Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping property insurance bill on Friday. How much and when it will work to stabilize the stormy market are among the questions being asked. One of the key goals of the legislation is to keep the claims process from ending up being settled in courtrooms, a problem that DeSantis said drives up legal costs for insurers. “This bill reins in the incentive to litigate,” DeSantis said before signing the bill in Fort Myers, an area devastated by Hurricane Ian in September. “This is going to make a huge, huge difference.” Florida has struggled to keep the insurance ..read more

Problem: Less than 20% of Floridians in vulnerable areas carry flood insurance. Uninsured flood losses from Hurricane Ian are projected to be as high as $16 billion – almost half as much as insured wind damages, according to CoreLogic, the data analytics firm. Another problem: Many policyholders with Citizens Property Insurance Corp. who did not carry flood insurance will likely end up in hard-fought claims disputes with the insurer over whether the Ian damage was from wind or water, adding to Citizens’ $3 billion in annual litigation expenses. Comes now a bold but not-so-new idea that some be ..read more

IF YOU NEED TO FILE A CLAIM, PLEASE SEE BELOW HOMEOWNERS CLAIMS Allstate (800) 669-2214 American Integrity (866)-277-9871 American Traditions (866) 270-8430 Amwins (404) 751-4390 ASI (866) 274-5677 Cabrillo Coastal (866) 482-5246 Citizens (888) 388-2742 Edison(888) 683-7971 Federated National (800) 293-2532 Florida Family (888) 486-4663 Florida Peninsula (866) 549-9672 Geovera (800) 631-6478 Heritage (855) 415-7120 Homeowners Choice (888) 210-5235 Lexington (800) 931-9546 Monarch (800) 293-2532 National Fire & Marine (866) 482-5246 Olympus (844) 289-7968 Progressive (866) 274-5677 Safepoin ..read more

Contributing: Emre Kelly, Florida Today; Associated Press Forecasters expect Tropical Storm Ian to strengthen rapidly in the central Caribbean over the weekend, and the storm could become the first Atlantic hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. this hurricane season, with an anticipated arrival in Florida during the middle ofnext week. Ian was named a tropical storm late Friday in the eastern Caribbean Sea and could become a major hurricane within days, forecasts say. “Because of very warm waters and a forecast minimal amount of disruptive winds, there ..read more

Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp., created by lawmakers as a last-resort option, has become the largest property insurer in the state with more than 1 million policies in force – and growing. Stakeholders did not celebrate the milestone and some are urging the state Legislature to take further steps to salvage Florida’s distressed insurance market. “Citizens Insurance topping the 1 million policy mark signals a market that is teetering, putting millions of Floridians and local businesses at risk of even higher costs in the form of hurricane taxes,” Mark Wilson, president of the Flori ..read more

By: Stassy Olmos TAMPA, Fla. — Homeowners will continue to see an increase in the price to live in paradise with another surcharge tacked onto their insurance premiums in 2023. This is to help the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) cover the claims from insurance companies that have gone into receivership. When an insurance company goes insolvent and is liquidated, FIGA steps in and takes on all of its existing claims and pays back premiums. From 2013 to 2020, the nonprofit never had to issue these assessments, but as company after company went into receivership last ..read more

Homeowners can still recover prevailing-party fees if they file lawsuits directly against insurers, but the contractors cannot. By Jim Saunders | September 02, 2022 at 12:30 AM A Leon County circuit judge has rejected a challenge by contractors to part of a new property insurance law that restricted attorney fees in insurance disputes. Judge J. Lee Marsh issued an order Monday dismissing a constitutional challenge filed in May by the Restoration Association of Florida and Air Quality Assessors, LLC, an Orlando firm that does work such as mold testing and leak detection. The challenge targ ..read more

June 30, 2021 as seen in Insurance Journal The following article talks about how this is great news that Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed this bill. Gov. Ron If it had passed it would have rewritten the state’s auto insurance laws, doing away with its “no-fault” provision and requiring every motorist to get a new policy next year. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has vetoed a measure intended to replace auto insurance personal injury protection (PIP) coverage with bodily injury coverage limits and a requirement that insurers offer medical payments coverage. In a letter time-stamped at 9:12 pm last ni ..read more

https://www.wsj.com/articles/insurance-costs-threaten-florida-real-estate-boom-11619343002 This is the last week of session in the Florida Legislature and the proposed bill needs to be passed. Please see article below. It has already gone through the Florida Senate. If this bill is passed, then it will help by preventing homeowners insurance rates to go up. However, we would not see any changes for another year if it is passed. Unfortunately, as a result of the amount of fraud in Florida, homeowner’s insurance rates have been skyrocketing. by Leslie Scism of Wall Street Journal MIAMI—Florida’s ..read more