Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart believes the country should catch up with his home state when it comes to building codes. The congressman is the chief House sponsor of HR 1878, the Safe Building Code Incentive Act of 2013. The bill was also introduced in 2007, 2009 and 2011. Proponents hope that the fourth time is the charm.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott apparently had no reaction to the Citizens reform bill that landed on his desk last week. His office said only that he was “reviewing the proposal.” There was no hint that he was either disappointed or relieved that the rating methodology changes did not make it into the final bill. Legislators and homeowners alike will just have to wait to see what happens.
The Florida Legislature has sent a less ambitious insurance bill to Gov. Rick Scott than some lawmakers had hoped. The bill does not offer a complete overhaul of Citizens Property Insurance Corp.; rather, it represents a more incremental approach to reform that seemed to go over better with legislators concerned, in particular, about raising rates.
We are continuing our series about an unusual bad faith insurance case. As we have said, the case does not directly involve Florida residents or insurance policies that were purchased here. We thought the case was worth some time because it is an unusual insurance coverage dispute that involves high-profile individuals and, of course, a whiff of scandal.
This is the last post in our series about a breach of faith insurance claim brought by actor Keith Carradine’s ex-wife, Sandra Will Carradine, against her insurance company. She claims that she contacted her insurance company in 2006 when her ex-husband sued her. The insurer neither accepted nor rejected her claim until 2011, when it finally agreed to provide a defense. She is now suing the insurance company for the money she spent on her own defense during those five years.
According to reports, Florida’s health care workers are having trouble affording health insurance. The whole thing is somewhat ironic, as these people are within the industry.
It isn’t often that you run across a story about insurance that is even close to being tabloid fodder. We feel it incumbent on us to seize on those rare occasions, then, even if the cases are not from Florida. The insurance carrier in the story, State Farm (technically, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company), certainly does business in Florida, but the people involved do not live here, and the events leading up to the claim did not happen here.
This is a case that involves movie stars, racketeering, conspiracy, eavesdropping and an insurance claim. There is no direct connection to Florida — which may be a good thing.
We are back to talking about the class action lawsuit filed in federal court against a homeowners property insurance company. The lead plaintiffs in the case estimate that as many as 100,000 policyholders could be the victims of the insurer’s contract breach.
Often, when insurance companies deny claims, they do it under the pretext of asserting that some element of the policyholder’s story puts the validity of the claim into question. In most cases, this is nothing more than the insurance company trying to save money by delaying or denying valid claims.
