No. SB 1268
Filed under Insurance.
Insurance; Requiring the Department of Financial Services to take immediate enforcement actions under certain circumstances; requiring certain adjusters to complete specified continuing education courses annually; specifying requirements for such courses; revising the grounds for compulsory disciplinary actions by the department against certain insurance personnel; prohibiting insurers from excluding the public adjuster’s attorney from certain in-person meetings; requiring insurers to promptly provided third-party claimants with specified payments or assistance under certain circumstances, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDRestores a repealed law letting insureds collect attorney fees when they beat insurers in court. Property insurance suits qualify only if the insured proves underpayment, wrongful denial, or bad faith, and recoverable costs now include the public adjuster's fee.
Property insurers must pay or deny claims within 30 days of notice, half the previous window. Missing full payment within 90 days makes the insurer liable for the claim plus interest plus an equal penalty, enforceable by the state.
Insurers that repair a damaged vehicle must now pay for any resulting loss in resale value, and a policy can no longer waive that requirement. Homeowner and auto insurers alike must also hand over a written repair plan and parts information before work starts.
An adjuster handling a claim without an active license now forces immediate enforcement action against both the adjuster and the insurer that used them. Adjusters licensed in other states must also complete 24 hours of Florida-specific training every year.
AIThe bill undoes the 2023 repeal of the general insurance attorney-fee statute, reinstating a rule that an insurer who loses a coverage judgment to its insured owes that insured's attorney fees.
AIFor residential and commercial property policies specifically, the revived fee right does not apply automatically. It triggers only if the policyholder wins a lawsuit on underpayment, wrongful denial, or bad faith, and the recoverable costs then include the public adjuster's fee.
AIWhenever an adjuster handles a claim without an active license or appointment, the department no longer has discretion. It must act at once against both the adjuster and the insurer that employed, contracted with, or directed that adjuster.
AIWhen a covered loss is repaired rather than totaled, the insurer must now compensate the owner for the vehicle's remaining loss in resale value from its accident history, using set formulas, and a policy can no longer contract this obligation away.
AIInsurers must pay or deny a property claim within 30 days of notice, half the current 60. If the full amount still isn't paid within 90 days, the insurer automatically owes the claim plus interest plus an equal penalty, which the department can enforce.
AIInsurers can no longer slip an unauthorized condition into a policy. Any condition not grounded in the code needs prior approval from the Office of Insurance Regulation, and even an approved one must carry a bold notice plus a 10-day free cancellation right.
AIWhen an at-fault driver's insurer clearly owes the claim, it must now promptly give the other driver payment or a rental car for the time their vehicle is out of use, on request, to the extent the policy would have covered that for its own insured.
AIThe department may now suspend or revoke an adjuster's or agent's license for committing any felony or misdemeanor while adjusting, investigating, or handling a claim, alongside new grounds for discriminatory claims handling and knowing policy misinterpretation.