TAMPA, Fla. — After Hurricane Ian annihilated southwest Florida, homeowners like Sherry McBride waited months for their insurer to pay for repairs. But the McBride’s in their 70s say their carrier only paid for a partial fix of their storm-torn home.
So the McBride’s sued their carrier. Industry reports indicate Florida property insurers get hit with more lawsuits than any other state in the country, cases that have been blamed on shady contractors and their attorneys. But the numbers reveal something else.
A report from the American Policy Holder Association showed that 13,490 Florida policyholders filed complaints in 2021 against 30 of the largest homeowner carriers in Florida. It's an outsized portion, considering nearly 30 percent of the 41,000 claims filed against all property carriers in 2021 came from Florida. That was before Hurricane Ian struck.
Florida insurance commissioner Michael Yaworsky told ABC Action News he's focused on enforcing a new law that enacted consumer protections for Florida policyholders after a disaster. “We want good insurers that are behaving in a way that the consumer will feel comfortable that the consumer will feel comfortable they are giving money to someone who will be there when they need it."
The law includes accountability measures that require insurers to respond and pay a claim in a timely fashion. So far this year, OIR has fined 13 insurers in the 2nd quarter of this year, but they were all for failure to report litigation and claims-related data.
Yaworsky said in the coming months, the state plans to take action against some of the insurers on the receiving end of all of those consumer complaints.
If you or anyone you know is tangling with an insurer over a claim, you can file a complaint with the Office of Insurance Regulation.