Citizens Claims Committee Meeting Report: June 18

On Wednesday, June 18, 2008, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (“Citizens”) held a Claims Committee (“Committee”) meeting to review the Independent Adjuster Request for Proposal (“RFP”), and receive updates on Citizens’ Claims School and 2008 Hurricane Season Catastrophe Plan.  To view the complete agenda, click here.   To view the Independent Adjuster RFP, click here.

The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Gloria Fletcher,  with David Emery and Carol Everhart in attendance.

Mr. Emery reported on the results of the Independent Adjuster RFP.  Selected respondents will function as Citizens’ Independent Adjusters for daily and catastrophe claims in the event of a major storm.  The proposed agreement would last for a period of three years with two one-year renewal periods and take effect when the current contracts expire on May 31, 2009.

After review and scoring of the 69 respondents, Citizens’ staff (“Staff”) recommended the engagement of 30 “top tier” firms, a list of which may be viewed by clicking here.  Staff expects that these firms will be able to provide enough adjusters dedicated to Citizens claims who, together with Citizens permanent staff, would be able to respond to a catastrophic event producing up to 300,000 claims, while still providing sufficient services for daily claims.

From this list of adjusters, Staff suggested that the Claims Quality Assurance Group be authorized to select quality assurance adjusters in order to review files following a catastrophe. 

If a catastrophe results in more than 300,000 claims, or if the recommended firms are unable to provide sufficient adjusters, Staff asked for authorization to contract with adjusters from a designated emergency tier consisting of the 37 qualified respondent firms not included in the top tier. 

Staff further recommended that the President or designated Officer be given authorization to enter into contracts with the chosen independent adjuster firms with any changes deemed appropriate and necessary.   To view a list of Staff recommendations, click here. 

After lengthy discussion regarding the qualifications and scoring methods used by Staff in ranking the companies and the adequacy of coverage provided by those firms, the Committee approved all Staff recommendations.

Mr. Emery also provided a brief update on Citizens’ Claims School, saying it has garnered positive response to date.   He also reported that the 2008 Hurricane Season Catastrophe Plan was recently tested and is ready for the 2008 Hurricane Season.

The meeting was then adjourned.

Should you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact Colodny Fass.