Daily Commerical – Florida Justice Reform Institute

Report: PBC car insurance rates highest in West Palm

June 22, 2019/in Daily Commerical

Report: PBC car insurance rates highest in West Palm

The wrecked vehicle in a 2015 crash in Jupiter, where insurance
rates are among the lowest in Palm Beach County.
[RICHARD GRAULIAN: palmbeachpost.com]

By Chris Persaud
Posted Jun 22, 2019 at 6:34 AM

Drivers living in or around downtown West Palm Beach pay more for car insurance than everyone else in Palm Beach County, a recent report comparing national insurance rates shows.

A 30-year-old single man with a good driving history would pay nearly $2,800 a year for insurance on his 2014 Honda Accord EX if he lived just west of downtown West Palm, according to a Palm Beach Post analysis of data gathered by auto insurance price comparison website The Zebra.

That same man would pay less than $2,200 in the 33469 ZIP code of Tequesta, Jupiter Island and Jupiter Inlet Colony, the area in Palm Beach County with the lowest premiums, according to the study.

The Zebra examined more than 61 million rates across the country for its 2019 State of the Auto Insurance Report and shared some of its data with GateHouse Media. The theoretical driver had a standard insurance policy, including injury liability, property damage liability and a $500 deductible for comprehensive and collision.

The average yearly cost for insurance in Palm Beach County was $2,507, higher than the statewide average of $2,059.

Costs climbed higher in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

The national average was $1,470.

In the three ZIP codes in and around downtown West Palm — 33401, 33409 and 33405 — rates reached $2,784.

Next highest in Palm Beach County, at $2,776 and $2,753, are Lake Worth Beach’s 33460 ZIP code and Palm Beach’s 33480, respectively.

More traffic means higher rates

Traffic helps explain why West Palm motorists pay so much, fraud is a factor that drives up costs in South Florida, and a controversial state law further raises costs for all Florida drivers, industry experts and advocates said.

Downtown West Palm, with its nightlife, its proximity to Palm Beach, Palm Beach International Airport and busy Interstate 95 exits, and its ever-growing number of condos, apartments and office towers, attracts thousands of commuters every day.

And more traffic leads to more crashes and higher insurance costs, said former Texas insurance Commissioner Robert Hunter, now director of insurance with the Consumer Federation of America.

“You get more crashes in Manhattan, New York, than in Manhattan, Kansas,” Hunter said. Small town policyholders such as those living close to Lake Okeechobee are charged less than those in more packed parts of Palm Beach County, such as West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Delray Beach.

Two of the high-ranking West Palm Beach-area ZIP codes contain two busy I-95 exits — Belvedere Road and Okeechobee Boulevard.

Areas with higher crime levels did not necessarily have higher rates.

In West Palm, for example, policy quotes were lower in low-income neighborhoods such as Pleasant City north of Good Samaritan Medical Center, where crime rates are higher and residents earn less money than in downtown. Similar rates covered most residents of nearby Riviera Beach, as well.

Scams and no-fault

Scammers who rip off insurance companies help drive up insurance costs in South Florida, said Jeff Grady, president of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents. The result is that companies charge more.

“There’s a fair amount of fraud, staged accidents, in South Florida,” Grady said.

State laws that inflate insurance costs help enable fraud, Grady and Florida Justice Reform Institute spokesman William Stander say.

Florida is one of 10 states that forces drivers to buy no-fault insurance, also called personal injury protection, which raises policy prices in the state.

No-fault insurance pays up to $10,000 to drivers injured in a car crash for medical expenses — even if the driver already pays health insurance. It also covers lost work time.

State lawmakers have tried and failed for years to repeal the decades-old PIP law. Insurance companies, who fought to keep PIP, continue to raise premiums.

While the number of crashes has remained level in Florida in recent years, the number of no-fault claims and amounts that insurance companies pay out has skyrocketed, Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation states on its website. No-fault claims make up nearly half of fraud referrals.

An area’s population density, road conditions, repair rates, medical and hospital costs and number of accidents help determine insurance premiums, spokeswoman Karen Kees said. She would not say why rates differ so substantially.

“It’s the lawyers and the doctors and hospitals who want the mandatory coverage because there’s a pot of gold there they can tap,” Stander said.

Stander cited cases in which, he said, lawyers sued insurance companies, in what he called bad faith, for failing to defend their policyholders in car crash lawsuits.

A ring of corrupt lawyers, chiropractors and clinic owners in South Florida scammed 10 insurance companies out of $23 million by taking advantage of the state’s no-fault system, a 2017 federal investigation revealed.

