Radey is an AV-rated firm consisting of lawyers who practice before state agencies and in all state and federal courts.
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 […]
The disparity between Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s rates and those in the admitted market is likely to grow. Premiums have increased significantly in the admitted market in recent years, driven by well-documented problems with inflated, represented and litigated claims. These concerns have been compounded by broader inflationary pressures in the economy, including supply chain disruptions […]
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 […]
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation continues to add policies at an alarming pace at the onset of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season. Citizens recently hit a weekly total of 12,000 new policies as its total policy count approaches 900,000. With Citizens being the largest residential insurer in Florida, its current policy count is much higher than […]
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 […]
The Florida House of Representatives and Senate have released their proposals for next week’s special session on property insurance reform. The special session follows last month’s call from Governor Ron DeSantis for a special session dealing with the crisis in Florida’s residential property insurance market. Reinsurance Protection Although their proposals are subject to change when […]
Governor Ron DeSantis’ proclamation declaring a special session on property insurance identifies its scope and provides insight into the upcoming debate. The proclamation specifies the special session will consider (a) property insurance, (b) reinsurance, (c) changes to the Florida Building Code to improve the affordability of property insurance, (d) the Office of Insurance Regulation, (e) […]
The residential insurance market in Florida has experienced years of deterioration resulting in decreased availability of private market options, reductions in coverage and rising insurance premiums. As has been well established by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and others, Florida never really had a sinkhole problem, a mold problem, or a water damage problem…. […]
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 […]
Effective January 1, 2022, insurers using credit reports or credit scoring for underwriting or rating purposes must provide a new notice to consumers. The notice must state: The Department of Financial Services offers free financial literacy programs to assist you with insurance-related questions, including how credit works and how credit scores are calculated. To learn […]
