Florida homeowners now covering the cost for bankrupt insurance companies

Living in the sunshine state has just gotten even more expensive.

Property insurance is an necessity for living in the state of Florida, with its unpredictable weather and frequency of natural disasters like floods, hurricanes, and tropical storms. Property damage is not at all uncommon, with over 15,000 claims for property damage made in the past year. Insurance companies have not been able to keep up, and many have had to liquidate and send their remaining open claims to the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA).

FIGA exists to pay out any remaining open claims that insurance companies have not resolved when they go into bankruptcy. The following property damage insurance carriers have been sent to FIGA in the past 5 years:

• American Capital Assurance Corporation (2021)

• Avatar Property and Casualty Insurance Company (2022)

• Florida Specialty Insurance Company (2019)

• Gulfstream Property and Casualty Insurance Company (2021)

• Sawgrass Mutual Insurance Company (2018)

• Southern Fidelity Insurance Company (2022)

• St. Johns Insurance Company (2022)

• Weston Property and Casualty Insurance Company (2022)

• Windhaven Insurance Company (2020)

Three FIGA surcharges has been applied to homeowner insurance bills in the past 2 years to cover the claims that have to be paid out by the Guaranty Association.

In 2021, after American Capital and Gulfstream were liquidated, a surcharge of .70% was added to bills to cover claims.

In the beginning of 2022, a 1.3% assessment was issued to cover claims from St. Johns and Avatar.

This most recent surcharge is .70%, applied to cover claims from Southern Fidelity and Weston.

If you're interested in learning more, contact Precision Legal today to see if your claim is viable.