Boca attorney Jason Dalley was disbarred in 2018 and ordered to pay $1.84 million in that scheme.

A smaller part of fraud driving up insurance costs, Grady and Stander say, comes from fixing windshields, taking advantage of “assignment of benefits” agreements.

An unwitting crash victim signs away their right to pursue an insurer to a crooked mechanic, Grady and Stander said, who then fixes the windshield and bills insurance companies hundreds of dollars more for a job that could have been cheaper.

State lawmakers this year passed restrictions on assignment of benefits agreements but did not repeal the costly no-fault insurance system.

Florida’s priciest policies, estimated at $3,136 each year on average, are paid by drivers in the Miami neighborhood Allappatah and the nearby community of Brownsville.

The cheapest insurance quotes in the state, estimated at $1,582 annually, are in Waldo, an Alachua County town of about 1,000 that AAA designated as one of the worst speed traps in America until 2018.

GateHouse Media’s Emily Le Coz contributed to this story.

https://www.dailycommercial.com/news/20190622/report-pbc-car-insurance-rates-highest-in-west-palm

More civil lawsuits could be headed to county courts

April 16, 2019/in CQ Roll Call, Daily Commerical, Florida Politics

More civil lawsuits could be headed to county courts

This bill moves to the full Appropriations Committee Thursday.

By A.G. Gancarski on April 16, 2019

On Tuesday, the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Subcommittee moved a bill that would shunt more civil lawsuits to county courts.

The bill (SB 328) will move to the full Appropriations Committee on Thursday.

At present, there is a $15,000 limit on damages in civil suits, also called “small claims,” filed on the county level. This bill, as amended in committee, would raise that to $30,000 on Jan. 1, 2020, and to $50,000 by Jan. 1, 2022.

The current cap hasn’t been changed since 1992.

Bill sponsor Jeff Brandes, a Republican from St. Petersburg who chairs the subcommittee, noted the bill “gradually raises” those amounts, in accordance with inflation.

“This is a very important issue,” Brandes said. “The county courts are really designed to be the people’s courts.”

“More of these cases get thrown into circuit courts,” he continued.

The Florida Justice Reform Institute noted that the Supreme Court wanted a lower threshold initially, and found the increase to $50,000 to be of most concern.

“They’ve recommended an increase from 15 to 25,” said its President, William Large.

Large expects bigger case loads for circuit judges because of the legislation, with circuit courts bearing the burden of appeals from the county courts.

He argued that appeals should be heard by district courts of appeal, which handle cases coming out of circuit courts.

“I want everything to go to the DCA,” he said.

But Sen. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg Democrat, said he supports the bill because “it’s time to do something different.”

“I believe the Legislature will seek the support of the Florida Supreme Court,” Rouson added.

“We have an overburdened circuit court at this point,” added Sen. Gayle Harrell, a Stuart Republican.

Sen. Annette Taddeo, a Miami Democrat, likewise spoke in support.

In his closing statement, Brandes allowed that there may be further tweaks regarding the appellate process, and that he’s willing to refine the language with Supreme Court staff.

And, he said, “this is an ongoing conversation with our partners in the House.”

___

The News Service of Florida contributed to this post.

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/293797-civil-lawsuits-in-county-courts

AOB lawsuits outpacing population growth

March 27, 2019/in CQ Roll Call, Daily Commerical, Florida Politics, Roundtable Politics

AOB lawsuits outpacing population growth

Florida is growing fast. AOB lawsuits are growing faster.

By Drew Wilson on March 27, 2019

Florida is growing fast.

The state is already the third-largest in the union and recent research from the Florida Chamber of Commerce estimates 1,100 people move to the Sunshine State every day — that’s amounts to 5 million new residents by 2030.

But another statewide metric is accelerating faster: assignment of benefits lawsuits.

“While Florida is a growth state, AOB lawsuits are growing much faster than population, going from little more than a few hundredths of a point as a fraction of Florida’s population to nearly a full three-quarters of a percent now,” said Capital City Consulting lobbyist and FJRI counsel Ashley Kalifeh.

AOB is a process where policyholders sign over their insurance benefits for a quick repair after their property — be it a home, car windshield or something else — is damaged.

The contractor or attorney who receives those benefits often attempts to collect a payout from insurers in court. AOB reform advocates say those lawsuits lead to inflated payouts which in turn drive the cost of insurance premiums for all Floridians.

According to the Florida Justice Reform Institute, AOB lawsuits made up more than half of all lawsuits filed in Florida in 2018 — the eighth year in a row they’ve held the majority.

