Assignment of Benefits

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Just last week, the Iowa Court of Appeals in 33 Carpenters Construction, Inc. v. The Cincinnati Insurance Company,1 held that 33 Carpenters, a contractor who was the assignee of a hail and wind storm claim, acted as an unlicensed public adjuster.…
Continue Reading Contractor Acted as an Unlicensed Public Adjuster, Notwithstanding Assignment of Claim and Benefits

Merlin Law Group knowledge manager Ruck DeMinico sent me recent North Dakota legislation pertaining to Assignment of Benefit contacts. This topic was also hotly debated two weeks ago at the Windstorm Insurance Conference in Orlando. Insurance restoration contractors, their lobbyists and attorneys are desperately trying to prevent any changes that would make such contracts more difficult to enter into or enforce. The insurance lobbyists and their public relation firms are doing everything they can to show contractors and their lawyers as evil and greedily taking advantage of the public trust.…
Continue Reading Assignment of Benefits Contracts are the Hot Topic of Discussion and Legislation in Florida, North Dakota and Elsewhere

The National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters held its mid-year meeting last week and the topic of assignment of benefits, commonly referred to as AOB’s, was on the agenda. Lisa Miller, an insurance lobbyist and regulator I have come across for over twenty-five years was the speaker on the topic.…
Continue Reading Contractors Versus the Insurance industry—AOB’s Are Under Attack

The widespread devastation of Hurricane Florence brought to a recent discussion the question of whether assignment of benefits contracts for property insurance proceeds are enforceable in North Carolina. This is a great question. In a general setting, vendors, services providers and contractors begin their work with a down payment and receive additional payments as work progresses, with many jurisdictions recognizing a contractor’s lien or service lien against the benefactor if they are not paid in full.…
Continue Reading An AOB? Can we do that? – Assignment of Benefits in North Carolina

In December of last year, my colleague Ashley Harris discussed Security First Insurance Co. v. Florida Office of Insurance Regulation,1 where the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal (Fifth DCA) upheld the Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”) prohibition of proposed language in an insurance policy that would require “all insureds, all additional insureds and all mortgagees” named on a policy to consent to any post-loss assignment of benefits (“AOBs”) to a third party.…
Continue Reading Appellate Court Disagrees with Sister Court on Assignment of Benefits

The Arizona Court of Appeals in a recent opinion said, Yes to both. In Farmers Insurance Exchange v. Udall,1 four homeowners insured by Farmers Insurance Exchange (“Farmers”) sustained separate losses, which required water damage mitigation and restoration services. The homeowners hired a vendor to perform the mitigation and restoration services. In each case, the insureds assigned to the vendor their “rights, benefits, proceeds and causes of action” under their respective insurance policies.…
Continue Reading Can Post-Loss Benefits be Assigned to a Mitigation/Restoration Vendor if the Policy Contains an Anti-Assignment Provision? Can the Vendor then Sue the Insurance Company?

A handful of bills regarding proposed statutes concerning assignment of property insurance benefits were withdrawn from both houses of the Florida legislature this month. Each of the proposed laws were directed toward assignments entered into by property owners in exchange for the agreement of the assignee — typically a contractor — to complete the associated repairs for which the insurance benefits have not yet been paid, in whole or in part, by the carrier. …
Continue Reading Proposed Statutes Regarding Assignment of Insurance Benefits Withdrawn From Consideration By Florida Legislature