Although insurance-related considerations and needs are of course quite different in many respects for homes and businesses, respectively, they certainly do coalesce in one very important way, namely this: Regardless of the nature of a property, its owners need to protect against third-party liability in instances where it is alleged that some danger or defect resulted in personal injury.
We are finishing up our discussion of the recent Florida Supreme Court decision regarding bad faith claims against state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Again, an insurance company that puts its own interests first — ahead of a policyholder’s interest — is acting in bad faith. The rule only holds for private insurers, though, and Citizens is a government entity. Under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, as well as state law, Citizens cannot be sued.
We are talking about a Florida Supreme Court decision about Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and its duty to its policyholders. Unlike private insurance companies that act in their own interests and not in the interests of their policyholders, Citizens cannot be sued for bad faith.
The Florida Supreme Court handed down a ruling on May 14, 2015, that has shaken up the state’s insurance industry. The court has found that state law bars policyholders from suing Citizens Property Insurance Corp. for bad faith.
It may not be noted in your Outlook calendar, but May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month. Not exactly a Hallmark occasion, the program was sponsored by Life Happens, a nonprofit organization of insurance industry professionals that, according to its website, strives “to inspire the public to take personal financial responsibility through the ownership of life insurance and related products.”
In April, various meteorological organizations started to release their analyses and predictions of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season. As every Florida resident knows, the season runs from June to November. For the most part.
Before we return to our discussion of the Legislature’s flood insurance bill, we thought we would share some facts about Florida and flood insurance terminology.
Florida has been so lucky for the past few years. We have, for the most part, been ignored by the Atlantic hurricane seasons, and we have yet to see the massive annual snowfalls that the Northeast has put up with this year. Don’t laugh — the weather has been weird enough lately that anything seems possible. Next week we may see frogs falling from the sky.
It is not easy to sue the officers and directors of a business organization. You may believe in your product, but you know enough about human nature that you do not want to be personally liable if something goes wrong. You form a corporation — or a limited liability partnership or another form of business organization — to protect yourself and your family. The company is liable for any losses. The directors, officers, shareholders or members are off the hook.
In our January series about understanding insurance policies, we focused on homeowners insurance and threw in a little auto coverage now and then. Our reasoning was simple: More people are likely to have a claim under one of these policies than their other non-health insurance policies. Start big, then narrow your scope: When you know what to look for in a homeowners policy, chances are good you will be able to find the important information in any other policy.
