The Florida insurance commissioner has returned nearly $6 million to insurance consumers in the state this year after penalizing insurance companies for failing to meet administrative regulations. 

According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (FLOIR) has fined insurers nearly seven times the dollar amount during the first three quarters of 2024 than it did in all of 2023. 

FLOIR issued fines to 20 insurers ranging from $3,000 to $12,500 for administrative violations such as failing to timely file documents. Half of the insurance companies fined sold property and casualty insurance in the state. 

The property and casualty insurance companies fined include: 

• • Athome Insurance Company 
  • Atlantic Speciality Insurance Company 
  • Catline Speciality Insurance Company 
  • Crum & Forster Indemnity Company 
  • HDI Global Insurance Company 
  • HDI Global Select Insurance Company 
  • Lio Insurance Company 
  • Pie Insurance Company 
  • Stillwater Property and Casualty Insurance Company
  • United Casualty Insurance Company of America 

FLOIR also completed more than 100 market conduct investigations, including investigations on 18 property and casualty companies. The investigations resulted in insurers being required to return $68,913 in monetary restitution to Florida consumers during the third quarter. Overall, the investigations have led to insurers returning a total of $5.9 million between January and October. 

The regulatory department’s website does not have any 2024 market conduct investigations for property and casualty insurers available for viewing as of Tuesday. 

Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance Co. received the largest fine of any property and casualty insurance company this year. It was fined $1 million on May 9. 

A consent order says the fines stem from the company’s handling of Hurricane Ian claims. This includes the company failing to acknowledge receipt of a claim communication within 14 calendar days. It also failed to provide a policyholder with a document containing the adjuster’s name and license number during multiple communications, according to the consent order. 

FLOIR says the company also failed to pay or deny a claim within 90 days after notice of an initial, reopened, or supplemental property insurance claim. It adds the company failed to calculate the correct amount of interest owed on payment of a claim and failed to utilize properly appointed adjusters.

Images

Photo courtesy of Different_Brian/iStock