Uncommon Knowledge
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The Florida property insurance coverage market is in bother.
“For the final two years, the personal firms working in Florida have had a mixed destructive internet revenue of $1 billion. So, the market is essentially shutting down.”
It is unhealthy for owners too.
“Customers are on life help proper now. They’re … paying extra money for much less protection.”
When a market craters like that, one thing elementary has gone improper. In Florida, it comes down to at least one factor: litigation.
“Florida has 8% of the claims and 79% of the litigation, so there’s one thing very, very improper with that.
“And I do not suppose anybody logically may clarify that type of differential aside from the statutes in Florida being abused.”
At present, On Level: Florida’s property insurance coverage meltdown. Can or not it’s mounted?
Company
Mark Friedlander, director of company communications on the Insurance coverage Info Institute, a non-partisan nonprofit. (@markfri09)
Jeff Brandes, Republican Florida state senator since 2012. Creator of Senator Jeff Brandes Requires Particular Session on Insurance coverage. (@JeffreyBrandes)
Additionally Featured
Mandy Wells, a home-owner in Cape Coral, FL
Joe Carlucci, co-owner of Brightway Insurance coverage, an insurance coverage company in Jacksonville, Florida.
Transcript: One Florida House owner On Florida’s Property Insurance coverage Meltdown
MANDY WELLS: Cape Coral’s like copy-paste. It is just like the builders simply went and constructed the identical home again and again.
MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: Mandy Wells, her husband and her son, moved to Cape Coral, Florida in 2017, and so they stay in a type of copy-paste houses. The three bed room, two tub, 1,600 sq. foot home was trendy and in nice situation till October 2019, when Mandy observed that the roof was leaking. Not good.
Mandy had remembered, although, seeing a roofing advert on Fb. It was from Fort Myers based mostly Marlin Development Group, and their web site says they’re licensed and insured and a pink banner throughout the highest of the house, web page says at Marlin Development Group, your satisfaction is our No. 1 precedence. So Mandy referred to as them up.
WELLS: He comes over. He has me signal a doc referred to as a proposal contract. After which he additionally writes on the again of my direct to pay authorization that I’ve a leak within the entrance. He tells me a storm date, which is totally different than the date that we’re assembly on and even totally different than the date that I had seen the water.
And he tells me, Oh, that is from excessive winds. All the pieces is like excessive winds down right here. So after which he sits down subsequent to me on the laptop and assists me in submitting an insurance coverage declare.
CHAKRABARTI: By the best way, the contractor hadn’t even been up on the roof to examine it, however he places down December twentieth, 2018, on the paperwork, the exact same day that extreme climate and wind did hit Florida. However that occurred to be greater than a yr earlier than Mandy had any roof points.
And by the best way, the proposal contract, which Mandy offered to us, has each an Angie’s Record brand and a Higher Enterprise Bureau A-plus score brand within the higher proper hand nook. However Mandy, in fact, wasn’t feeling like she was getting that A-plus service. So she spends the following a number of weeks going forwards and backwards with this firm, making an attempt to kind all of it out.
WELLS: And this firm by no means got here again to do the work. They tried to leverage this doc into getting me to signal an influence of lawyer, and task of advantages. This one not till February of 2020, after I requested them simply to cancel my file. No work had been completed on my dwelling. The corporate’s by no means even been on my roof. My dwelling had been taking over water that total time.
CHAKRABARTI: Project of advantages, also called AOB. It is quite common in property insurance coverage lawsuits in Florida. And this is the way it works. A contractor or lawyer has the home-owner signal over their property insurance coverage coverage to them. In order that any cash collected in an insurance coverage declare goes on to the lawyer or contractor, not the policyholder. It’s normal and it is authorized. However right here comes your plot twist.
In Florida, attorneys typically sue insurance coverage firms for far more than the precise restore prices. And due to that AOB, they get to gather the additional money. In truth, since 2013, insurance coverage firms made $15 billion in payouts in Florida, however lower than 10% of that went to policyholders. Greater than 70% of it went to attorneys. What’s extra, the Sunshine State is a standout nationwide. Greater than 75%, three quarters of all property insurance coverage litigation in the whole nation originates in Florida.
WELLS: The development companies are being aided by attorneys and so they’re tying all people up in litigation. I can promise you that the home-owner has no thought what they’re entering into. They suppose, , that is the trail to, , I’ll save my dwelling. I’ll have a wholesome place to stay. You realize, I’ve mould in my home now. I’ve water stains on my ceilings.
CHAKRABARTI: That is Mandy Wells in Cape Coral once more. It is taken greater than two years of authorized battles with Marlin Development Group and her insurance coverage firm. However Mandy will lastly get her roof mounted in a number of weeks. In the meantime, her insurance coverage premium has gone up. Quite a bit.
