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NU Online News Service, Dec.16, 12:41 p.m. EST
Florida’s acrimonious battle with State Farm over its effort to leave the state’s homeowners insurance market has ended with the company winning a 14.8 percent rate increase and permission to drop 125,000 policyholders.
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced that he had ended the yearlong dispute and resolved pending legal action with a consent order allowing the non-renewal of 125,000 of the company’s 810,416 Florida policies.
“By the terms of the Consent Order, State Farm Florida will remain a significant player in the Florida residential property insurance marketplace,” he said in a statement released after a press conference.
The insurer had issued a withdrawal plan on Jan. 27--a month after a judge had upheld Mr. McCarty’s denial of a 67.1 percent rate increase. In February, the commissioner said the insurer could withdraw, but only by complying with stringent conditions he set.
He forbid them from dumping customers on the state-run insurer of last resort, and said they should allow their agents to place policies with other private insurers.
The company had argued that it was going broke in Florida, but Mr. McCarty declared then that the State Farm contention it faced insolvency and an inability to pay claims was “both disingenuous and misleading.”
He noted today that the agreement he had reached with the insurer is “the product of a long and arduous negotiation process.”
“The final result is beneficial to the people of the state of Florida, and beneficial to the Florida insurance marketplace,” he added. “The consent order satisfies the Office’s requirements issued in our Order dated Feb. 13, 2009, and allows State Farm Florida to remain a viable insurer in the Florida market.”
His statement noted that even after the non-renewals, State Farm Florida will remain the largest private insurer of property insurance risk in Florida.
The Consent Order that was reached, the department explained, results in State Farm pulling the withdrawal plan it filed on Jan. 27, 2009, as well as the cancellation of a hearing set for Jan. 25, 2010, before the Division of Administrative Hearings.
State Farm Florida issued a statement saying the consent order “will allow us to continue to serve most of our current policyholders, and help improve State Farm Florida’s financial ability to be there when our customers need us most.”
The company said policies designated for non-renewal would receive at least six months advance notice, adding that “State Farm agents will be able to provide affected residential customers with other insurance options. New rates will go into effect as policies are renewed.”
“We apologize for any inconvenience or anxiety this process might cause our customers, but this is a necessary step for us as we attempt to stabilize State Farm Florida’s financial condition and serve our remaining customers,” the company said.
The carrier added that “these are not easy times for the Florida property insurance market. The [Office of Insurance Regulation] has noted publicly that 102 of the 210 private property insurers operating in the state are losing money, and three have gone out of business in the last year.”
State Farm said that “to that end, it is essential for the state to continue working to develop constructive and sustainable insurance reforms that better serve the long-term interests of all Floridians.”
Meanwhile, in New York regulators tordered State Farm to let 113 homeowners renew policies that the company wanted to drop because their houses were on the coast.