Florida Office of Insurance Regulation: Universal Property and Casualty Insurance To Revise Business Practices, Pay Administrative Fine
Oct 7, 2013
In a news release issued today, October 7, 2013, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced that Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company (“Universal”) has agreed to implement corrective action, including changes to its claims and underwriting practices that were the subject of a Prior Order issued by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”) on May 30, 2013.
In a Consent Order dated October 4, 2013, Universal agreed to drop its challenge to the May Order, adopt operational changes substantially similar to those contained in the prior Order and pay an administrative fine to the OIR totaling $1.26 million. The fine was the same as that required by the May Order.
To view the October 4 Consent Order, click here.
One of the issues involved in the case was the allegation that Universal, in some instances, wrote policies without full underwriting and then only completed underwriting after a claim was filed. This so-called “post-claim underwriting” resulted in some policyholders having unpaid claims or having coverage canceled without sufficient notice.
Universal agreed in the Consent Order to perform full underwriting within the first 90 days after the effective date of a new policy. It has also agreed to review the 262 claims it previously denied based on allegations of misrepresentation. Florida law allows insurance companies to rescind a policy for fraud or misrepresentation, but the law contains specific requirements which Universal has now agreed to apply.
Universal is the second largest property insurer in Florida and one of the most active writers with more than $765 million in annual written premium and over 542,000 policyholders, according to the OIR news release. Universal represents an estimated 8.9 percent of the total Florida property insurance market and has been licensed to transact insurance business in the state of Florida since 1997.
Should you have any questions or comments, please contact Colodny Fass& Webb.
Click here to follow Colodny Fass& Webb on Twitter (@CFTLAWcom)
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an email to Brooke Ellis at bellis@cftlaw.com.