Additionally, the quantity seen 18 percent growth year-over-year.

A report produced by Kalifeh shows AOB suits increased by over 900 percent between 2008 and 2018. Total lawsuits increased by a little over 400 percent during the same stretch.

“Unfortunately, rampant AOB lawsuits threaten our confidence in the state’s legal climate,” said FJRI President William Large. “The legislature can help the people of Florida by standing up to the trial lawyers and passing meaningful AOB lawsuit reform.”

“This updated report details how out-of-control AOB lawsuits based on the one-way attorney fee continues to accelerate, driving up overall litigation and costs for policyholders.”

The report also found that about 85 percent of those suits were filed by nine law firms. Just one attorney — Gregory Gudin of Landau & Associates — filed more than 30,000 AOB lawsuits last year.

Most of those suits were filed in a handful of counties, too. Miami-Dade and Broward accounted for nearly half of property AOB suits, while Hillsborough County alone was home to more than 50 percent of auto glass AOB suits.

FJRI supports measures moving through the House and Senate that would make changes to AOB rules.

Among those reforms is an end to one-way attorney’s fees in AOB cases. Currently, the losing side of an AOB case has to cover the attorney’s fees for the prevailing party.

Opponents of the reforms say AOB suits would slow down if insurance companies green lit repairs faster and used higher quality contractors, especially in the case of water damage.

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/291981-aob-lawsuits-outpacing-population-growth

No-fault insurer prevails in attempted class action over Medicare reimbursement

September 26, 2018/in Capitol News Service, CQ Roll Call, Daily Commerical, FlaNewsOnline, Florida Politics, Florida Trend, Florida Watchdog, Orlando Political Observer, Roundtable Politics, Tallahasssee Reports, wctv.tv

No-fault insurer prevails in attempted class action over Medicare reimbursement

Michael Moline – September 26, 2018

A state appeals court has rejected a class action filed by a Medicare Advantage organization seeking double reimbursements for its costs of providing care that should have been covered by a no-fault auto insurer.

In a unanimous ruling, the 3rd District Court of Appeal said such organizations would have to establish each claim separately against Ocean Harbor Casualty Insurance.

The court overruled Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Samantha Ruiz-Cohen, who had certified a class potentially including 37 Florida Medicare Advantage organizations, or MROs.

The lead plaintiff was an entity called MSPA, an assignee of the defunct MRO Florida Healthcare Plus Inc.

“Proof that certain medical bills paid by MSPA’s alleged assignor should have been paid by Ocean Harbor as a primary payer will not establish that other medical bills paid by a different MAO should also have been paid by Ocean Harbor as a primary payer,” Judge Thomas Logue wrote.

“To the contrary, proof to establish liability will necessarily devolve into a series of mini-trials under Florida no-fault law … which precludes a finding of predominance and renders this case inappropriate for class action treatment,” Logue wrote.

“Accordingly, we reverse the provisions of the certification order under review in conflict with this opinion.”

MAOs are private companies that contract with Medicare to provide coverage at a flat rate per enrollee. They profit to the degree they provide the required coverage for less than the flat rate.

The coverage is meant to be secondary to other, primary, coverage, including personal injury protection policies.

Miami plaintiffs’ attorney John Ruiz argued that he could establish the common claims necessary to sustain a class action using an algorithm that analyzes police reports of accidents and other records that Ocean Harbor must report under state and federal law.

He argued that Ocean Harbor’s obligation to pay was automatic once his client established that it had made payments reimbursable by the insurer.

The 3rd DCA disagreed.

“We reject the notion that MSPA claims reimbursement rights are not governed by Florida law relating to the recovery of benefits under a PIP policy, and are therefore automatic,” Logue wrote.

“Instead, MSPA must demonstrate that, in addition to any requirements of federal law, Ocean Harbor was required to make the payment in the first instance under Florida no-fault law for each reimbursement it claims.”

William Large, president of the tort-reformer Florida Justice Reform Institute, praised the outcome.

“The plaintiff has filed dozens of copycat cases against Florida insurers raising the same claims — this case was simply the first to reach the class certification stage,” Large said in a written statement.

“In certifying the class, the trial court failed to rigorously apply Florida’s class action certification requirements, which are necessary to protect defendants’ due process rights. The 3rd DCA recognized this overreach and ruled appropriately.”

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/275876-no-fault-insurer-prevails-in-attempted-class-action-over-medicare-reimbursement

No-fault insurer prevails in attempted class action over Medicare reimbursement

Florida Justice Reform Institute

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