Jacksonville Personal Injury Blog

The Jacksonville newspaper, the Florida Times Union takes a complete look in an article at the crisis of property insurance in the state. All it could take is for one major hurricane to hit a large metropolitan area, such as Miami, for the state to boost taxes on insurance policies and take out billions in debt as our state-backed insurance plans fall short.

Funding that kind of debt would be difficult, causing an increase in taxes on almost everything and a debt that could take years to repay. Some even predict bankruptcy from a major hurricane.

A little background – The reinsurance market prices have skyrocketed by 75 percent in recent years following the more damaging storms of 2004 and 2005. When that happened in 2006, private companies passed that onto their customers.

State Farm Florida says it is leaving the state because the insurance commissioner says it can’t raise its rates 47 percent. Gov. Charlie Crist said ‘good riddance.’

If State Farm leaves, it would force nearly one million policy holders into new insurance carriers including Citizens, the state insurance plan that at the present time could be strapped if it had to pay out millions. Citizens is the largest insurer in the state with State Farm Florida being second. State Farm is trying to stay, and by eliminating discounts to some customers, it boosted rates an average of 28.4 percent.

Continue reading "Who Will Insure Florida if a Hurricane Hits?" »

State Farm Insurance has done a lot of threatening lately. The insurance giant wants to leave Florida because of the downside of having to pay claims in case there is another hurricane this season.

State Farm proposed a 47 percent statewide rate increase in property insurance to stay in the state, according to an account. Last week the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee upheld a decision last December to reject that outrageous hike, joining the state Office of Insurance Regulation.

State Farm had already been granted a 52 percent increase in 2006. Right after that State Farm said it would take its business out of the Florida property insurance market, even though they got the rate increase. That would mean one million hurricane policies would not be written by the insurance giant.

State Farm would like the state-run insurer, Citizens, to take over the policies. An appeal is set to be heard in October as to what terms State Farm can withdraw from Florida. Negotiations are still possible and probably the best outcome for consumers. Let State Farm hike rates slightly in exchange for continuing to write hurricane coverage.

Continue reading "State Farm Rejected Rate Increase" »

State Farm’s property insurance division has been threatening to leave the state and homeowners without options, while leaving the more lucrative auto insurance business in the state. Now, according to an article, Florida’s Insurance Commission says State Farm may not leave Florida. Commissioner Kevin McCarty said Thursday it was his “gut feeling” even though the insurance giant was not allowed to raise its rates by up to 67 percent last January by an administrative law judge.

This news leaves 1.2 million Floridians with a huge unanswered question – where will they turn? The more insurance options there are to choose from, the better competitive pricing options one generally has. Gov. Charlie Crist was considering allowing a property insurance bill to become law which would have allowed property insurers to charge anything they want to insurer properties against hurricanes, but last month he vetoed the bill, citing the new smaller insurance companies that have come in to assume about 400,000 homeowner policies. State Farm is pinning its hopes on an override of the veto, which would have to be done in a special session of the state legislature.

Without that, State Farm says it plans to leave the property insurance business in Florida within two years. Expect others to follow suit or to reduce their exposure for coastal properties. McCarty is looking to a national catastrophic fund that would pool money from many states to help property owners along the coast recover property damage when a hurricane or natural disaster strikes. In the meantime, let’s cross our fingers – hurricane season ends in October.

Continue reading "Is State Farm Staying? " »

June marks the beginning of Hurricane season in Florida. Northeast Florida says a little prayer every year that we will be spared and so far we have been.

Surveys show only half of us are ready for Hurricane Season stocked with supplies. Last year the state legislature decided to end the Hurricane Sales Tax Holiday that saves us all money when we buy bottled water, flashlight batteries, and canned goods and gets us in the spirit of preparedness.

Last year there were 16 named storms and five major hurricanes between June 1 and November 30th.

This year, forecasters say that there could be nine to 14 tropical storms and up to seven hurricanes with a few major ones among the group, which is normal.

Emergency preparation plans are in place to turn all of I-10 into a westerly direction, away from the east coast of Jacksonville, to allow traffic to leave the coastal areas quickly. Everyone will have to be especially conscientious to make that happens safely so that Jacksonville car accidents don’t happen at all or are at least limited, and we can do that.

Besides supplies, also keep ice chests, portable radios, TVs and generators accessible. Figure out where you pets can go and how long a lead time you would need to safely leave town before the rush. Of course, have a plan on where you will go, or if you plan to stay, know where the nearest safe shelter is located.

Following Hurricane Katrina there were lots of lessons on how insurance works or doesn’t work and the additional policies you need for wind and flood damage. Now we have to assume that the state, which writes much of the hurricane insurance after the industry pulled out, has enough money in case we aren’t lucky this time around.

The state’s insurance industry warns there is about a $12 billion shortfall in the fund which provides money for claims if the maximum is required. Most consumers don’t realize that the insurance industry is heavily invested and when the markets go down, so do their profits.

Some insurance companies suspend writing new policies when a storm is brewing, so know what you have now. Renters may need flood insurance in Florida in addition to the landlord to cover water damage.

Just last month, Gov. Charlie Crist said that the property insurance rates will go up by ten percent for more than one million customers of the state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Higher rates were expected if lawmakers didn’t agree to the 10 percent increase.

At Farah and Farah, or Florida hurricane dispute attorneys are well versed in all areas of flood insurance and windstorm coverage for your home. We are dedicated to helping victims of hurricanes move on by holding insurance companies to their word and getting our clients the compensation they deserve under their policy. Contact Farah and Farah for a case evaluation today.