After witnessing several years of rapidly escalating fraud, the Florida Property & Casualty Association commends the Florida Legislature for passing meaningful assignment of benefits (AOB) reform legislation this year. The passage of HB 7065 signals a significant step in addressing the AOB abuse that has plagued our state, resulting in some of the highest home [...]
Governor DeSantis, CFO Patronis, Citizens Insurance and numerous nonprofit consumer and business groups have all sounded the alarm on the boom in water claim lawsuits filed by a small group of law firms. Sadly, after many years without reforms, it is homeowners who are being forced to pay higher and higher insurance rates necessary to [...]
The Senate’s one-way attorney fee bill cleared the Judiciary Committee Monday on a 5-1 vote after its sponsor offered an amendment intended to at least partially salve concerns by contractors and attorneys. Read more from Florida Politics here
My wife and I fell prey to what we believe was “assignment of benefits” (AOB) abuse. After signing what we thought was a contract to repair our kitchen sink leak, we quickly ended up in a legal battle that took well more than a year to resolve. Since AOB is a binding contract, we lost. [...]
Below is a link to view recent TV coverage of AOB abuse by Bay News 9 reporter Allison Walker Torres. The three-part "In Focus'' piece includes interviews with David Altmaier, Barry Gilway and Reps. David Santiago and Ben Diamond. Please click here to view.
Over the past several years, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has worked with Florida regulators, legislators and other stakeholders to address rising premiums brought on by increased litigation and claims abuse. A recent opinion piece, “Stephen Rowe: Floridians need all the facts before AOB reform can begin,” fails to acknowledge those efforts and the mountains of [...]
Consumers, state leaders provide compelling evidence on impact of AOB abuse TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Feb. 4, 2019) – Testimony provided by consumers during today’s Senate Banking and Insurance Committee demonstrates a clear need to pass Assignment of Benefits (AOB) reform to protect consumers from rising insurance costs and abuse brought on by out-of-control litigation, the Consumer [...]
Sun-Sentinel Columnist Randy Schultz’s column on the Assignment of Benefits (AOB) property insurance crisis shined a light on the need for a solution to the rampant fraud and lawsuit abuse occurring in our state. But it showed a lack of understanding on how insurance works. The author also implied that the numbers produced by Florida [...]
It’s time to prevent a handful of South Florida plaintiff’s attorneys from driving up home insurance premiums for everyone in Florida, three of Florida’s most powerful insurance officials told members of a key Senate committee Tuesday. Read more from the Sun-Sentinel here.
Through two straight years of political stalemate over assignment of benefits reform, legislative leaders have declared it would take a crisis to deliver a bill to the Governor’s office. Finally, according to state Rep. Cyndi Stevenson, “I think we’re there.” Read more from Florida Politics here