Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Greenberg Traurig The Emergency Medical Transportation Working Group formed by the Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate, Sha’Ron James, met for the last time on October 31, 2017. Following are notes from the meeting prepared by staff at Greenberg Traurig. Intro: Today’s meeting opened with Sha’Ron James thanking everyone who has participated in the working group.…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Rep. Santiago (R-Deltona) filed the House insurance omnibus bill this week. HB 465 makes changes to various insurance laws on the following topics: Property Insurance:• Excluding complaints filed by AOB vendors from an insurer’s complaint ratio calculated by DFS• Diligent effort required for surplus lines agents to place residential…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Leadership in the House of Representatives rolled out two priority bills on October 26, 2017 dealing with the protection of trade secret information held by state agencies from Florida’s broad public records law. The bills are wide-ranging and will impact trade secret information submitted by insurers to the OIR,…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Advisory Council (Council) for the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF or Fund) met on October 26, 2017 and learned the FHCF is still financially strong despite losses to the Fund from Hurricane Irma. During the meeting, the Council received and approved the October Claims Paying Capacity Estimates…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee continued its discussion and debate on assignment of benefits (AOBs) during its committee meeting on October 24, 2017. The Committee also held a panel discussion on AOB during the last committee meeting. Most of the panelists from the last meeting participated again during…
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Oct. 24, 2017) – Legislative meetings about Assignment of Benefits underscored the need for comprehensive reform to end abusive AOB practices that are driving up the cost of property insurance and threatening the affordability of home ownership for many Floridians, the Consumer Protection Coalition said today. Members of the Senate Banking and Insurance…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 23, 2017Contact: Michael Williams. (850) 222-3767, michael@coremessage.com More than One Billion in Reinsurance Payments Now in Florida Market as Irma Claims Are Paid~Reinsurance Providing the Capital to Pay Claims and Write New Business~ Tallahassee, FL – In early September, almost the entire state of Florida was affected by Hurricane Irma, creating…
By Greenberg Traurig In the opinion, Justice Pariente noted the appeals court had improperly ruled that multipliers are only available in “rare” and “exceptional” circumstances. Pariente wrote, “after reviewing this Court’s precedent regarding contingency fee multipliers, it is clear that this court has never limited the use of contingency fee multipliers to only `rare’ and…
By Greenberg Traurig, P.A. On October 18, 2017, the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) convened a hearing for the purpose of discussing the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) proposed decrease in workers’ compensation rates effective January 1, 2018. You may access the public hearing video here: 10/18/2017 and the OIR presentation here: 10/18/2017. Opening…
By Greenberg Traurig, P.A. This morning the Florida Cabinet held their monthly meeting. Of particular interest were presentations made by the Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”) and the State Board of Administration. Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier told the Cabinet “it was a significant catastrophic year, especially for the second half of 2017. Where we’re going…