue Reading Insurance Surrogates and Insurers Delegating Those Duties Do Not Want Surrogates To Be held Accountable For Failing To Provide Honest and Good Faith Treatment In Washington

New laws enacted last month provide further support for California wildfire claimants by requiring carriers provide additional coverages. Only a few years ago, California enacted laws requiring insurers to provide coverage for Additional Living Expenses (ALE) incurred due to a covered loss relating to a state of emergency – almost every massive wildfire – for a period of no less than 24 months. (California Insurance Code Section 2060(b)(1).)…
Continue Reading New California Law Require Insurers to Pay Up to 36 Months of Additional Living Expenses and Advance at Least Four Months of Payments Following Wildfires

Wildfires are ravaging California again. Climate change coupled with a prolonged heat wave and a rare summer lightening storm have lit up multiple parts of the State. The fires are hitting numerous populated areas. Homes and business are being destroyed. Unfortunately, this appears to be the new norm. Due to the increase in fire disasters, California has acted to amend the law to increase property insurance protection.…
Continue Reading California Wildfires Strike Again – A Summary of Changes in the Law to Help Policyholders

Back in June 2018, I blogged about the New Jersey Insurance Fair Conduct Act passing the Senate and heading to the Assembly. Unfortunately, many roadblocks (insurance company lobbyists) prevented the Bill from going forward by using propaganda to spread lies about the detrimental effect of passing it. For the foreseeable future, New Jersey will continue to be one of the most difficult states in the country to prove bad faith given their court’s “fairly debatable” standard.1…
Continue Reading New York’s Bad Faith Bill Advances Through Assembly Insurance Committee

Due to the extensive loss and damage that wildfires have caused to California insureds in the last several years, the legislature has continued to pass changes to the law that benefit policyholders. We are only a little more than a quarter through 2020 and the legislature continues to focus on expanding policyholders’ rights.…
Continue Reading California Legislature Introduces Even More Policyholder Friendly Legislation and Regulations

NOTE: This guest blog post is by Holly Soffer, Esq., a policyholder attorney and General Counsel to the American Association of Public Insurance Adjusters.

Much has changed in the world since my blog on March 24th. Not only are there new phrases in our lexicon such as “Zoom happy hour,” but also the legislative response to COVID-19 Business Interruption claims has taken a new tone. At first, a few states1 offered bill similar to the New Jersey2 one, but then, as Chip has commented, the insurance industry has made its views known—as we knew they would.…
Continue Reading Through the Rabbit Hole—Update on proposed COVID-19 Business Interruption Legislation

Pennsylvania has followed five other states to propose legislation eradicating the “virus” exclusion for small businesses having commercial business income policies. Insurance company lobbyists are fighting this legislation in numerous ways. One is the argument that such legislation, if passed, would be unconstitutional.…
Continue Reading Coronavirus Insurance Coverage Update April 8—Pennsylvania Files Proposed Legislation, An Official “Trickle” of Lawsuits is Filed and Is There A Test That Finds Covid-19 on Property?