Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has named two new members to its executive team. Board member John Rollins recently resigned from Citizens’ Board of Governors, stating that he wanted to avoid any conflict of interest as he considered future opportunities with Citizens or in the private sector. Rollins now has been named Citizens’ chief risk officer. […]
Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron has filed a proposal (SB 156) that would reduce Florida’s motor vehicle registration fees. The proposal as initially filed does not affect the salary tax credit that applies to Florida’s insurance premium tax. This is a key distinction between the 2014 proposal and the proposal as considered in the 2013 […]
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida has interpreted the “structural damage” threshold for sinkhole losses in an Order issued September 3, 2013, in Gonzalez v . Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. The court began its discussion by providing several examples of logical flaws that can arise when words having more than […]
The Florida Office of Insurance Organization has issued an order approving the reorganization plan of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. d/b/a Florida Blue subject to certain conditions. Florida Blue proposed to reorganize by creating a new not-for-profit mutual insurance holding company to be owned by Florida Blue’s policyholder-members. The new mutual insurance holding […]
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) announced that it has received the annual workers’ compensation rate filing submitted by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI). The rate filing provides for an overall 1% increase in workers’ compensation rates. The effective date of the filing is January 1, 2014. As in prior years, the […]
The Homeowners’ Policy and Claims Bill of Rights Working Group is scheduled to hold a conference call Tuesday beginning at 10:00 to resume consideration of various issues relating to the homeowners insurance claims process. The Insurance Consumer Advocate previously indicated she hopes to have a draft report available by July 30, so the conference call likely will […]
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is seeking to discuss its anticipated new clearinghouse with interested insurers. The clearinghouse concept, adopted by the 2013 Florida legislature, will facilitate offers of coverage from admitted market insurers for new and renewal Citizens business. A participating insurer will provide its underwriting criteria to the program to enable the clearinghouse to […]
Today marks the first meeting of the Homeowners Policy & Claims Bill of Rights Working Group. The group, convened by the Insurance Consumer Advocate, consists of regulators, consumer groups, representatives of trial lawyers and public adjusters, and the insurance industry. The formation of the group follows feedback received by the consumer advocate and the Department […]
NIMA, Inc. has announcesthat premiums reported under the Non-Admitted Insurance Multi-State Agreement (NIMA) have now exceeded $500 million in the year since the clearinghouse became operational. The clearinghouse first became operational on July 1, 2012. NIMA, Inc. advised that $281 million of the $531 million in reported premium has been directly allocated to the six participating members of NIMA, Inc. About $250 million […]
In Trinidad v. Florida Peninsula Insurance Company issued July 3, 2013, the Florida Supreme Court considered the scope of replacement cost coverage under the 2008 version of Section 627.7011, Florida Statutes. The statute provided that the insurer would pay the insured the replacement cost of his damaged property without regard to whether the insured repaired […]