Litigated property insurance claims in Florida rose 5% from September to October, a volume that is still 39% below this year’s high point in July but has still raised concerns among those hoping to see fewer claims after reforms were passed in July.
The data comes from CaseGlide, a provider of claims litigation management software. Data from previous months showed a decline in litigated claims in the state – including a 9% drop in September – in the wake of the passage of Senate Bill 76 earlier this year.
SB 76 aimed to put more restrictions on the ability of contractors to carry out contracts with homeowners seeking roofing repairs – a practice that the bill’s supporters said was driving up the cost of property insurance in Florida.
“The full impact of SB 76 remains to be seen, but it’s something we’re monitoring closely,” CaseGlide’s CEO, Wesley Todd, said in an email to the Florida Record. “What we do know is that there has historically been a moderate increase in October over September figures, and the 5% we saw this year is well in line with that trend. To say anything more right now would be premature.”
New litigated claims in October numbered 4,092, which is below the 6,663 claims filed in July but up from the 3,909 litigated claims reported for September, according to CaseGlide.
Three Florida insurers that the company monitors reported increases of more than 40% in such claims in October, but another 11 saw hikes of between 1% and 18%.
“The October 2021 results follow a similar pattern to previous years in that there was a moderate increase over September figures, a trend that could continue until we reach a level of around 5,000 litigated claims per month, where we were prior to July’s spike,” Todd said in a prepared statement.
One change in the geographic distribution of property and casualty insurance claims in the state involved Hillsborough County, which moved up into the top five Florida counties reporting litigated claims. Most of the counties with the highest level of litigated claims are in the southern part of the state and include Miami-Dade (24% of total Florida claims), Broward (18%), Palm Beach (7%) and Orange (6%).
Assignment-of-benefits (AOB) claims represented a quarter of the litigated property claims reported in Florida, which is down slightly from September’s 26%. AOB litigation was the subject of a reform bill approved in 2019.