Florida Condo & HOA Legal Blog : Florida Condo Lawyer & Attorney : Becker & Poliakoff Law Firm : Condominium & HOA Law Blog

 Concern for Florida's Consumers Important in Decision to Veto SB 2044 (Property Insurance) and SB 1964 (Design Professional Liability).

Governor Crist vetoed SB 2044, despite support from the Florida Insurance Commissioner and other industry representatives.  The Governor expressed his concerns that increases in insurance premiums and changes to mitigation discounts would be especially hard on Florida's consumers during "these very difficult economic times".

Consumer protection was likewise a major factor with respect to the veto of SB 1964.  Governor Crist agreed with critics of the bill who argued design professionals are not entitled to avoid liability, effectively "removing a consumer's right to bring a tort action against them for economic damages caused by their negligence".  Shifting the burden of economic loss to consumers without sufficient alternative remedies was not acceptable to the Governor.

On the other hand, HB 965, relating to real property assessments, received the Governor's approval.  Owners of properties affected by Chinese drywall may be entitled to a downward adjustment of the assessed value of the property for tax purposes.   Contact your local Property Appraiser to request re-valuation - you may be entitled to a significant discount.

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Large Insurance Bill Addresses Fees & Advertising by Public Adjusters, Deadlines for Filing Windstorm/Hurricane Related Claims, Policy Terms and Payouts by Carriers. 

 CS for CS for SB 2044 is a rather large bill addressing many aspects of insurance.  It limits payments to public adjusters for supplemental or reopened claims to 20% of additional insurance proceeds obtained and prohibits public adjusters from charging more than 10% of proceeds paid by a carrier if the claim involves losses from events that are subject to a declaration of a state of emergency by the Governor.  While the bill goes on to regulate advertising or solicitation by public adjusters and the form of contract between the public adjuster and the insured, more attention is being paid to three new provisions that, if they become law, impact property owner obligations, the carrier's ability to change the terms of the contract upon renewal and payment of claims.

These portions of the bill pertain to residential (personal lines) coverage.  Policies issued to multi-family property owners/managers (the Association) are generally (if not always) classified as commercial policies.

One part of the bill purportedly bars homeowners from filing claims.  It says that the insured must provide notice of any claim (including supplemental or reopened claims) based on a windstorm or hurricane loss to the carrier within three (3) years of the date of the storm.  While it doesn't change the applicable statute of limitations for civil actions, in some cases homeowners do not have a full understanding of all the damages caused by the windstorm/hurricane until after demolition and reconstruction begins.  Thus, the three (3) year time frame may result in loss of insurance proceeds, depending upon whether the homeowner has the ability to attend to reconstruction after the storm.

Another section of the bill allows the insurance carrier to change the terms of the policy upon renewal by use of a notice entitled "Notice of Change in Policy Terms".  Payment of the renewal premium constitutes acceptance of the new terms.

Most importantly, the bill removes the prompt payment requirements on the part of carriers.  It only requires the carrier to pay "actual cash value" minus the deductible, regardless of whether the homeowner paid for replacement cost coverage.  The carrier then only pays additional amounts once a contract for reconstruction is in place and the costs are incurred (as the work progresses).  Critics argue that this provision disproportionately impacts lower income families that do not have funds available to pay for reconstruction (along with all the non-insured items) and/or replacement of personal property without insurance proceeds.

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