Florida Insurance Claim Lawyer Blog

Buying and owning a home, for many of us, is the most significant investment we will make in our lives. It will likely also be one of the costliest ones too.

Therefore, when we make that investment we want to make sure that the investment won't turn sour. It is of paramount importance that the home we purchased is strong and sturdy enough to protect us from a significant hurricane.

South Florida's building codes were significantly re-vamped following Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and tweaked again following the active hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005. The local building codes were revised to ensure that our homes would remain standing in the event of a hurricane strike.

But these building code advancements did not come without added costs to our homes. In fact, some of the advancements added to the costs of building a home to withstand a hurricane.

As such, our Florida legislators devised a statutory scheme that would permit a home owner to secure discounts for their homeowners insurance coverage if they home met certain criteria.

Indeed, our legislators enacted Florida Statute § 627.711 which requires property insurers to clearly identify and explain discounts available on the policies they sell if a property meets hurricane mitigation requirements.

The State of Florida, however, has discontinued the popular program that aided property owners to secure discounts on their homeowners insurance policy. But many homeowners may still qualify for the discounts even without the state's assistance.

Here are some tips to follow if you think your insurance company revoked legitimate discounts for strengthening your home against hurricanes.

1. Compare Forms. If your first inspection was done prior to 2009, and the second one was done after 2009, then that will likely explain the issue. The forms recently changed.

2. Keep Documentation. Keep copies of all documentation regarding any and all work performed.

3. Contact the Original Inspector. The inspector that performed the original inspection may be able to assist you in securing the discount today.

4. Use a licensed contractor to perform any work required to strengthen your home.

These tips will help you in making your home stronger. This will help you in the event of a significant hurricane striking Florida. If the work is done properly, it may even qualify you for additional insurance discounts on your insurance premium.

So be sure to check with your insurance company and ask them what discounts are applied and how you can go about securing those discounts.

This should come as no surprise. Especially to those of you who have ever had to deal with your insurance company in submitting a claim.

Insurance companies are putting profits before service and people.

Yet despite record profits, reform to many laws pertaining to insurance claims, insurance rates continue to go up for all hard working Floridians.

A recent report reveals the sad state of affairs for many insurance companies.

The report illustrates how the insurance industry is making money by delaying claims and how it has shifted from a service industry to an industry that is driven purely by profit.

Unlike many other businesses, the insurance industry is bound by law to act in good faith with its customers. Because of their protective role in the lives of ordinary citizens, insurers have long operated as semi-public trusts.

But since the mid-1990s, a new profit-hungry model, combined with weak regulation, has upended that ancient social contract.

Claims have been converted into a money-making process for the insurance companies to the detriment of their policy holders. The change started when insurance companies altered their claims handling procedures. Rather than adjusting claims the traditional way, which gave claims managers wide latitude to serve customers, insurers embraced a computer-driven method that produced purposefully low offers to policy holders.

The low offers has had the effect of allowing insurance companies to either settle claims much cheaper or force unnecessary and costly litigation costs for both the insured and the insurance companies.

The objective was to make claims so expensive and so time-consuming that many policy holders would simply just fold, walk away settle for pennies on the dollar as to the actual value of their claim while many lawyers would start refusing to help policy holders in need.

Delay, deny, defend, has become the new battle cry for the insurance industry.

Continue reading "Insurance Companies Profit by Delaying Claims and Shorting Customers" »

Under Florida law, any person may bring a civil action against an insurer when such person is damaged by the insurer's failure to attempt "[i]n good faith to settle claims when, under all circumstances, it could and should have done so, had it acted fairly and honestly toward its insured and with due regard for his interest." See F. S. Sec. 624.155(1)(b)(1); see also Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Civ) 3.1.

A. Historical Context & Evolution of Bad Faith Claims

Until the 20th Century, actions for breaches of insurance contracts were treated the same as any other breach of contract action, and damages were generally limited to those contemplated by the parties at the time they entered into the contract. With the passage of time, however, insurance contracts began to be viewed as distinguishable from other types of contracts because they came to "occupy a unique institutional role" in modern society and affected a large number of people whose rates were dependent upon the acts of not only themselves but also the acts of other insureds.

Consequently, courts began to recognize that carriers owed a duty to the insured to act in the insured's best interest rather than their own. In recognition of the fact that courts uniformly have acknowledged that carriers owed their insured a duty of good faith and fair dealing, this duty evolved into the requirement that good faith be exercised or bad faith be avoided.

