Wow, what a year 2022 turned out to be! After several convective storms, two significant hurricanes, a year of not writing new business, and such volatility in the industry, we managed to pull out an excellent fourth quarter and ended the year with positive momentum moving into 2023. We are delighted to be (cautiously) writing new business in select areas of the state again and hope to continue this slow growth throughout the year.

We are thrilled about the actions taken in the most recent special legislative session and look forward to benefiting from what we consider the most important outcomes:

• No More One-way Attorney Fees – which stipulates that the one-way attorney statute will no longer apply to insurance claims litigation. A court could award fees to the prevailing side after a dispute is adjudicated.
• No More AOB – this portion of the bill prohibits Assignment of Benefits for residential and commercial claims. We ALL know what this means!
• No More Bad-faith Litigation – bad-faith claims are now barred until after a court has decided that the insurance company breached the policy contract.
• Low-cost State Reinsurance Program – provides a new layer of state-funded reinsurance at a significant discount to what the market offers. Called the Florida Optional Reinsurance Assistance Program, or FORA, the coverage would begin at the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund’s attachment point, currently at about $8.5 billion for the industry, and would cover up to $5 billion in losses below that. Rates would range from 50% to 65% lower than private reinsurance market rates for that layer.
• One-year Limit for Claims Filing – this limits the time allowed for filing a claim from two years to one year.

We are still hoping for additional future reforms to place limits on public adjusters, but we are quite pleased with the legislative action to date.

We have hit the ground running with proactive measures like revising our Coverage A to align with a more accurate 360Value estimate, beginning with renewal effective dates of February 12. This will more accurately reflect the home’s replacement cost value and likely increase the policy’s replacement cost coverage.

To schedule an Agent Refresher, please visit our training calendar page.

We are embracing 2023 with open arms and great optimism, and we look forward to successful agency partnerships with you.