WELLS: It went up from $800 a yr to $2,700 a yr.
CHAKRABARTI: Greater than tripled since 2017. All of the whereas, Mandy’s protection has gone down. And on prime of that, her present insurance coverage despatched her a non-renewal letter for this coming yr, which means she’s bought to discover a new coverage by subsequent month.
WELLS: Earlier than, I perhaps had, like three or 4 firms to select from. There was one firm to select from. That was it. However, , it is similar to paying for gasoline. You simply put your card within the machine and also you simply look away and also you simply do it, ? So … the sting is over.
CHAKRABARTI: But when insurance coverage premiums maintain rising the best way they’re, Mandy would not know the way for much longer she will be able to stand up to that sting.
WELLS: If it is going to triple for each couple of years, I imply, we’re principally nearly single revenue family. As a result of I’m a keep at dwelling mother with my particular wants son that I do homeschool. We must contemplate making some type of change.
I do not know the way for much longer we may even afford to remain in the home. I assume perhaps I am simply fixing up the home for another person to maneuver into. It is simply unbelievable. It is unbelievable what’s taking place. It is unbelievable that Tallahassee cannot do extra for owners as a result of we are the ones which can be. … We’re shedding. We’re shedding.
Transcript: How Insurance coverage Brokers Are Impacted By Florida’s Property Insurance coverage Disaster
MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: Joe Carlucci and his brother Matt personal Brightway Insurance coverage, a brokerage in Jacksonville. They usually opened in 2013 and have weathered some ups and downs out there. However they’ve by no means seen something like this.
JOE CARLUCCI: We have by no means seen simply the catastrophic occasion like it’s proper now. I imply, we’re getting tons of of cellphone calls and emails about price will increase, non-renewals, firms going out of enterprise. So it is actually simply type of a scramble to attempt to maintain individuals lined.
CHAKRABARTI: I talked about these doubling and tripling premiums, however the largest subject, Joe says, is discovering insurers who’re even keen now to tackle new prospects.
CARLUCCI: We’re seeing a number of strict pointers like we cannot take a roof that is over ten years outdated. That is nearly changing into the norm. And it was once 20. In order that’s loopy. That is actually exhausting for individuals to switch a roof that is ten years outdated and it is completely high-quality.
CHAKRABARTI: And Joe instructed us that some firms will not insure prospects whose houses had been constructed earlier than 2010, which, as you’ll be able to think about, eliminates many owners. And because of this, Joe has few choices for individuals, making his job very exhausting.
CARLUCCI: Whereas three years in the past we had been giving individuals like three or 4 choices. We’re like, Hey, Firm A is $1,000 bucks a yr, firm B is $1,500, however there are slightly little bit of a greater firm. You realize, individuals need to see type of what the choices are. And proper now there’s similar to no choices. It is like, hey, this is your coverage, this is your quote that it’s important to have finally.
CHAKRABARTI: So what this implies is that many individuals find yourself going to at least one different place. As a result of brokers like Joe Carlucci cannot discover them an reasonably priced coverage. And that place is Florida’s state run insurance coverage firm. So this is Barry Gilway, the CEO and president of Residents Property Insurance coverage Company, the state run insurance coverage choice.
BARRY GILWAY: I might say very, only a few extra firms are writing enterprise. And, , we’re the one place for these insurers to go. We’re, frankly, for these insurers, we’re actually the final resort, however we have gotten the one resort.
CHAKRABARTI: Effectively, for Joe Carlucci and different insurance coverage brokers like him, although, for everybody that goes to Residents Property Insurance coverage, which means he loses out on fee.
CARLUCCI: It is not likely benefiting the brokers. It is not likely benefiting prospects. It is not likely benefiting insurance coverage firms. So, , I imply, I assume the individuals which can be getting paid on the claims. So I believe, , roofers are positively making a stable dwelling proper now.
An Ohio tourist was bitten at a Florida beach while playing football in knee-deep water on the Fourth of July, officials said.
Authorities said that the 21-year-old from Ohio was playing football in knee-deep water at New Smyrna Beach when the shark bit him on his right foot.
Police said that the attack happened at 4 p.m. on Thursday – the Fourth of July.
The man suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
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General view of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, during spring break Saturday, March 16, 2024. (Larry Paci for Fox News Digital)
The Fourth of July shark attack came after four people were injured at a beach in Texas the same day.
The South Padre Island Police Department and the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area confirmed to Fox News Digital that four people were injured during the encounter with the ocean predator on South Padre Island in the state’s southern coast.
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Police said that the attacks happened at approximately 11 a.m. local time along Beach Access 14, near Wanna Wanna Beach Bar and Grill.
