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Lead by nearly 200 agents attending FAIA’s “Capitol Days”, Florida’s insurance industry converged in Tallahassee last week.

Agents have become the front line for Florida’s dreadful property market, absorbing consumer shrapnel like I’ve not seen in my 45 years dealing with such matters.  Along with many others, they appear quite fed up–their presence punctuated with placards exclaiming “There’s No Such Thing as a Free Roof!” and, my favorite…an airplane circling above towing a banner saying the same thing.

[Read more…] about ATTENTION FLORIDA LAWMAKERS—PART II

The following report is from JS expert contributor Bill Wilson, CPCU, ARM, AIM, AAM.  It’s offered here with a link to the original paper written by Philadelphia attorney, Randy Maniloff. Together, Wilson’s article and Maniloff’s paper, provide a succinct legal explanation for  why COVID-19 is widely considered by the courts as not covered under most Business Interruption policies.  I thought there would be many readers of my blog who would like to keep this handy for discussions with clients regarding COVID-19 coverage issues.

[Read more…] about Top COVID Court Case of 2021…

Late last year I failed to report that the fight against Assignment of Benefits (AOB) took another hopeful step forward.

Recall the reforms of 2019 in which new requirements were placed on AOB’s?  As helpful as they were, they were not an outright prohibition as some thought.  Instead HB-7065 made the use of AOB’s less likely and provided safeguards against consumer abuse.  These safeguards, including improvements to the one-way attorney fee statute, were intended to reduce invoice inflation, massive fraud and mounds of frivolous litigation. The operative language restricted AOB’s to emergency work which is the lesser of $3,000 or 1% of Coverage A. (See NOTE #1 below)

[Read more…] about Don’t Laugh…Anything is Possible!

Lawmakers just got back in town–hopefully they’ll devote necessary time to triage Florida’s immobilized property market. Such should include some badly needed new approaches as well as cauterizing past reform efforts, 2019’s HB 7065 and 2021’s SB-76.

Since last year’s session, litigation has only tightened its strangle hold on Florida’s property system–fueling speculation that our insurance market is being (has been) displaced by a $4.5 billion litigation market. [Read more…] about Attention Florida Lawmakers–PART I

You may remember my opinion about public adjusters who are paid a percentage of a claim also being allowed to act as “disinterested” appraisers under a policy’s appraisal clause. In June of 2020 I published an article (one which you should read titled Public Adjusters—How Interested are the Disinterested?) in which I said the practice may be on its way out.

[Read more…] about How Interested are the Disinterested?

In answering an important question like this it’s always smart to ask an expert with    knowledge acquired from multiple perspectives.  We reached out to JS contributor David Thompson, AAI, CPCU, CRIS to answer the age old insurance questions for umbrella policies… “How much is enough?” and “How much does enough cost?” [Read more…] about The Umbrella Fallacy…

Yes, once again, the END IS NEAR! For a good summary of how we got to this point and the results of trials where both sides have presented their cases on allegations against attorney Scot Strems, you should read Collapse of an Evil Empire! Part XI—Making Sense of Things.

This report is about the most recent decision (September 28, 2021)–where the Bar alleges Contempt by Scot Strems for violating the Supreme Court’s June 9, 2020, Emergency Suspension of his license to practice law. [Read more…] about STREMS NOT GUILTY of CONTEMPT

Maybe not a landmark case, but this just released decision (August 31, 2021, U.S District Court, Miami) is important and affirming—especially for those in Florida who sell commercial property coverage or who counsel business owners on business income losses due to COVID. Johnson Strategies reached out to expert and JS contributor Barry Zalma, Esq. CFE for a summary,  analysis and opinion.  (See NOTE #4 below) [Read more…] about Another Shutdown Verdict