Property insurance in Florida is in a state of crisis. Citizens Property and Casualty Insurance Company (CIPIC), the state run insurance company, was intended to be the market of last resort and was not to compete with the private market. However, CIPIC has swelled to be the largest domestic insurer of property and has posted a $2 billion deficit from the 2005 storm season. Legislation passed providing sweeping reform in a 190 page bill. This legislation focused on requiring CIPIC to be actuarially honest in its rate filings, thereby allowing private carriers to again enter the market and compete at rates less than those of CIPIC. The legislature also appropriated $250,000 in grant money for homeowners to retrofit their homes to withstand the hurricanes. This mitigation effort will allow homeowners to survive the storms without losing their dwellings and to create an insurable risk of their homes.
No Fault Auto Insurance, and specifically, Personal Injury Protection Benefits (PIP) was addressed. The current no-fault law was schedule to sunset in October of 2007 unless reforms were instituted. The reforms passed by the legislature essentially extended the sunset until January 1, 2009 and created an anti-fraud division within the Department of Financial Services. The Governor vetoed the bill because it failed to contain substantial reforms. The reforms sought by the Governor included a medical fee schedule, practice protocols, attorney fee reform and significant anti-fraud measures. Expect PIP to be revisited next year as a hotly contested issue.
Finally, joint and several liability was abolished by the legislature. As a result, Florida has become a true Comparative Negligence State, thus apportioning the liability of a defendant in direct proportion to their fault.
