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DAYTONA BEACH — For the second time in less than a year, a jury on Tuesday found that state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. should pay owners of a local condominium for damages sustained during Hurricane Frances in 2004. Owners of the 18-story, 124-unit Inlet Condominium in New Smyrna Beach were awarded $3.3 million for damages…

Attorney General Charles Foti filed a lawsuit in Orleans Parish Civil District Court late Wednesday alleging collusion, price-fixing and anti-trust violations by six major insurance companies – including Allstate and State Farm – as well as the firms that manufacture their claims-processing software, and the companies that offer them advice or collect their data. The…

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has signed legislation that will increase property insurance rates by 10 percent annually on more than one million customers of the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and gradually reduce the exposure of the state’s hurricane insurance fund. Crist signed the bill (HB 1495) yesterday along with 30 other bills without any…

Homeowners insurers may sometimes offer a change in conditions of coverage of a consumer’s policy at renewal in order to continue to offer a policy to that individual whose risk profile has increased,” says a MetLife spokesperson.

Two domestic property insurers no longer writing in the state — one by choice, the other forced– are the only two Florida insurers negatively affected thus far by a rating agency’s review of small domestic insurers. In a May 21 report, actuarial services and rating firm Demotech, which specializes in rating newer insurers including the…

Earthquake, expansive soil, flood, hurricane, landslide and subsidence damage usually not covered! “All Perils” Means:   Learn About the Geology Every year in every state many property owners discover that their homeowners insurance policy will not pay when their homes are damaged by common geological processes such as earthquakes, expansive soils, floods, hurricanes, landslides and subsidence.…

MEMO To: All Florida Agents From: The Florida Association of Insurance Agents Subject: The Truth about People’s Trust Several months ago, FAIA began receiving complaints that an insurance company, whose advertising was critical of agents, may also be misrepresenting its price, or the reasons for that price, in potential violation of §626.9541, F.S.—Unfair methods of…

When people buy homeowner’s insurance, they usually intend for it to cover the home in which they live. That is also the insurance company’s expectation, and most of the time, that is the case. However, sometimes circumstances change and the home is left empty. For example, the family goes on a weeklong vacation, or one that lasts a month or more. One member of the couple may accept a temporary job transfer that will last for a few years, and they may decide not to sell the home. In other cases, the family may move into a new home but find themselves unable to sell the prior one. In all of these cases, the home is rendered either unoccupied or vacant. This change in status can affect the insurance coverage.

The standard homeowner’s policy provides coverage for losses caused by vandalism and malicious mischief. For example, the policy will pay for the repair and replacement of windows if the family comes home and finds all of the first floor windows broken. A reasonable person could conclude that vandals broke the windows. However, the policy will not pay if the home has been vacant for more than 60 days. Insurance companies design the policies and set the prices under the assumption that a home will be occupied. A vacant building is vulnerable to damage by vandals, so the companies have designed other policies to cover them.

As millions of U.S. households face financial hardship in the current U.S. recession, retaining existing customers has never been more important. For insurance carriers in terms of long-term profitability, customer retention is tops, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Personal Insurance Retention Special Report. The report finds that in the past 12 months,…

The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season will produce 11 tropical storms, of which six will become hurricanes, WSI Corp predicted Monday. The Andover, Massachusetts, private forecaster reduced its forecast from the one it issued in December, when it said the six-month season starting on June 1 would see 13 tropical storms, including seven hurricanes. The lower…