New evidence claims to show Florida insurance carriers defrauding customers

Hurricane Ian was replaced by howls of angry homeowners for not being able to fix their house.

New evidence in allegations against insurance carriers claims that they defrauded customers of their claims.

The evidence comes from multiple complainants who share evidence with a watchdog group, the American Policyholder Association.

WINK News spoke with the organization’s executive director, who said most of the people who come in are actually appraisers working on behalf of insurance companies.

“Not a single dollar we have received has been net despite us taking all the proper measures,” said Jim, who lives in Rotonda West.

People with all kinds of insurance providers, not just the ones under investigation, are having a hard time getting the money they need to bring their homes back to normal. “And their disconnect still goes that far,” says Jim.

Jim’s estimated damage to his home was $130,000, but he accepted the offer for less than $90,000. “It’s kind of endemic to this area like everyone has this regardless of the carrier.”

The executive director of the watchdog group, the American Policyholder Association, Doug Quinn, said the group recently submitted evidence of what it called fraud to state investigators.

“You don’t want people to know that it’s coming. They can cover their tracks,” Quinn said.

He was not ready to name names but said some insurers showed a pattern of not paying policyholders what is due to them.

“What have we heard from them? [independent field adjusters] once their work is turned over to the company that hired them or the insurance company itself, there are people who step in and interfere with claims and cut them down. In this case, between 50 to, you know, 95% of claims,” ​​Quinn said.

Quinn said if the evidence proves to be true, the fines against these insurance companies may not be enough. “I’m not a lawyer, and I’m not a prosecutor. But, you know, having experienced this personally, I can tell you that I believe it escalates to the level of criminal fraud.

He said there was a simple fix here. “If you are going to refute those claims, there has to be complete transparency in how you justify them. There has to be full transparency in who handles those claims every step of the way”

We still don’t know exactly which insurance company this investigation is at the center of. WINK News reached out to Representative Bob Rommel, who the state CFO said helped start the investigation. We are still waiting to hear back.