ICYMI: Tampa Bay Times: As the insurance crisis spiraled, did Florida bury consumer complaints?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2025
Contact: contact@insurancefairnessproject.com
ICYMI: Tampa Bay Times: As the insurance crisis spiraled, did Florida bury consumer complaints?
In case you missed it, on Friday, Tampa Bay Times investigative reporter Lawrence Mower uncovered that Florida Congressman Jimmy Patronis might have buried thousands of complaints made against property insurance companies during his tenure as Florida’s Chief Financial Officer:
EXCERPTS:
In an extraordinary criticism of one state agency by another, Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation told legislators that a department led by then-Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis may have buried thousands of complaints Floridians made against property insurance companies.
Patronis’ office referred 5.2% of the property insurance complaints it received over a five-year period to regulators for possible violations of state law, indicating “potential underreporting,” Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation wrote in newly disclosed memos obtained by the Times/Herald. That low referral rate made it harder for regulators to police the industry, the memos said. Consumers lodged more than 52,000 complaints against property insurers during the period. [...]
One reason why so few complaints are being forwarded to the Office of Insurance Regulation could be because Patronis’ department doesn’t investigate complaints if the homeowner has also sued their insurer. That fact isn’t mentioned in the office’s memos or addressed in the department’s response.
Patronis historically took a light touch to the insurance industry.
He did not come out in favor of Yaworsky fining an insurance company $1 million for Hurricane Ian violations last year. Patronis also pushed to seal records that would shed light about why insurance companies go out of business.
His office was supposed to investigate claims by insurance adjusters who said the companies they worked for manipulated their estimates to lowball homeowners. But Patronis’ office never brought charges against the companies and never released the records about his office’s investigations. [...]
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, called the lack of information-sharing “very concerning.”
“By withholding some of that information, we’re not doing what we are probably supposed to be doing,” he said. “It’s a disservice to the people who are making those complaints.”
TJ Helmstetter, spokesperson for the Insurance Fairness Project: “Floridians deserve government leaders who will protect homeowners and consumers, not the kind who cozy up to the industries they’re supposed to regulate and bury the facts when it suits them. With a new CFO about to be chosen, Florida has an opportunity to course correct and make sure that Florida’s insurance market is run fairly. Homeowners are counting on it.”
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