The Home Insurance Guru

Please call  Lee from L & S Insurance, Inc. Your Insurance Consultant  about Home Insurance, Auto, Flood, Private Flood, Car, Life Insurance & Financial Products, Business  & Commercial Policies, and Group Products for business owners to give Employees benefits at no cost to them.

The insurance industry and consumers advocates say the abuse has caused higher insurance premiums in the state and made insurance harder to obtain.

The bill’s provisions:

• Define “assignment agreement” and establishing requirements for the execution, validity, and effect of such an agreement
• Prohibit certain fees and altering policy provisions related to managed repairs in an assignment agreement
• Transfer certain pre-lawsuit duties under the insurance contract to the assignee and shifting the burden to the assignee to prove that any failure to carry out such duties has not limited the insurer’s ability to perform under the contract
• Require each insurer to report specified data on claims paid in the prior year under assignment agreements by January 30, 2022, and each year thereafter
• Allow an insurer to make available a policy prohibiting assignment, in whole or in part, under certain conditions
• Revise the state’s one-way attorney fee statute to incorporate an attorney fee structure in determining the fee amount awarded in suits by an assignee against an insurer
• Require service providers to give an insurer and the consumer prior written notice of at least 10 business days before filing suit on a claim.

The Senate bill was sponsored by Senator Doug Broxson, chair of the Banking & Insurance Committee.

Please enjoy the full article below;

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2019/04/24/524700.htm

Please call  Lee from L & S Insurance, Inc. Your Insurance Consultant  about Home Insurance, Auto, Flood, Private Flood, Car, Life Insurance & Financial Products, Business  & Commercial Policies, and Group Products for business owners to give Employees benefits at no cost to them.

A bill the Florida insurance industry says will help reign in assignment of benefits abuse that is plaguing the state and raising insurance costs has passed its final committee in the Florida Senate and is now headed to the full Senate floor for debate.

The Florida Senate Rules Committee passed SB 122 on Wednesday, inching AOB reform one step closer to being a reality after seven years of failed attempts by the Florida Legislature.

“Year after year we have watched the AOB crisis negatively impact our consumers – many of which are recovering from hurricanes. Now, more than ever, is the time to pass meaningful reform so we can protect consumers and start recovering from years of compounding abuse,” Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier said in a statement Wednesday. “The advancement of SB 122 is a significant step towards protecting Floridians from future AOB abuse.”

The Senate bill, introduced by Senator Doug Broxson, is now identical to Florida House Bill 7065, which passed that chamber last week.

“This is a great development. For the first time in nearly seven years we are poised for final passage of meaningful AOB reform. The bill will directly address cost drivers that are pushing up rates by reducing AOB abuse and fraud. Florida consumers will benefit, and the insurance market will be healthier as a result,” said Michael Carlson, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of Florida (PIFF).

The bill includes certain consumer protection provisions such as rescission and emergency services sublimit provisions, and creates a new rate filing requirement for Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which has filed rate increases for the last several years that it has largely blamed on AOB.

Please enjoy the full article below;

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2019/04/18/524155.htm

Please call  Lee from L & S Insurance, Inc. Your Insurance Consultant  about Home Insurance, Auto, Flood, Private Flood, Car, Life Insurance & Financial Products, Business  & Commercial Policies, and Group Products for business owners to give Employees benefits at no cost to them.

A licensed Miami insurance agent has been arrested after she allegedly obtained and transferred more than 300 homeowner insurance policies without homeowners’ knowledge or consent and pocketed nearly $476,000 from the policy premium differences in this scheme, according to a statement from Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.

Claudia Odila Romoleroux, owner of RND Insurance Corporation, is accused of fraudulently obtaining more than $877,000 in premiums for 307 homeowners policies.

Romoleroux’s alleged scheme including supplying mortgage companies with fraudulent documents and requesting the homeowners’ escrow money be sent to her business account to pay for new policies. Unbeknownst to these homeowners, Romoleroux allegedly used a portion of that money to pay for cheaper policies with inadequate coverage. Through this alleged fraud impacting homeowners and leaving them vulnerable, Romoleroux pocketed nearly $476,000.

Please enjoy the full article below;

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2019/04/17/524044.htm

Please call  Lee from L & S Insurance, Inc. Your Insurance Consultant  about Home Insurance, Auto, Flood, Private Flood, Car, Life Insurance & Financial Products, Business  & Commercial Policies, and Group Products for business owners to give Employees benefits at no cost to them.

Two bills seeking to change the way Florida surplus lines business is handled are currently working their way through the Florida State Legislature and advocates say the potential laws could bring much needed efficiency to the state’s surplus lines market.

The bills – Senate 538 and House Bill 387 – propose small changes with potentially large effects on Florida surplus lines agents. The bills were introduced by Senator Jeff Brandes, R- St. Petersburg, and Representative Colleen Burton, R-Florida, respectively.

Please enjoy the full article below;

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2019/04/09/523091.htm

Please call  Lee from L & S Insurance, Inc. Your Insurance Consultant  about Home Insurance, Auto, Flood, Private Flood, Car, Life Insurance & Financial Products, Business  & Commercial Policies, and Group Products for business owners to give Employees benefits at no cost to them.

The “Underwater Homeowners Association” sounds like a sad joke about the future of real estate in flood-prone Miami.

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Starting in his affluent suburb of Pinecrest, artist Xavier Cortada hopes his concept will spread, helping people nationwide understand that melting polar ice is no abstract threat.

Cortada repurposes “for sale” signs, painting partially-submerged numbers that announce exactly how many feet above sea level each property is, for people to plant in their front yards. A growing number of members have signed on at underwaterhoa.org since Cortada launched the idea in December.

Cortada’s signs show his home is on relatively high ground: 6 feet (2 meters) above sea level. His studio is at 8 feet (2.5 meters).

Rising seas will spare no one concerned about quality of life in Pinecrest, a village of 19,000 not far from Biscayne Bay. Like the rest of South Florida, it’s trapped between the ocean and the swampy Everglades, which act as a western coastline. Water also rises through Florida’s porous bedrock, making seawalls and levees less effective.

t’s actually an earnest effort to turn neighbors into climate-change advocates, block-by-block.

Please enjoy the full article below;

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2019/04/05/522959.htm