On September 13, 2017, the Florida Office of Emergency Regulation issued an Emergency Order following the State of Emergency issued by Governor Scott due to the destruction of Hurricane Irma.
The aim of the order is to provide standardized requirements that may be applied to insurers as a consequence of the hurricane. Among the requirements that could affect the handling of claims involving Florida residents, property or risk are:
- No insurer may cancel or nonrenew a personal residential or commercial residential insurance policy covering a dwelling located in the state that has been damaged as a result of Hurricane Irma;
- Any time limits imposed on an insured to perform an act or transmit information with respect to a contract of insurance which was to have been performed after September 4, 2017 is tolled until December 3, 2017. This does not relieve a policy holder who has a claim resulting from Hurricane Irma from complying with their obligations to provide information and cooperate with the claims handling process;
- Between September 4, 2017 and October 15, 2017, no insurer shall cancel or nonrenew a policy or contract of insurance or issue a notice of cancellation or nonrenewal or a policy covering a person, property or risk in Florida, except at the written request or agreement of the policy holder;
- All notices of cancellation issued or mailed on or after August 25, 2017 through and including September 3, 2017 covering a person, property or risk in Florida shall be withdrawn and reissued on or after October 15, 2017.
We anticipate that the requirements of the Emergency Order could potentially affect the claims handling process in Florida. Should you have any issues relating to the interpretation or application of this order as it relates to your insuring and claims handling processes, please do not hesitate to contact us at StormHelp@kubickidraper.com.
