stormcrow wrote:Just a thought. If the tortmeister does win (and convinces the courts to ignore law) there will be no insurance available on the coast. Because the insurers and NFIP and a clear understanding as to who was underwriting what coverage, they didn't allow enough premium for the amounts that whould be awarded. Then the government would have to step in and set up either a wind pool or an NFIP like wind coverage. From an adjusters viewpoint, I would perfer everyone had every coverage.
Actually, it would create an insurance disaster. Look at what has happened in Florida. After hurricane Andrew hit south Florida in 1992, most private property insurance companies decided to pull out of the Florida market. This left many Floridians without insurance. The Florida legislature created a state-run insurance company to fill the gap and offer insurance to Floridians until the private insurance companies would rebound and start selling insurance again in Florida.
The private companies never came back. More and more private companies cancelled policies to limit their liability exposure. In 2002, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. became the successor to the state’s insurance company. It is now the largest property insurer in Florida. This company was created to salvage the homeowner’s insurance market in Florida. In reality, it is now the insurer of last resort!
More and more private companies are canceling policies in Florida. Few private companies are writing new property insurance policies. Without Citizens, most Floridians would not have any property insurance. Another big problem is that Citizens sells policies to people who build their houses in high risk areas along the beachfront!
Citizens will insure any value property in any and all high risk areas. With the hurricanes Florida suffered in 2004 and 2005, Citizens couldn’t cover the losses they incurred. So now, everyone with private homeowners insurance in Florida is required to pay a surcharge with their annual insurance premium to bail out Citizens. My Citizens surcharge was about $150.00 this year. I and every other private policy holder in this state will pay this surcharge until at least 2009!
The folks in Mississippi better hope their government stays out of the insurance mess.
Ixolib wrote:Absolutely, the surge that entered my home was driven by the winds of a hurricane. And as I've said countless times before, if the water that entered my home had been wind-driven "rain", State Farm WOULD have covered the damages.
You’re absolutely correct. Back in the 1970’s I first moved to Florida from the mountains in North Carolina (Asheville). I didn’t know very much about Florida but I had many friends that had lived there for years.
My wife, family and I rented a condo so we could get the lay of the land before we bought a house. As we were looking for a house our friends provided us with some basic guidelines to help us with our purchase and to do all the things a new resident must accomplish. Everyone with whom we spoke had the same advice concerning insurance. They all advised us to stay away from the water.
They pointed out that if flood water from a river, canal, lake, pond, sewer line or the ocean entered our house, the insurance company would not cover the loss. Only wind driven rain was covered according to them. I followed their advice and it turned out they were right. That was one of the first lessons I learned when I moved to Florida.
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