For the second time in six weeks, the Florida Supreme Court has held part of Florida’s workers’ compensation law to be unconstitutional. In Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg, the Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of section 440.15(2)(a), Florida Statutes, which cuts off disability benefits at 104 weeks for a worker who is totally disabled […]
Since a Florida Supreme Court ruling last month, the Florida workers’ compensation market has been the subject of considerable speculation regarding the potential rate impact. That question was answered last week when the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) submitted a filing to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) providing for a 17.1 percent […]
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has issued an order approving an overall rate reduction of 4.7% in the National Council on Compensation Insurance’s (NCCI’s) recent workers’ compensation insurance rate filing. NCCI originally filed for an overall rate reduction of 1.9%. However, upon review, the OIR disapproved the filing as initially filed and stated that […]
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeal in Allen v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company considered whether section 627.7011(2), Florida Statutes, requires an insurer to confirm both increases and decreases of law and ordinance coverage on an OIR-approved form, or whether the requirement to use an approved form applies only when a policyholder decreases coverage below the […]
The Florida Supreme Court has concluded that Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is not liable under section 624.155 for statutory first-party bad faith actions. The court in Citizens Property Insurance Corporation v. Perdido Sun Condominium Association, Case No. SC14-185, reasoned that the Florida legislature gave Citizens broad immunity from legal actions, with limited exceptions. Statutory bad […]
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has asked the Florida Supreme Court to determine which of two Florida statutes control in two cases involving alleged stranger-originated life insurance (“STOLI”) policies: section 627.404, which requires a person who buys a life insurance policy to have an insurable interest in the life of the insured at the […]
As 2014 comes to a close, several of the issues that commanded considerable attention during the year reached their resolution and set the framework for 2015 ahead. When we all return from the holidays, the legislative committee weeks will be upon us and the 2015 legislative session will begin before we know it. However, before […]