While it’s troubling to watch FL residents suffer soaring rate increases, I’m still hoping some meaningful legislation will be passed that will “immediately” impact rates and help property holders. The frustrating part is the partisan politicians who turn a blind eye when good amendments are put forward that could easily provide some rate relief. Just watch the consumer-friendly amendments laid out by Senator Gary Farmer who very eloquently explains the insurance shell game.  

Start at 1:57:30 - https://thefloridachannel.org/videos/5-24-22-senate-session-part-1/

Every year, the insurance lobby tells us insurance companies are losing money, yet lawmakers pass laws and reforms stripping consumers' rights, permitting insurers to delay legitimate claims, and implementing preferred contractor network repair programs that enrich contractors working for insurance companies, rather than insurers indemnifying homeowners for their claims. Additionally, there has not been any real and demonstrative evidence lawmakers can show to support how laws and reforms enacted last year have been protective. All things considered; I am not seeing any financial relief forthcoming for homeowners, especially given the many proposed expansions to the upcoming special legislative session. 

WIND held its annual 2022 conference at the Lowes Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando at the end of January.  I have to say that I was a little hesitant attending this conference as it is a multi-day event held in a venue which is a closed environment inside of a very large resort. Based on past year’s attendance I would have expected well over 1000 insurance professionals, experts and vendors showing up to network, learn best practices and refresh their knowledge. To my surprise despite the virus threat, over 1000 people did in fact register and that didn’t include late walk ins, who decided they did not want to be behind the learning curve.  For me, besides seeing old friends and meeting new people from various disciplines, the highlight of the conference was the keynote speaker presentation.

As the Champlain Tower collapse unfolds, people must understand this is a very fluid situation. Now is not the time to be pointing fingers but instead supporting the victims' families and conducting a thorough and objective investigation. That being said, as a 45-year veteran of insurance adjusting in Florida, I have seen and been involved in all types of condo claims in Florida for decades. I concur, water is the cause or should I say the most frequent cause of all insurance losses. Water damage has and still is occurring and causing failures of building components particularly in ocean side concrete structures.

So proud of our very own Florida Public Adjuster, Michael Platts who took time out of his busy holiday schedule to play Santa and deliver his yearly childrens' gifts to Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa. It's been a busy storm season for all of us this past year. We want everyone of our readers to have a safe and healthy holiday and look forward with hope to the new year.

It’s been a little over a month since Hurricane Sally roared ashore. My fellow adjusters and I have seen some serious damage in the Pensacola area and we plan to be here for the long-haul. Many policyholders are just starting to receive their insurance checks in the mail and much to their surprise, the settlement checks received are grossly insufficient and barely cover a fraction of what the true cost of repairs will actually be. Some brave souls are trying to handle their own claim. We see this same scenario play out in every storm that we have worked over the years.

Hurricane Sally has exposed what I consider some very questionable underwriting tactics that recently have been written into some property insurance policies. A few examples are, limiting emergency service to a fixed cost or not to exceed a set amount which exposes the policyholder to higher out of pocket expenses. As an example, emergency services for mitigation efforts were not limited in Coverage A (your building limit of liability) in prior policy periods. Now we are seeing examples where only a small percent of Coverage A is being made available for emergency services.

The Tampa Bay Times published an article in their editorial page this past week titled, “Stop Giving Hurricane Victims the Run Around” which in my humble opinion is well worth the time to read. For the most part I could not agree more with this commentary as we have seen this “run around” for years.  Clearly history has shown us that when mass catastrophic events occur, one’s expectations are that significant confusion and chaos in the early weeks, especially when first responders are mobilizing to respond to life, health, and safety issues will be the rule.

The 2019 Windstorm Conference held at the Walt Disney Dolphin Resort hotel was a new milestone on several fronts. This year was the 20^th anniversary of an organization that was founded based on the realization that claims professionals from all different professional disciplines can meet, exchange and debate ideas, and help to formulate best practices to help insured policyholders struggling to recover from catastrophic events. 

It’s been just over three (3) months since Hurricane Michael decimated Panama City, Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe causing billions of dollars in damage in just those areas alone.  Michael was the strongest hurricane to ever strike the Florida Panhandle, reaching back to the beginning of even fragmentary historical records in 1851. Let’s not forget the thousands of people affected in northern areas of Florida such as Blountstown, Marianna and the many other towns throughout Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina where it pummeled thousands trying to recover from Hurricane Florence a month earlier, not to mention Virginia where the remnants of Michael caused 5 deaths.