“On Property” - Insurance Claim Tips Blog

“At Citizens, lawyers win, public loses” was the Tampa Bay Times featured editorial headline on Friday, September 27, 2013. This followed an earlier article in the Times “Citizens racks up millions in attorney’s fees and it denies claims” exposing the astronomical legal fees that have been paid to both plaintiff lawyers (policyholders advocates) and defense lawyers who represent the insurance companies.

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I was watching one of the “Homeowners Policy & Claims Bill of Rights Working Group” meetings the other day when a segment of the meeting featured a homeowner couple who took the time to appear at the meeting and tell their story about their insurance loss and claim that resulted from an unfortunate fire in their residence.  These folks told the committee they wanted to share this experience in hopes that something good would come out of their very bad experience trying to deal with an insurance property loss on their own.

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As pointed out in the recent Herald Tribune article: Citizens Poised to Further Cull Policies,  “Florida State insurance regulators are expected to approve the removal of nearly 600,000 Citizens customers from the state's largest property insurer, which now covers some 1.2 million policyholders,” and many Tallahassee politicians are celebrating.

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A recent phone call with one of my Naples clients prompted me to think about the coming storm for property owners in the Sunshine State.  Like a natural hurricane, it looks like nothing man made will stop what is already in motion.

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Almost daily we are reading in the print media about the push to depopulate Citizens Insurance Company, the State chartered (and for all practical purposes state run) insurance company. This insurance scheme was started to cover Florida homeowners when the big boys of the property insurance world cut and ran following some hurricane hits in the Sunshine State. Who would have thought that would happen given all the advertisements that were run in the 1970’s and 1980’s encouraging us to insure with whoever had the most money to spend on an advertising campaign.

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On September 11th last year, Rick and I flew to New York City for a planned meeting with Anderson Kill Loss Advisors, a group of the nation’s top public adjusters at the Manhattan law offices of Anderson Kill. The purpose of the meeting was to meet and discuss current events and future plans for this team of professional adjusters, whom we are proud to be a member.  Little did any of us know what would be coming a month and a half later. Read More

The media is finally waking up to the major increase policyholders will see in their flood insurance policies. Our public adjusters are already seeing an impact on the insurance claims market. Here’s my take based on our assistance to Superstorm Sandy victims and our dealings with the NFIP over the years.

2.4 million Floridians live less than four feet above the high tide line along our coastal shores. Given the astonishing number of properties and people this represents, the cost prohibitive increases in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and the severe ramifications that will follow, deserve more attention and debate.

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