![]() ![]() An insurance village is an area established near the landfall of a catastrophic hurricane that puts insurance representative "boots on the ground" in an effort to assist insurance policyholders with filing an insurance claim, and providing immediate access to funds for "Additional Living Expenses" for those who are displaced as a result of covered hurricane damage. “What comes out of California on the west or Florida on the east, it all moves over, and that’s the key thing - it’s not a Florida-centric type bill … it is something you might need to worry about in the future.Evolve Insurance Agency has learned that a temporary "Insurance Village" has been set-up in coordination with the Florida Department of Financial Services, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, and 29 insurance carriers in Port Charlotte, Florida. “The insurance companies love to use Florida as a test ground, so I do anticipate that the next move for insurance companies would be probably places like Georgia or Texas - Texas is a huge insurance market, as is Colorado,” Cotney said. Regardless, Florida’s role as a bellwether for insurance policies means that similar laws may start popping up in other states. It’s up for debate whether the roofing and attorney-based issues addressed in the law are at the root of the rising costs. The lawsuit argues the actions taken to limit attorney fees could limit or prevent contractors from pursuing legal action for unpaid invoices. The Restoration Association of Florida and Air Quality Assessors filed a lawsuit in Leon County circuit court. “The idea there is that if you take away the ability to get your attorneys’ fees or reduce the multipliers that you can get, then that decreases the incentive to file these types of claims against insurance companies,” Cotney said. Homeowners, however, can still recover prevailing party fees if they file a lawsuit against insurers. Under the new law, this is no longer the case when they’re assigned benefits. Previously, contractors could recoup attorney fees from insurers if a lawsuit is successful. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Florida makes up about 8% of all insurance claims nationwide, but are 76% of the lawsuits nationwide. An assignment of benefits allows homeowners to sign over insurance claims to contractors, who in turn seek payment from insurance companies. In light of this, the law addresses assignment of benefits. Insurers often blame litigation and attorney fees as the reason for cost increases. “I’ve been following it, I think there’s some good things that came out of this legislation,” Cotney said. This gives a peace of mind to consumers as well, as they know they’ll be covered. The $2 billion in reinsurance funding the law provides helps insurance companies share risks, which decreases the risk that a company becomes insolvent after being hit with massive amounts of storm damage claims. This is coverage provided at no cost to the insurer. ![]() There are items that may help the good actors, including $150 million for the My Safe Florida Home Program, which provides grants to Florida homeowners for hurricane retrofitting. “I think that a lot of the impetus for these bills was targeted based on those few bad actors.” “There are some bad actors out there in the restoration market,” Cotney said. It’s insurance fraud to intentionally file an insurance claim containing any false or misleading information.It’s insurance fraud punishable as a felony for a contractor to knowingly pay, waive or rebate all or part of an insurance deductible.Consumers are responsible for paying the insurance deductible.To address potential roofing scams like these, contractors using printed or electronic advertisements to encourage consumers to contact them for the purpose of making an insurance claim for roof damage must include information stating: For instance, in March, two Florida contractors were arrested for allegedly enticing homeowners with rebates to cover their insurance deductible if they submitted a full roof replacement claim to their property insurance company. Similarly, the law authorizes property insurers to limit certain roof claim payments under certain circumstances.Īlong with these changes, the law hopes to put a stop to roofing scams. ![]() Homeowners with roofs that are 15 years or older must be allowed to have an inspection before requiring a replacement as a condition of writing or renewing the policy. Similarly, if the roof has at least five years of life remaining, insurers can’t refuse to issue a policy. The law prohibits insurance companies from automatically denying coverage solely based on the age of a roof so long as it’s less than 15 years old. ![]()
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