... Bad Faith Law Makes Insurers Pay Uninsured Florida Sinkhole Claims?
Panelists at the Florida Insurance Commissioner's Office of Insurance Regulation Public Symposium had a lot to say. They were gathered by the Commissioner and the O.I.R. (formerly known as the Florida Department of Insurance) for a Public Symposium at the luxurious Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida on Thursday, October 21, 2010. I was there to listen, observe, and ultimately, to report to you.
The first panel presented by the Florida Insurance Commissioner was asked what good news they could report. One panelist replied: "Rates are up," meaning that Property Insurance Companies including Homeowner's Insurance Companies are now charging higher Premiums. I took a brief poll of the people seated around me. We all agreed that the Public would not be likely to agree that that was "good news".
The second panel contained several interesting panelists. One observed that we in Florida are in a "peak zone of Cat (Catastrophe) Risk."
Another panelist offered his observations on Florida's Bad Faith Law and on Public Adjusters. He was not alone in his view that Public Adjusters are responsible for "reopening" Hurricane Claims that should have been considered closed in 2004-2005, they think. In particular, he said, Insurance Companies are now paying out huge sums of money to pay Sinkhole Claims which anybody with common sense would say were not intended to be paid by the Insurance Contract, he said.
Further, uncovered Florida Sinkhole Claims are also the result of people abusing the system in his view. He has no doubt, he expressed, that Public Adjusters turned to presenting Sinkhole Claims as Hurricane Wilma Claims began to come to an end. As another example of people abusing the system, he said, Florida is the only State in the Union which requires Insurance Companies to pay Replacement Cost up front. In his judgment, this is just another opportunity for people to abuse the system.
Yet another panelist on the second panel presented by the Insurance Commissioner observed that mitigation is the only way to reduce the potential losses from natural Catastrophes such as Hurricanes.
More to come....
Dennis Wall is the Author of the industry leader for 25 years on the subject of "Litigation and Prevention of Insurer Bad Faith" (Shepard's/McGraw-Hill Second Edition; West Publishing Company 2010 Supplement), and he is the Co-Author of the leading book on Insurance Coverage for Catastrophe Claims, "CATClaims: Insurance Coverage for Natural and Man-Made Disasters" (West Publishing Company 2008; 2010 Supplement in process). Mr. Wall will speak on Business Interruption Insurance Coverage Issues including those arising out of the BP Oil Spill Catastrophe, on November 17, 2010, at a Seminar of the Insurance Law Committee sponsored by the Orange County Bar Association in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Wall will also speak on a panel at the American Conference Institute's Bad Faith Litigation Conference in Orlando, Florida on November 30, 2010 on "Dealing With Catastrophic Disasters: How to Properly Investigate and Handle Overwhelming Claims". The American Conference Institute is offering a discount to readers of this Blog: Download ACI Advises Readers of the Insurance Claims and Issues and Insurance Claims and Bad Faith Law Blog are entitled to a discount.
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