In Florida, third party bad faith actions were recognized as early as 1938. Florida, however, is in the minority in holding that an action against an insurer for bad faith failure to settle sounds in contract rather than tort. Most states treat such an action as a tort claim or a combination of tort and contract. Third party bad faith claims are recognized under both Florida common law, and Florida statute. First party bad faith claims, however, are entirely a creature of the legislature.

In Florida, there is neither a "set off" defense nor an affirmative defense of comparative bad faith. Similarly, while evidence of negligence may be considered by the jury as it may bear on the question of bad faith, a cause of action based solely on negligence, which does not rise to the level of bad faith, does not lie.

In sum, in determining whether an insurer has "acted fairly and honestly towards its insured and with due regard for his interest," the Florida Supreme Court applies the "totality of the circumstances" standard, and not "fairly debatable" standard. Each case is determined on its own facts, and the question of the insurer's failure to act in good faith with due regard for the interests of the insured is for the jury.

B. Claims Delay

A recent report reveals how insurance companies are profiting from delaying claims. Indeed, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) reported that the highest number of complaints coming from policy holders is unnecessary claim delays and claim denials.

Call us today if you think your insurance company is not handling your claim in bad faith.

The past few years has seen the real estate market collapse. Home values have declined by greater than 50% in many markets throughout Florida, and especially here in South Florida.

Yet despite those declining values, many home owners have seen their home insurance rates rise in recent years. Despite the decrease in home values, many insurance companies are requiring homeowners to carry greater values in home insurance than the home is actually worth in today's market.

For instance, a home may be worth say $200,000 in today's market. But many insurance companies, including Citizens, may require that homeowner to purchase insurance regarding the replacement value of that home that is far greater than the home is worth. Such values may even be as high as $300,000 despite the fact that the home is only worth say $200,000 in today's market.

It seems that the insurance companies are greatly exaggerating the cost to replace a home following a disaster. Especially in light of our declining real market.

The only conclusion that can be reached is that insurance companies are using the increased replacement costs values as a back door method to secure greater rate increases above and beyond the rate increases that were already approved just a few months ago. The below news report video discusses that in greater detail.

Not surprisingly, the insurance companies see nothing wrong with requiring home owners to purchase the replacement value coverage for their homes at values that are in some instances twice as much as what the home is actually worth. They deem such rate increases as "necessary and proper."

Of course, the fact that Florida has not been hit by a hurricane in a record 6 straight years did not lessen the need for insurance companies to further raise insurance rates. Their reserves are teetering on dangerously low levels that could spill heartache and frustration for many homeowners should Florida experience another hurricane season like the ones in 2004 and 2005.

Continue reading "Home Insurance Prices Keep Going Up Despite the Decline in Property Values" »

As we have discussed before, most insurance policies have several conditions that the insured must satisfy before an insured can file a lawsuit against the insurance company. One of the most common condition is having the insured sit for what is known as an Examination Under Oath (EUO.)

An EUO is a sworn statement given by someone who has made an insurance claim. Insurance companies typically use this procedure as part of their claims handling process and investigation. But they also employ an EUO if they suspect fraud, or if they are considering disputing coverage before going into litigation.

EUO's could be tape recorded, or even video taped. But it will certainly be transcribed, and you will be sworn to tell the truth. The sworn testimony that you give will also be used by the insurance company to serve their interest, and against you, if possible.

EUO's could also often times be very intimidating. Part of that intimidation may be to employ the use of overly aggressive defense lawyer in an effort to intimidate the insured into dropping their insurance claim.

One of the most common methods used in intimidating an insured is when the lawyer hired by the insurance company insists on conducting the EUO at their office as opposed to a mutually convenient time and place.

This is critical because in the insurance company friendly ruling in Goldman v. State Farm, 660 So.2d 300, (Fla. 4th DCA 1995), the Fourth District Court of Appeal specifically held that an insured's failure to sit for an EUO could jeopardize their insurance claim. But the court also opined that the EUO must take place at, "a mutually convenient time and place as contemplated by the policy."

Therefore, and absent specific language in the insurance policy dictating specifically where the EUO must take place, it is incumbent upon the parties to mutually agree upon the location of the EUO. This is bolstered by the fact that said position was specifically set forth in the Goldman ruling.

Continue reading "Examinations Under Oath Must Take Place at a Mutually Convenient Time and Place as Contemplated by the Insurance Policy" »