NOAA: Ian officially Florida's costliest hurricane
Florida insurance attorneys say new laws add insult to injury as premiums see double-digit increases.
The latest National Hurricane Center report makes it official: Ian was the costliest hurricane in Florida history, with five times the damage totals from 1992′s Hurricane Andrew.
The September 2022 storm struck Southwest Florida as a Category 4 after being downgraded from a Category 5 storm just before landfall. Storm surge heights rose two stories or more, flooding the coast and inland areas with never-before-seen devastation. Ian was responsible for more than $109 billion in damage in Florida, according to the report.
Legislative impact
With new insurance-related legislation signed in Tallahassee, the news is even more grim for South Florida residents, said attorney Alex Arteaga-Gomez of Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen in Coral Gables.
Arteaga-Gomez said the law is making his job more difficult.
“Now with the change in the law, where policyholders can not have their attorneys fees paid in the event that they have to go to court against their insurance company, the ability for policyholders to get fully reimbursed for damage to their property from a storm is going to be that much harder,” he said.
Arteaga-Gomez was recently in Tallahassee to try and persuade legislators against passage of the tort reform bills. He said that seeing the NOAA report served tp amplify the problem of attorneys trying to defend Floridians against insurance companies that won’t pay.
“The numbers are moving in the wrong direction,” he said. “Premiums are going up. Claims aren’t being fully paid, and people can’t get lawyers to hold their insurance companies to account.”
Challenges for Florida insureds are expected to intensify.
“Hurricane Ian was a catastrophic storm, but there’s no reason to believe that there won’t be more storms like that … bigger storms, stronger storms, and more destruction, and it’ll just be harder for people to get back into their homes because they won’t have the ability to cover the expense,” Arteaga-Gomez said.
This comes amid news last week that leaders of the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. approved a proposal that would raise average rates by 14.2%.
The proposal would need approval from the Office of Insurance Regulation before it could take effect.
‘Why would they pay?’
Attorney Michael Neimand has 20 years of practice in insurance defense and appellate law defending South Florida insurance companies and others. He said he knows both sides of this issue well, and the one-way attorney fees legislation isn’t working.
“You really want to know my opinion? It’s the … stupidest bill I’ve seen in my entire life,” Neimand said.
The litigator, who had big wins in Florida appeals court for his insurance company clients, said knowing both sides of the coin, he can not support the insurance industry on this.
“Why would an insurance company — if they are not on the up and up — pay? If there’s a small claim of a couple of $100, why would they pay?” Neimand said. “Why would they do anything? Who’s going be able to collect?”
With the publication of the report, NHC says the post-season reanalysis is complete, and it’s now the 39th Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic historical database after crossing South, Mid, and Upper portions of the state a little over 6 months ago.
According to Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation website, to date the total estimated insured losses is close to $14 billion. It noted the figure is for estimated and paid losses. Estimated or case losses include indemnity case reserves and payments to date.
The OIR data on their website shows nearly a 1/3 of the policies were denied or are yet to be paid.
OIR captures data in its efforts to evaluate catastrophe claims and compels all insurers to report data as of each required reporting date, per section 624.307, Florida Statutes.
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