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The Florida legislature has taken a series of steps in recent years to curtail abuses in Florida’s residential property insurance market. Policymakers and industry representatives typically point out that it can be several years before the full effects of statutory changes are known. This is largely because most legislative changes apply prospectively, meaning their effectiveness […]
Following Hurricane Debby, Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis warned consumers about contractors using agreements designed to circumvent Florida’s prohibition against assignment of benefits (AOBs). In recent years, contractors’ widespread use of AOBs contributed to elevated losses, loss adjustment expenses and litigation in the Florida property insurance market. The Florida legislature included a prohibition […]
The Florida legislature passed significant property insurance reforms in its December 2022 special session. Governor Ron DeSantis promptly signed these reforms into law, with many taking effect immediately upon the law’s effective date. However, a key change related to assignments of benefits (AOB) begins to have its real impact in the new year. For many […]
The Florida property insurance market continues to experience reduced availability and increasing prices due to extraordinary litigation levels. Widely-discussed sources show that Florida has nearly 80% of the nation’s property insurance litigation despite having less than ten percent of the countrywide claims. Stated differently, Florida had about 100,000 lawsuits last year, which vastly outpaced the […]
In late May, the Florida legislature passed several measures intended to address continuing concerns with Florida’s residential property insurance market. Lawmakers commented that the new laws will not provide quick fixes; instead, the benefits might take 12-18 months to materialize. Unfortunately, this estimate might prove to be optimistic as two lawsuits have been filed challenging […]
The Florida legislature has released its multi-faceted proposals for reforming Florida’s property insurance market. The proposed legislation includes temporarily expanding available capacity from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, incentivizing loss mitigation through windstorm protective devices, increasing regulatory oversight for distressed insurers, and curbing Florida’s litigation crisis by rebalancing attorneys’ fee incentives. To effectively address Florida’s […]
A proposal in the Senate (SB 1402) and House (HB 951) would authorize “domestic surplus lines insurers” to issue policies in Florida. Although the bills are in their early stages of consideration, the Senate version recently passed the Banking and Insurance Committee with a 9-0 vote. Currently, because surplus lines insurers issuing policies in Florida […]
Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 76 into law and it takes effect July 1, 2021. The new law reflects a series of compromises reached by the Florida legislature during the 2021 session. Despite the compromises, bill sponsors believe the reforms will have a favorable effect on Florida’s residential property insurance market. Other legislators have been […]
The annual 60-day legislative session begins in Florida on March 2, 2021. This session will feature accommodations designed to limit exposures to COVID-19. This includes most public testimony being presented by video stream from an offsite location in downtown Tallahassee. From an insurance perspective, the session will include substantial discussion about the auto and property […]
Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal (DCA) added to a list of cases upholding the ability of policyholders to assign post-loss benefits under insurance policies. The Third DCA reached this decision based on prior caselaw in Florida. However, the court also acknowledged that the Florida legislature revised Florida law in this area after the events […]
