JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – One of the state’s largest property insurance companies has agreed to pay a $1 million fine after being accused of mistreating its policyholders in the wake of Hurricane Ian.
Florida’s insurance commissioner alleges Heritage Property and Casualty Insurance violated state law by not paying or denying claims within 90 days.
Hurricane Ian briefly reached the maximum Category 5 before slightly weakening to a Category 4 just before landfall. The storm decimated communities in Southwest Florida in 2022, killing more than 150 people directly or indirectly, and resulted in $112 billion in damage. Survivor George Andrad told News4JAX back then he hid in his refrigerator while his house was torn apart by the wind.
“I thought I was dead already, and the only thing I could think to do was get in the refrigerator to survive,” he said.
Hurricane victims said the damage was far beyond what they’d ever seen in Southwest Florida, prompting federal officials to release massive amounts of federal disaster aid.
But when it came time for policyholders of Heritage Property and Casualty Insurance to file claims, state insurance officials said more than 100 Floridians were mistreated.
″Insurance companies need to deliver to their customers. They are financial first responders. This is why policyholders pay their premium for their insurers to be there to help them recover as quickly as possible,” said Mark Friedlander with the Insurance Information Institute.
Friedlander said the fine against Heritage Property and Casualty Insurance is the second-highest in the state’s history. He said Heritage responded inadequately in four key categories.
“Really the primary categories were slow to respond to claims, slow to pay claims, used improperly licensed adjusters and kept poor records,” Friedlander said.
According to the findings of a March report from the Office of Insurance Regulation:
- Heritage failed to acknowledge receiving the claims of 98 customers within 14 days
- 70 policyholders say Heritage did not pay or deny claims within the required 90-day timeframe
- Heritage failed to maintain complete claim records for 10 customers
State officials say Heritage also failed to detail how many overall claims it received as the result of damage from Hurricane Ian.
Friedlander said the fine and holding Heritage accountable is ultimately good overall for Florida’s Property Insurance Industry.
“It is a signal to policyholders: We have your back. And it’s a signal to insurance companies. You need to follow state regulations and take care of your customers in time of need after a catastrophe like a hurricane. All good news, in our opinion,” Friedlander said.
Heritage’s CEO said the company “fully complied” with the state review, which is known as a market conduct examination.
“We also informed [Office of Insurance Regulation] that many of the same concerns they identified were also flagged internally and we have already taken significant action to address those concerns in order to better serve our policyholders,” the CEO wrote in a statement.