Tiger Shark, Galeocerdo cuvier, Bahamas, Grand Bahama Island, Atlantic Ocean (Photo by Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
The shark encounter with the 21-year-old comes after Florida was recently named the shark capital of the world.
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The Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File found the most unprovoked shark attacks in the world in the Sunshine State, specifically in Volusia County, where there have been 351 attacks since 1882.
Fox News Digital’s Ashlyn Messier contributed to this report.
Florida health officials have issued a mosquito alert after two locally acquired cases of dengue fever were confirmed in the Florida Keys.
The alert comes a week after a national health advisory by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), warning health care providers and the public of rising cases of dengue fever infections in the Americas.
Dengue fever is a viral infection spread by mosquitoes. The virus is thought to infect up to 400 million people every year, according to the World Health Organization, resulting in as many as 40,000 annual deaths. The disease is characterized by a high fever, often combined with aches and pains, nausea and vomiting, which can range from mild to severe (although typically only last two to seven days.)
Only about 1 in 4 people infected with dengue actually get sick and symptoms tend to develop within two weeks of getting bitten.
The disease is mostly found in tropical and subtropical climates, although local transmission has historically been reported in Florida, Texas, Arizona and California.
At the end of June, two locally acquired dengue cases were confirmed in Monroe County, bringing Florida’s total local case count to 10 since the start of 2024. So which other counties have seen confirmed local dengue cases?
This year, Miami-Dade has seen the highest number of locally acquired infections, with two in January, one in February, two in March and one in April. Hillsborough and Pasco have also seen one confirmed case each, in June and January, respectively.
While these case numbers are still very low, the Department of Health for Monroe County and Florida Keys Mosquito Control District are coordinating surveillance and prevention efforts to curb transmission in the region. These include door-to-door surveillance and mosquito-targeted insecticide spraying from trucks and the air where necessary.
The Florida Department of Health also recommend the following measures to protect yourself from mosquitoes:
Is there a health problem that’s worrying you? Let us know via health@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured in Newsweek.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
New players for FSU football in 2024 season include DJ Uiagalelei
Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei and defensive lineman Marvin Jones Jr. headline the newcomers to the Florida State Seminoles for the 2024 season.
The 2024 football season is only about a month away.
Florida State football will soon start fall camp to prepare for its season opener against Georgia Tech in the annual Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland, at Aviva Stadium.
The game is set for Aug. 24 at noon EST on ESPN.
It is the second time two ACC teams face off in Dublin. For FSU, it will be the first time in program history that Seminoles participate in an international game.
Georgia Tech will be the second time it has played at Aviva Stadium. The last time the Yellow Jackets played in Ireland was in 2016, when they lost to Boston College, 17-16.
The ACC opener can set the bar for either side.
FSU is coming off a 13-1 season, missing the College Football Playoff. Its only loss was to Georgia in the Capital One Orange Bowl.
This season will be a clean slate for Mike Norvell, who is entering his fifth season as head coach of the Seminoles.
So, what does Georgia Tech look like? We take an early look.
Brent Key will be entering his second season with Georgia Tech. In his first year, the Yellow Jackets went 7-6 (5-3 in the ACC).
15-11-1, FSU
FSU defeated Georgia Tech 41-16 in the last meeting on Oct. 29, 2022.
Offense:
QB Haynes King (2,842 passing yards, 27 TDs, 737 rushing yards, 10 TDs), RB Jamal Haynes (174 carries, 1,059 yards, 7 TDs), OG Joe Fusile
Defense:
DL Zeek Biggers (40 tackles, 4 TFLs, 1 sack, 1 INT), LB Kyle Efford (81 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT)
Key losses:
S Jaylon King, DL Eddie Kelly,
Key additions:
TE Ryland Goede, TE Jackson Hawes, OL Keylan Rutledge, DL Thomas Gore, DL Jordan van den Berg, DE Romello Height, DB Warren Burrell, DB Syeed Gibbs,
Of course, FSU fans certainly remember Weinke.
Weinke is in his third year as Georgia Tech’s quarterbacks coach, his second year as the Yellow Jackets’ co-offensive coordinator and his first year as Tech’s assistant head coach.
As a player, Weinke won the 2000 Heisman Trophy as a quarterback at FSU and led the Seminoles to a national championship in 1999. He went on to be selected in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL Draft and enjoyed a seven-year career with the Carolina Panthers (2001-06) and San Francisco 49ers (2007)
Georgia Tech was young last season but with great potential.
The Yellow Jackets played in tight ballgames and can open the season with an ACC upset. For the Seminoles, it will be an opportunity to pick up where they left off and make a statement as playoff contenders.
BOLD = ACC
* = Neutral Site
Peter Holland Jr. covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at PHolland@Gannett.com or on X @_Da_pistol.
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