Where We Stand: A Homeowners Insurance Bill of Rights
Where We Stand: A Homeowners Insurance Bill of Rights

The increasing frequency of extreme weather events, combined with the rising cost of repairs and building materials, has destabilized the home insurance market. Homeowners increasingly face skyrocketing premium prices, and many are losing coverage as insurance companies pull out of regional markets altogether. At the…
Special Event: United Policyholders webinar to bring Roadmap to Recovery® guidance and answers for households impacted by Hurricane Milton before the one-year anniversary of the disaster
Special Event: United Policyholders webinar to bring Roadmap to Recovery® guidance and answers for households impacted by Hurricane Milton before the one-year anniversary of the disaster

 Sarasota, FL – With support from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County’s Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund, the non-profit United Policyholders (UP) announced today that it will host a webinar on September 17th, 2025 in advance of the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Milton where an expert…
Florida Peninsula Insurance announces rate reduction request that will benefit ‘about 80,000 policyholders’
Florida Peninsula Insurance announces rate reduction request that will benefit ‘about 80,000 policyholders’

Florida Peninsula Insurance is seeking a rate reduction of 8.4% on homeowners policies and 12% on condo policies, according to an announcement from the Boca Raton-based company. “Given that everything seems to be going up right now, the cost of living, food, housing and everything…
The INSURE Act: Could a New Federal Backstop Stabilize Home Insurance and Make Homes Insurable Again?
The INSURE Act: Could a New Federal Backstop Stabilize Home Insurance and Make Homes Insurable Again?

Across the country, homeowners are facing a home insurance crisis. Not only are premiums on the rise, but the policies themselves are becoming harder—and in some places, nearly impossible—to find. In states vulnerable to natural disasters like California, Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, major insurers are…
Schiff revives INSURE Act to create federal reinsurance program
Schiff revives INSURE Act to create federal reinsurance program

US Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has reintroduced the Incorporating National Support for Unprecedented Risks and Emergencies (INSURE) Act, legislation aimed at addressing instability in the residential insurance market through the creation of a federal catastrophic reinsurance program. The bill proposes a federally backed reinsurance mechanism…
Sen. Schiff Introduces Bill to Stabilize Insurance Market, Protect Homeowners from Increased Costs of Natural Disasters
Sen. Schiff Introduces Bill to Stabilize Insurance Market, Protect Homeowners from Increased Costs of Natural Disasters

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the Incorporating National Support for Unprecedented Risks and Emergencies (INSURE) Act, legislation to stabilize the home insurance market by creating a federal catastrophic reinsurance program. This bill will help keep insurance premiums affordable and provide…
Risky business: More insurers willing to back Florida property, but how healthy are they?
Risky business: More insurers willing to back Florida property, but how healthy are they?

Since the Florida property insurance market nearly became its own catastrophe a few years ago, this hurricane season arrived June 1 with 12 new insurers ready to help Floridians weather what’s coming. Those new entrants were announced as a sign that the market forces that had been pushing Florida’s insurance…
Community Foundation of Sarasota County awards more than $1 million for hurricane recovery
Community Foundation of Sarasota County awards more than $1 million for hurricane recovery

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County recently awarded $1,050,046 through its Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund to 17 nonprofits that support individuals who have faced hardship in the wake of Hurricanes Ian, Debby, Helene and Milton. “Last year’s hurricane season left our community reeling – destroying…
Panel to consider board certification in insurance coverage law
Panel to consider board certification in insurance coverage law

The Bar’s Program Evaluation Committee later this week will consider a proposal to create a new “Insurance Coverage Law” board certification area. The Board of Legal Specialization Committee narrowly approved the proposal, 8-6, in January, after asking sponsors in November to revise certain standards. Covering…
California Insurance: Intervening, Interfering
California Insurance: Intervening, Interfering

In insurance circles Florida and California have the dubious distinction of being perennial problem children for home and auto insurance. In both states insurance markets have been severely disrupted by unique factors unknown in any other state. In Florida, the disruptor was litigation gone wild.…
Putting Florida more in line with national practices
Putting Florida more in line with national practices

Stacey Clark walks around her Bethel Creek home with her dog Sweetie on Oct. 15 after a tornado tore through her home Oct. 9 before Hurricane Milton passed through the area. Clark was in her home with Sweetie when the tornado ripped her roof off.…
The other ‘mean season’ begins as insurers tally losses, decide whether premium hikes needed
The other ‘mean season’ begins as insurers tally losses, decide whether premium hikes needed

In mid-November, more than a month after Hurricane Milton’s Florida landfall rendered her Zephyrhills home uninhabitable, Jessica Fernandez was still wondering how her life could be returned to anything like it was before Mother Nature’s fury descended from the skies. She filed insurance claims the…
‘Insurance Coverage Law’ certification takes another step forward
‘Insurance Coverage Law’ certification takes another step forward

The Board of Legal Specialization and Education is poised to grant final approval of a proposed new “Insurance Coverage Law” board certification program, after sponsors agreed to make final revisions. “The BLSE approved the new certification area in concept, but the standards need additional work…
‘Board Certified’ Could Soon Be an Advertising Thing for Florida Insurance Lawyers
‘Board Certified’ Could Soon Be an Advertising Thing for Florida Insurance Lawyers

By this time next year, plaintiffs lawyers, who have frequently been held up as thorns in the side of the Florida property insurance industry for their sometimes-aggressive pursuit of policyholder claims litigation, could have a stamp of credibility to brandish in advertisements: “board certified in…
Florida Bar to vote on new certification in insurance coverage law
Florida Bar to vote on new certification in insurance coverage law

Proposal backed by key legal groups, aims to elevate insurance law expertise On Nov. 8, the Florida Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization and Education will vote on a proposed board certification program for insurance coverage law, which would recognize attorneys specializing in this area. Submitted…
Push for insurance law certification gains momentum
Push for insurance law certification gains momentum

Sponsors hope three major hurricanes this year will help convince the Board of Legal Specialization and Education to approve an “Insurance Coverage Law” board certification program when it meets November 8. “I am very optimistic that the full BLSE will agree that there is a…
‘No protection’: This Florida homeowner was dropped by his insurer after drone images indicated roof damage — here’s what you can do if your insurer threatens to cancel your policy
‘No protection’: This Florida homeowner was dropped by his insurer after drone images indicated roof damage — here’s what you can do if your insurer threatens to cancel your policy

When Mike Arman of Oak Hill, Florida, received notice that his home insurance policy wouldn’t be renewed, he was furious about the reason. Despite 52 years without a claim, his insurer claimed his roof was deteriorating based on satellite images, without conducting an in-person inspection.…
Things are changing fast in the home insurance market
Things are changing fast in the home insurance market

In the weeks after Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit the Southeast, the price to rebuild has become a contentious topic in the home insurance market. For years, home insurers have identified climate change as a threat, cut coverage and increased premiums for properties in disaster-prone…